An old-time plutocrat once said, "A million here, a million there...pretty soon, it really starts to add up."
That thought came to mind as I began to realize the extent of the problem with taxpayer-funded lobbying in Texas.
Taxpayer-funded lobbying is when cities, counties and school districts pay our tax money in dues to belong to organizations who then go out and spend that money to hire lobbyists, who head on down to Austin to lobby for whatever they lobby for.
Usually, what they lobby for is legislation that costs the taxpayers even more money.
But even if these lobbyists were heading down to Austin to beg for lower taxes and smaller governments, it still wouldn't be right.
It's not right when your hard-earned tax dollars go to pay a lobbyist to argue on behalf of legislation you don't agree with.
This violates fundamental ideas about fairness and democracy.
What has surprised me as I've studied the taxpayer-funded lobbying organizations in Texas is how many of them there are.
A little here and a little there...pretty soon it really starts to add up.
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I applaud your group for taking a stand. As a former employee of one of the Association, I can say without a doubt the major mission of these organization is to generate dollars to be used for lobbying. The method of collection of these funds is the most disturbing, which include overcharging for services provided by other entities at lower prices and using tax payer dollars to fund "start up" businesses within these associations to generate more funding. I can say unequivocally that the common taxpayer is on the losing end of the stick with these associations.
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