An online resume posted by State Rep. Fred Brown has a political opponent questioning whether the Bryan Republican is inappropriately using his position to further his career.
And the opponent, Rick Davis, said the posting suggests Brown may not be fully committed to the seat.
The resume was posted on the automotive industry Web site autonews.com. Its existence was first noticed by Davis, who is one of three opponents challenging Brown's re-election bid in the 2010 Republican primary. A copy of the resume was later obtained by The Eagle.
The listing doesn't give Brown's name but describes a "State Representative, District 14 State of Texas" seeking a senior executive position in the auto industry.
It says that Brown would be willing to relocate out of Brazos County and lists two registered auto industry lobbyists as references.
The full resume states that Brown "carried legislation for car dealers and blocked proposed legislation that would hurt the Texas body of car dealers."
It lists four references, including two -- Tom Blanton and Drew Campbell -- who are registered with the Texas Ethics Commission as lobbyists for Texas car dealers. The other two references are former State Speaker of the House Tom Craddick and Texas A&M University System Chancellor Mike McKinney, who is Gov. Rick Perry's former chief of staff.
Brown said that including the two lobbyists as references was "absolutely not" inappropriate. He said he knew the pair from his work for car dealerships in Bryan, Navasota and Killeen before he became a state representative.
But Davis disagreed.
"I think it indicates a lack of genuineness and a motivation by self-interest," Davis said.
Blanton is vice president of government affairs for the Texas Association of Auto Dealers, and Campbell is president of the New Car Dealers Association of Metropolitan Dallas. Campbell has maintained his registration as a lobbyist, but hasn't made any lobbying expenditures since 2005, according to a database maintained by the online public policy publication Texas Tribune.
Blanton has spent $7,637 in the past four years, and said in an e-mail interview Friday that he has lobbied Brown in that time.
"Of course I have," he said. "It's my job to articulate the position of the franchised new car and truck dealers to elected members of the House and the Senate."
He added that Brown has demonstrated "total independence and an instinct for doing what he believes to be the right thing for his district and for Texas, regardless of who might have lobbied him."
Campbell said he had no knowledge of the resume posted on autonews.com, but said that he was friends with Brown long before he joined the Legislature and gave him permission to use his name in any way he chose.
But Davis suggested that the resume gave an appearance of impropriety.
"It suggests that he is beholden to certain groups," he said. "As a selling point in his resume, he advertises that he blocked legislation that was bad for auto dealers."
To ask for a job from the people who benefited from that work is inappropriate, Davis suggested.
Davis, who was a judge and now works as a defense attorney, stressed that he wouldn't be beholden to any group representing lawyers or any other profession.
Davis also stressed that a notice attached to the resume seemed to indicate that Brown was willing to relocate outside Brazos County. Davis questioned whether that showed Brown was not committed to staying in his district.
Texas legislators are part-time lawmakers and most have other careers. Brown says in the resume that he worked in the auto business from the 1980s until 2003, when, he said, he began to focus more closely on his work as a representative.
Brown said that he posted the resume about three months ago while he was still deciding whether to seek re-election. He said he has turned several offers down since deciding to stay in the race.
Davis countered that the Web site indicates the resume was updated two weeks ago.
But Brown said the resume shouldn't be considered a big deal.
"If I were [Davis], I would be more concerned about being admonished by the State Judicial Conduct Commission," Brown said, referring to two separate reprimands Davis faced while he was a judge, including one time when the board found he was using his office to carry out personal vendettas.
The scuffle is the first in what is expected to be a competitive race for the Republican nomination for the District 14 seat. Brown, who has served in the House since 1998, is being challenged by Davis, former Brazos County Tax Assessor-Collector Gerald "Buddy" Winn and Blinn College administrator Blanche Brick.
Winn and Brick stayed out of last week's disagreement.
"I am not going to sit down in that hog pen and get in the mud," Winn said on Friday. "I am going to run on my own merits."
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