Lobbying Central to Upcoming HBO Series
The portrayal of lobbying state and, hopefully, a few local officials will
soon be in the hands of Lawrence Wright, the Pulitzer Prize-winning
author of <i>The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11</i>
and, most recently, <i>Going Clear:
Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief</i>.<br>
<br>
But the portrayal will not be in the form of a book. According to <a href="http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2014-06-18/hbo-visits-the-dom…; target="”_blank”">an
article yesterday in the Austin <i>Chronicle</a>,
</i>Wright will be scripting an HBO series called <i>God Save
Texas,</i> based loosely on his 2004 play, <i>Sonny's Last Shot.</i>
The story is about "a down-home, honest kind of Texas lawmaker who
finds himself embroiled in all the corruption, pressure,
gladhanding, and flawed morality that Texas politics can allow."<br>
<br>
According to the article, the first season will not be focused on a
love story or the tensions of rivals, but rather on "the ongoing
drought, [putting] the power of the oil and gas companies (can we
say fracking?) under the microscope."<br>
<br>
It's a good sign that the play involved the protagonist breaking
from his political party on the issue of campaign finance reform (he was for it). Yes, you read that
right: campaign finance reform as a dramatic topic. Lobbying
is sure to be central to the TV show. And who knows? Maybe there
will even be some great conflict of interest situations.<br>
<br>
Since the series is in development now, there's time to lobby Wright
for the inclusion of government ethics scenarios in his scripts.<br>
<br>
For a preview, check out <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/search/node/texas" target="”_blank”">City Ethics blog posts about situations in Texas</a> at the state and local levels.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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