While interest groups generally do not put their own members into elected office, they do often seek to put their members into appointed offices, where they can carry out their state responsibilities in ways which favor policies supported by the interest groups which helped them get appointed.

In Texas, the Governor is responsible for appointing the members of approximately 125 multimember boards and commissions. These boards and commissions, some with broad policy mandates, make public policy on the often narrowly defined issues around which organized interests are likely to form. Consequently, organized interests, including businesses, associations, lobbying groups, and law firms, seek policy making appointments for their representatives in these government agencies.

One typical way interest groups seek to obtain political appointments is through campaign contributions. Watchdog groups such as Texans for Public Justice monitor the extent to which organized interests gain appointments and influence on government boards and commissions, often as payback for campaign contributions to politicians who exercise influence over executive branch appointments. Representatives of organized interests and businesspeople who contribute to political campaigns frequently become appointees to boards overseeing areas of public policy related to their expertise and their interests.

Interest groups frequently concentrate their efforts on relatively small components of state and local government that have concentrated authority over areas of public policy that impact individual groups. These include specific boards, commissions, and agencies. They also include governmental organizations that have concentrated geographic responsibilities like state judicial districts and legislative seats.

This typically narrow interest group focus leads some observers to suggest that interest groups organize subgovernments within the broader state government. Subgovernments usually take the form of triangular relationships between interest groups active in some policy area and the relevant bureaucratic agency and legislative committee with jurisdiction over that area of public policy. In states like Texas where judges are elected, one might loosen this definition to include any "policy subsystem" involving at least one interest group and at least one governmental organization.