Taxpayer funded lobbyists "paid handsomely" but what do they do?

Taxpayers and citizens advocates - take notice! We thought you might like this post by Phil Fountain, referencing the HillCo lobby war:
http://www.empowertexans.com/Issues/lobby_war_greater_transparency


The section is particularly interesting:

...Particularly when many lobbyists are "getting paid handsomely" (a phrase used by Mr. Schwartz) to represent governmental entities, such as cities, counties, school districts, municipal utility districts (or MUDs), etc., yet there is little to show for their work. There's typically not a written legislative agenda regarding specific legislation, and tax-funded lobbyists rarely testify before legislative committees.

Take Fred Hill, for example, he's a former legislator that now represents governmental entities as a lobbyist. During the 2009 legislative session, Mr. Hill appears to have been paid by at least eight North Texas cities, yet never once testified at a public committee hearing.

Taxpayer-funded lobby league grows -- at your expense

Frank Sturzl, who has headed the lobby association Texas Municipal League, is joining a binaries lobby firm – Hillco Partners. He will be director of municipal practices.

Yes, taxpayers, our opposition to taxpayer-funded lobbying has resulted in firms beefing up their gravy train practice. Taxpayers – you are funding this effort.

Hillco Partners is only one of a number of lobby firms along with individuals who lobby using your tax dollars...often lobbying to raise your taxes.

Hillco Partners last session earned as much as a million dollars or more lobbying the state legislature on behalf of local governments.

AFP has a solution -- rely on your elected officials at the local and state levels to communicate with one another and act in your best interests. We should not be paying lobbyists from public funds. Period.

BTW - Frank Sturzl is the individual who referred to Americans for Prosperity's taxpayer tour as an "Anti-City Jihad".

Has TML gone too far attempting to close the door on Open Meetings?

Over the weekend, the Dallas Morning News ran a scathing editorial about Texas Municipal League’s attack on the open meetings act. TML's antics to hire lobbyists to lobby against taxpayer interests have not gone unnoticed. Now, TML has finally gone too far.


This appeared in Friday’s edition:


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-open_27edi.State.Edition1.2658444.html



Some choice quotes:

“For city councils and other government bodies, avoiding these [criminal] consequences is pretty simple: Don't schedule secret meetings or make decisions behind closed doors. Amazingly, the Texas Municipal League and some Texas cities have decided that's too much to ask. “

“Of course, arguing that a weak open-meetings law would somehow bolster free speech requires some tortured logic, but that's their argument, and they're sticking to it. Quite simply, these efforts aim to water down the Open Meetings Act by removing the threat of criminal penalties, rendering the law toothless and somewhat pointless.”

“Taxpayers in every Texas city have a stake in this. If open-government laws are watered down, public officials could ease down a slippery slope. Conversations among a quorum of council members could easily morph into informal votes and the opportunity to orchestrate the outcome before a public meeting commences. “

Government to Lobby Itself

We’ve seen it at the local level in Texas – taxpayers (via local taxes) being forced to fund lobbyists who lobby the state. Now, the feds are playing that game.

As a candidate, Barack Obama repeatedly pledged that no lobbyist would work in his White House. But does that policy apply to his auto companies? It’s a timely question, as General Motors, soon to be majority-owned by the U.S. government, announced this week that it planned to retain its in-house lobbying staff (although it is cancelling contracts with its outside lobbyists).

GM issued a statement explaining the decision, stating that the company has “an obligation to stay engaged” on key issues.

Thanks for pointing this out, Heritage Foundation. Read more here: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/03/gm-to-keep-lobbyists-government-to-influence-itself/

If you want to end this practice, work with us at Americans for Prosperity. Join now - go to www.afptx.org

-- Peggy Venable

Lobbyists, local officials, Rep. Truitt desperate

Rep. Vicki Truitt and Sen. John Carona are desperate. It appears they don't have local support from taxpayers for their so-called "local option" transportation tax.

It didn't pass, so the provisions were tacked onto the Texas Department of Transportation Sunset legislation. A bold move as most House members voted NOT to include it in the bill.

The local-option tax would be a tax increase. Have we ever seen local officials have taxing authority they didn't use? And if voters vote it down, local officials will continue to put it on the ballot until it passes. We've seen that with school bond initiatives.

These local officials have spent literally millions of dollars on lobbyists to promote this new taxing authority. So, taxpayers, congratulations. You are funding those high-priced lobbyists to promote a new tax -- taxing YOU. The lobby firm representative said it was a "classic lobby deal." So much for taxpayers' interests. If this were something taxpayers wanted, these officials wouldn't need this high-priced lobby firm.

Yesterday, the bill sponsors sent out a frantic email asking local officials and chamber of commerce folks to show up for a press conference on the south steps of the Capitol today. And Rep. Truitt provided her local leaders with phone numbers of representatives to call to encourage them to vote for the bill. That's highly unusual.

This rally/press conference will be in stark contrast to the recent tea parties held across the state in which on April 15 around 100,000 Texans turned out saying "no" to new taxes.

Americans for Prosperity-Texas opposes the new taxing authority as does Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, the NFIB-Texas and other taxpayer-friendly groups.

What is our answer to gridlock? End the gas tax diversions, set spending priorities at the local level, and stop using our money to fund lobbyists (who lobby against taxpayer protections.)

It might be useful to point out that these same local officials who want this tax have lobbyed against taxpayer protections such as an automatic rollback vote when local entities take in more 8% or more in property taxes due to appraisal increases. These local officials don't want taxpayers to be able to LOWER their taxes, but want the ability to put tax INCREASES on the ballot at will.

This classic lobby deal deserves a smack-down. Taxpayers will be rallying at the Capitol to say "NO" to this new tax.

Your tax dollars working to oppose you

Most Texans want lower property taxes and support lowering the appraisal cap on homesteads – or on all property. Here is the view from the Texas Association of Counties (your tax dollars at work) of the Ways and Means hearing this week on property tax caps.


”…So many county officials signed in against the appraisal cap bills on Wednesday that one committee member quipped there must have only been five counties not mentioned in the long list of names read opposing the bills.

”Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley testified against the bills, with Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector Betsy Price testifying to answer committee members’ questions regarding the effective tax rate and the fact that counties do not receive a windfall from the supplemental rolls after all protests have been settled.

”Rural county judges met at the Capitol that morning, and many later attended the hearing, signing in to officially oppose the bills, as did Dallas County Commissioner Mike Cantrell who planned to testify but found himself caught in another committee at the time.

”The Texas Association of Counties, County Judges and Commissioners Association, Texas Conference of Urban Counties and Texas Municipal League joined the individual county officials in opposing the bills, as did representatives of business and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

”… We will keep you posted regarding further action on these bills, as well as the upcoming committee schedules regarding appraisal reform and revenue cap bills.”

You may recall, TAC is the organization that is paying former Local Ways and Means Chairman Fred Hill as much as $200,000 a year to lobby the legislature. We don't know when he stopped working for his constituents and started working for TAC, but he had the lobby contract in hand as he left the legislature Jan. 13. In addition to the TAC contract, he also has contacts from other taxing entities totalling well over a half-million dollars a year.

Your tax dollars at work - working against you.

Texas Watchdog nails Fred Hill's revolving door

NEWS RELEASE
February 19, 2009


The online news site Texas Watchdog spotlights Richardson Republican Fred Hill, who for years was chairman of the House Local Government Ways and Means Committee.

Hill is the latest lawmaker to go through Capitol Hill's revolving door and become a lobbyist. Hill now represents a handful of North Texas city and town governments in Austin, work for which he could be paid almost $700,000.

Check out the story on www.texaswatchdog.org or follow this link: http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2009/02/former-state-rep-fred-hill-now-lobbying-on-behalf-of-cities-counties/

Critics of the revolving door say voters and taxpayers are unable to tell when lawmakers stop thinking like lawmakers and start thinking like someone on the hunt for a job. And in Hill's case – like many others who have waltzed through the revolving door – he went hunting for work from entities that had much to gain or lose from the actions on his committee: local governments.

Go to Texas Watchdog to get the documents that indicate Hill began thinking about a lobbying job in the months before he left the legislature. He registered his lobbying firm – a limited liability corporation called Solutions for Local Control – with the Secretary of State's office on Nov. 20, records show.

In most cases, lawmakers don't start lobbying duties until their replacement is sworn in. This year, that would have been Jan. 13. But by Jan. 3, the former chairman of the House Local Government Ways and Means Committee was asking for business from local governments, according to documents that can be seen exclusively at Texas Watchdog.

For more information, contact:
Texas Watchdog Editor Trent Seibert at 713-980-9776 or 615-289-9549 or at trent@texaswatchdog.org

Fred Hill has a new job - lobbying against taxpayers

Congratulations, Taxpayers, you may be paying a lobbyist a half million dollars –
To lobby against you

Former Rep. Fred Hill has a new title -- lobbyist. It appears Mr. Hill left the legislature and fell into a lucrative business making as much as over a half million dollars lobbying. Funny things is, we taxpayers are paying his salary. He’s working for taxing entities and some of their associations.

We don’t know just what he’s making, because he isn’t required to report that, even though he’s taking tax dollars. But the range is anywhere from $360,000 to almost $675,000.

Taxing entities could do a lot with that money, other than lobby against taxpayers.

That’s right, he has joined the ranks of former Rep. Carter Casteel who, upon her defeat, went right to work for the Texas Association of Counties. TAC is one of the organizations using our tax dollars to oppose taxpayer protections.

So for taxpayers who want to limit the growth of government, beware. If you want the opportunity to determine just how much government you want and are willing to pay for, Fred Hill is lobbying against you. And he’s doing it on your dime.

You may remember Fred Hill as the legislator who said that taxpayer protection legislation was like “a snake in the grass” and that he needed to “take a hoe and kill it.”

We hear he is still gathering city clients -- and some are just saying "no."

This information was found in the Texas Ethics Commission lobby reports:

Hill, Fred (00020297)
(972)897-3160
909 N. Waterview Drive Richardson, TX 75080

City of Allen
305 Century Parkway Allen, TX 75013
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$25,000 - $49.999.99
Client Start Date: 01/28/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009

City of Coppell
PO Box 478 Coppell, TX 75019
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$25,000 - $49.999.99
Client Start Date: 01/22/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009

City of Farmers Branch
13000 William Dodson Parkway Farmers Branch, TX 75234
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$25,000 - $49.999.99
Client Start Date: 01/25/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009

City of Richardson
411 W. Arapaho Rd. Richardson, TX 75080
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$50,000 - $99,999.99
Client Start Date: 01/28/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009

Conference of Urban Counties
500 W. 13th Street Austin, TX 78701
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$50,000 - $99,999.99
Client Start Date: 01/16/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009

Texas Association Of Counties
1210 San Antonio Street Austin, TX 78701
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$150,000 - $199,999.99
Client Start Date: 01/16/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009

Town of Addison
PO Box 9010 Addison, TX 75001
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$25,000 - $49.999.99
Client Start Date: 01/24/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009

Town of Flower Mound
2121 Cross Timbers Road Flower Mound, TX 75028
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$10,000 - $24,999.99
Client Start Date: 01/14/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009

Update - Hill has two new clients...


City of Dallas
1500 Marilla 4E Dallas, TX 75201
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$25,000 - $49.999.99
Client Start Date: 02/03/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009


Dallas Area Rapid Transit
PO Box 660163 Dallas, TX 75266
Type of Compensation: Prospective
$10,000 - $24,999.99
Client Start Date: 02/05/2009
Client Term Date: 12/31/2009

lobby prohibition is the ticket price of admission to the public trough

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) said Monday she will propose a bill requiring that financial institutions participating in the Treasury's $700 billion financial-markets rescue plan be banned from lobbying with that money.Fine, Sen. Feinstein, but that doesn’t go far enough.

Taxpayer-funded lobbying is a betrayal of taxpayers’ trust. No public dollars should be used to lobby.

Washington’s $3 billion-a-year lobby industry may fight the ban, but a complete prohibition should be the price of admission for accepting public dollars.

Lobbying is part of a democratic system, but it isn’t ever appropriate to lobby with tax dollars.

We’ve have seen associations representing cities, counties and school districts across the country spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying congress and state legislatures. Unfortunately, their lobby agenda is often anti-taxpayer. They lobby to defeat taxpayer protections such as spending and revenue caps. And they do it with our money.

So either accept public funding and stop lobbying or refuse public funding and lobby. It's as simple as that.

A lobby prohibition is the ticket price of admission to the public trough.

Let's see if Sen. Feinstein would support that ticket.

Edinburg officials can't count on their legislators

The City and Edinburg Economic Development Council don’t trust their legislators. That’s right, Sen. Juan Hinojosa and Rep. Aaron Pena have gotten a vote of “no confidence” by local officials and leaders. Edinburg leaders, in “preparing for legislative session” have hired a lobbyist who they credit with past legislative victories. That’s right – they don’t praise their legislative representatives, but the lobbyist for “establishing a known presence at the State Capitol in Austin,” according to City Manager J.J. Rodriquez. So much for Sen. Hinojosa and Rep. Pena...

Edinburg taxpayers, you are paying for a lobbyist who may very well lobby against taxpayer interests. Most city and county lobbyists oppose taxpayer protections. It is up to taxpayers to review the legislative agenda for the City and chamber of commerce. Make sure the legislative priorities are YOUR TAXPAYER priorities to keep more of your hard-earned money. After all, tax dollars are being used to pay your lobbyist.

Read about the lobbyist hire here:
http://www.edinburgpolitics.com/2008/09/14/edinburg-prepares-for-legislative-session-eedc-city-government-to-split-lobbyists-60000-annual-fee/