Third in an occasional series

Jerry's been around the capitol "forever", yet he's barely on the other side of 30. His parents long ago gave up the glimmer of hope he'd become something easier-to-describe (read: doctor, lawyer), but he lived and loved his decade as a capitol staffer, worked dozens of campaigns on the even-numbered years, and this session, wound up teaming up with longtime friend Kurt Meachum to form their own lobby team.

A little background, to start us off with: Philips was nominated to be an impact player by Luis Saenz. He's worked for TWO state lawmakers from Waco (former state Rep. John Mabry and current state Rep. Jim Dunnam.) He's one of the few folks around the Texas Capitol of South-Asian descent (he's an American-born Indian). We talk about all that, and more, in this installment of impact players.

Jerry Philips

You've started a new venture into the lobby world. First, talk a little about the road you took to get to what you're doing now.
I started working in the legislature in 1997, which I think surprises some people cause they don't think I've been around for six or seven session. Basically I was in school at UT, I started working as a volunteer intern, became legislative assistant, and each year I would do session, and the next year I would do a campaign. I got to work for Speaker Pete Laney for a couple years, and I was a communications director for a group he had called the Texas Partnership. That was the first time I worked with literally, like, a hundred members. So I got to work on races and issues across the state. And I found that really intriguing. Then I worked for John Mabry of Waco and then Jim Dunnam. The last three years I've been running the House Democratic Campaign Committee.

So you've worked for two Waco state lawmakers. What is the deal with Waco?
Waco is an interesting place. The thing I've noticed about it is that people don't leave.They have been there a long time. Their families have been there, Baylor is there, there's an institution. When you go there you can see how people tend to get comfortable.

What's it like going from working for members to working the members, as a lobbyist?
It's been interesting, learning a different side. I was literally on the other side of the table for the last eleven years. There's a big misconception about how easy this side is. It's a lot of work. It helps to be a staffer because you understand what the staffers want and need when you're presenting them information.

As a staffer, I really relied on people who I knew, trusted and were deliverers of good information. I know now, on this side, I want to be fully versed and be able to answer the questions.

You think of this perception of the "dark side". But there are good players and bad players on both sides. It's not really the dark side, is it? As long are you are an honest broker and do things the right way, it's going to be okay.

What's been the strangest thing about the transition?
Probably explaining to people that I'm a lobbyist now, after twelve years as a staffer. I thought it was funny when you were talking to Propes (Impact Player Jay Propes) about explaining what he does to his family. Try explaining it to an immigrant Indian family what a legislative assistant does or a Chief of Staff does at the House of Representatives. Now, explaining what a lobbyist does is even more confusing.

Speaking of your background, you are one of the few people around the Texas Capitol of South Asian descent, right?
I've seen a few other folks of East Asian descent walking around, and I know there are some Asian staffers around. Actually, state Rep. Mark Homer and I used to count how many Indians were around, since he has a lot of friends who are Indian. He would be like "Hey, we're up to three, out of the 181 offices!" It's kind of different, I think I bring a different perspective.

How does your background influence your work?
I was born in America, my family immigrated in 1974 to America. I think it makes me look at things differently. I know when any immigrant family comes over, nothing is really handed to them. They really have to go and make their way, understand the culture, assimilate. You understand what your parents go through and you do that yourself.

What I think that brings... when you're looking at an issue, when you're thinking about how people deal with things, you look at it from more than one perspective. You can say, here's how one group might be affected by this way, another group might be affected this way. Also when you talk to someone, you try to cover what their perspective is, because you don't just look at it in one way.

Would your parents still prefer you become something like a doctor or lawyer?
Absolutely, are you kidding me. My mom would be like, "Are you going to become a doctor? When are you going to be a doctor?" After about seven or eight years, she kinda gave up on thinking I would do something else.

I started when I was twenty. I think you really get it whether you like this or you don't. And that's what happened.

Are you still paying much attention to politics, particularly the next elections ahead?
Definitely watching it because it colors everything. Working each session and each campaign cycle, you see how people connect the next election with the legislative session. The next election cycle is always affecting what's happening the session before. I don't play an active participant in it, since it's not part of my job anymore. But after doing it so long, it was kind of a natural progression to be like, okay, time to go on and do something else.

With Voter ID coming up in the Senate the next couple of days, what do you think is going to happen on the House side on this measure?
This is a partisan issue that we're dealing with, so my perception is that it's GONNA come to a floor vote. I don't see it dying in committee. It made it out of the House last time. I think there's a lot of people working on this issue really, really hard. Republicans working on it, Democrats working on it, I think it's going to be a partisan vote again. I don't see how that changes. It's going to be pretty serious.

What's going to be interesting to watch is the Department of Justice, and what they do in pre-clearing on this. Because all these voting rights changes are going to have to go through the Dept. of Justice, a new Dept of Justice... that's going to be interesting.

I also think it's going to be interesting to see the votes on the floor. If you go back to look at all the amendment votes on this, to see what people thought was acceptable and what people thought was not acceptable. That's where you're going to see... what's important is in the fine print, and what actually comes out. This is an issue that is important to literally every member of the House.

Before we wrap up, what are people most surprised to learn about you?
A lot of people are surprised to see I'm Indian, since my last name is Philips. It's a South Indian thing. There's a large Christian population in the very Southern edge of India. It's literally from the spice trade, the Spanish and Portuguese explorers, coming around Cape Horn. My family has been Catholic for as long as anyone can remember. St. Thomas was martyred in our home state.

What we do at the end is have you nominate some Impact Players.
If you look at the staff, Shawn Cunningham. He works for state Rep. Bryan McCall. His boss is Chair of Calendars, very involved in all this transition.

Roger Garza is now running the Democratic caucus, so he'd be an interesting guy to talk to since he just moved up into a new role. He's dealing with 74 members and that's always kind of fun.

Dick Lavine, from the Center for Public Policy Priorities, because he's one of those guys that so many people rely on. They're seen as lefty liberal, but their information is so solid. Their information, their data. Half of this game is knowing where to find the data you're looking for.

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