Mayor Mattie Parker and her husband, David Parker, denied allegations Friday that he lobbies for a data center coalition, pushing back on claims that his position at a consulting firm poses a conflict of interest for the mayor as Fort Worth grapples with how to regulate data center development.
A registered Texas lobbyist of more than 20 years, David Parker is a partner at the Austin-based consulting firm Longbow Partners. His employment there came under scrutiny this week when a local activist found David Parker’s name on public filings with the Texas Ethics Commission, where he is listed as a lobbyist for the Virginia-based Data Center Coalition.
In a social media post Friday morning, David Parker wrote that the coalition has been a client of his firm since 2023. However, it’s his colleague — not David Parker himself — who advises the Data Center Coalition on “state-level policies and politics” impacting the data center industry, he said…