Lightfoot, now a Texan, following politics from the sideline

Jim Ross Lightfoot still follows politics, but from the sidelines.

“I just sit on the outside and complain,” the former Iowa Republican congressman joked Friday from Texas where he operates Lightfoot Strategies.

Although it's been 14 years since leaving office, Lightfoot keeps a finger in the process by advising clients interested in the congressional appropriations process.

“You got to make a buck and pay the taxes,” said Lightfoot, 71, who was an Appropriations subcommittee chairman.

He opened the consulting firm in White Oak, in the eastern Texas Piney Woods region in 2009. After spending 10 years with Forensic Technology Inc., he was part of a downsizing. He remains on the board of directors of the international company that applies computer technology to firearms identification.

A country boy at heart, Lightfoot said he and his wife, Nancy, wanted to get away from the crime and crowding in Florida where they made their post-congressional home.

“I need to see some green grass and be able to throw a stone and not hit my neighbor's house,” he said.

The Piney Woods region is more like south central Iowa “except for the pine trees,” he said. “We're not in the desert, armadillos and scorpions part of Texas.”

Nancy is a Texas native and Lightfoot said he's found plenty to like.

“The cost of living is low and there's no state income tax,” he said. “And it doesn't matter whether it's a Mercedes or an old pickup, it's just $51 a year to register it.”

Plus, he added, “There's no snow to scoop.”