Texas Democratic Party: Moving Texas Forward

Jeff Weems offers the experience and leadership Texans deserve on the Railroad Commission.

Jeff’s law practice centers on the energy industry; in fact, his whole life has centered on the oil and gas business.

Following in this tradition of his father and grandfathers, Jeff began working for energy service companies while in high school and college, which allowed him to pay his own way. He worked on the rigs and as a drilling mud representative. Jeff’s son, Matthew, is the fourth generation in the business.

Jeff grew up in Houma, Louisiana before moving to Houston during high school. He attended Rice University and graduated with high honors from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 with a B.B.A. in Petroleum Land Management. Except for brief forays brought on by work demands, Jeff has lived in Texas ever since.

After graduating, Jeff went to work for Shell Western E&P Inc. as a landman, taking leases throughout the United States and negotiating countless complex commercial transactions. Later, Jeff left Shell and worked as an independent landman. In 1987, he enrolled at the University of Texas School of Law.

Upon graduating, Jeff began working for Liddell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill & LaBoon, a premier Texas firm. Jeff’s practice focused almost exclusively on energy litigation. A few years after becoming a partner at what was by then known as Locke Liddell & Sapp, Jeff joined Harrison Bettis in 2000 as a partner, (now Harrison, Bettis, Staff, McFarland & Weems, L.L.P.) where he remains today. Jeff’s practice, which involves the representation of operating companies, energy service companies, royalty and land owners, has grown more successful each year.

Jeff’s recent article on royalty treatment for injected carbon dioxide, co-authored with his law partner Robert Boemer, was published by the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas and Energy Law. Jeff is a member of the State Bar of Texas Sections on Litigation and Oil, Gas and Mineral Law. He is rated AV by Martindale Hubbell, the highest rating given out by this preeminent rating organization. Jeff is admitted to practice in Texas, in the Federal District Courts of the Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas, the Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

Jeff is both a member and a speaker for the National Association of Royalty Owners, a member of the American Petroleum Institute, and on the Board of Advisors for the Institute for Energy Law. Jeff is a Life member of the 100 Club, the group that benefits families of slain policemen and firefighters, and is also a life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, the organization that provides funding for affordable legal services throughout Texas.

Jeff lives in Houston with his wife Dinah, and serves as the Democratic Precinct Chair for Precinct 274. They have 5 children – Matthew, Kent, Virginia, Heather, and Lindsay.

When Experience Matters

Texas Railroad Commissioner is not a job that can be performed by any random person with political ambitions.  The job requires a high degree of expertise in the oil and gas industry – the primary area the Commission regulates.

Democratic candidate for Railroad Commissioner Jeff Weems brings a lifetime’s worth of firsthand experience to the Railroad Commission. Republican candidate David Porter, on the other hand, is completely unqualified.

The Amarillo Globe-News called Jeff Weems’ credentials “superior.” [Source: Amarillo-Globe News, 4/11/10]  Weems is an oil and gas attorney by trade, and has worked in the oil and gas industry since high school. He worked his way through college on the rigs and as a drilling mud representative. Jeff earned a degree from the University of Texas in Petroleum Land Management and worked as a landman, negotiating complex commercial transactions. Since earning his law degree from UT, he has spent 20 years as an energy lawyer.

Weems has traveled to over half the counties in Texas, informing voters about his platform and what the Commission does. He has impressed audiences of both consumers and oil and gas industry professionals with his in-depth grasp of oil and gas issues. His platform focuses on creating jobs and maintaining a strong energy industry, the importance of treating everyone equally in front of commission, and taking care of Texas’ resources.

Republican challenger David Porter, on the other hand, has no experience for the job. He told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that his qualifications include working as an accountant and owning property that happens to have pipelines on it. [Source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 2/17/10]

But even worse than his inexperience is that Porter has seemingly no understanding of the responsibilities of the Commission he is trying to lead – and resorts to irrelevant partisan rhetoric to distract from both his inexperience and lack of knowledge.  He thinks global warming is a myth.  [Source:  Porter’s Editorial Endorsement Interview with the Dallas Morning News 2/10]  His disturbing misunderstanding of the role of Railroad Commissioner is evident from his “Why I am Running” statement on his website:

“The Obama administration cap and trade energy tax, the proposed changes in tax law such as doing away with percentage depletion…are a de facto declaration of economic war by the current administration on the Texas oil and gas industry.” [Porter campaign website]

Porter either doesn’t know, or doesn’t care, that the Texas Railroad Commission does not draft, enforce or otherwise deal with federal cap and trade legislation or tax law.

Porter’s campaign has focused on “anti-Washington, D.C., anti-Obama rhetoric” because he is frighteningly inexperienced and has nothing to run on but empty slogans.  As someone who thinks climate change is not real, Porter is unfit to effectively take care of our state’s vast energy resources.  Capitol Inside described Porter as “a candidate who had almost no money and even less name identification for a race that he’d entered 15 minutes before the filing deadline simply because no other challenger had signed up to run for the post.” [Capitol Inside, 4/16/10]

Texans deserve a Railroad Commissioner who understands the job, and Jeff Weems delivers a lifetime of experience.

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Jeff Weems wants to be your next Texas Railroad Commissioner and is thrilled and honored to be the Democratic nominee for that position this year.  Since June of last year, Jeff has been reaching out to voters across our great state so that he can bring needed change to the Commission.

Most voters know that the Railroad Commission no longer has anything to do with railroads.  Rather, the Railroad Commission’s overarching function is to regulate the oil and gas industry in Texas.  When the Railroad Commission was formed initially, it served as an agency protecting farmers from unreasonable tariffs charged by the railroads to transport their products. With the birth of the oil and gas industry, the Railroad Commission assumed regulatory authority over it as well.

The oil and gas business is responsible for more jobs in Texas than any other industry.  We must safeguard these jobs and continue to expand them through reasonable, progressive and forward-looking policies from the Commission.  As Commissioner, Jeff will not only regulate the oil and gas industry, but will serve as a strong advocate for utilizing the natural gas and other resources with which we have been blessed in Texas.

The Railroad Commission is made up of three Commissioners, one being elected every two years. Currently, all three Commissioners are Republicans.  Jeff’s election to the Commission, as a Democrat, will bring needed balance to the Commission and give Texas a greater voice, with more widespread appeal both statewide and nationally, in energy policy discussions.

Disparity in treatment of those affected by the actions of the Railroad Commission needs to end.  Landowners, consumers and operating companies frequently get short shrift at the Commission.  Jeff will make sure everyone has a seat at the table and is treated fairly and with respect in their dealings with the Commission.

Two of the three current Commissioners, Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams, have been running for U.S. Senate for well over a year and will continue to do so until the 2012 election.  This has been disastrous for the Railroad Commission because, while they campaigned for other offices and a potential move up the political ladder, critically important matters went unaddressed.  Things are so bad that the Texas Sunset Commission is looking into cutting back the Railroad Commission’s authority because the current commissioners are distracted. Jeff will work hard as a Railroad Commissioner – in fact, he has publicly averred he will never run for another political office.  After thirty-five years in the oil and gas business, from being a sixteen year-old loading sacks of chemicals for drilling fluids to being a partner in a law firm specializing in energy matters, Jeff Weems is uniquely and exceptionally qualified to serve as a Railroad Commissioner for the citizens of Texas.