Sid Miller hired Walt Roberts in a high position, but there are significant questions about Roberts role as a lobbyist before. 

The Austin American-Statesman (http://atxne.ws/1F8Mrjh ) reports that in fact, records and interviews suggest Walt Roberts was still being paid to influence the state government when he joined the state payroll, and for several months afterward. If so, that would be an unacknowledged conflict of interest between Roberts’ public and private employers.

Interviews and records at the Texas Ethics Commission also show that Roberts in the past has been paid to lobby but hadn’t registered as a lobbyist. State laws promoting transparency call for lobbyists to register if they are paid to communicate with policymakers more than 5 percent of their compensated time.