by Peggy Venable

When Thomas Jefferson wrote, "To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical," he likely had no idea the practice would become commonplace.

For Texas local governments, lobbying appears to be a growth industry.

Just six years ago, the Texas Association of Counties had eight registered lobbyists. This year their lobby list grew to 15.

According to Texas Ethics Commission reports, the Texas Municipal League has 15 lobbyists and spent between $635,000 and $1.3 million lobbying.

In stark contrast, the Texas Association of Business -- the state chamber of commerce -- has only five lobbyists. And they aren’t at public expense.

Education lobbyists are no exception. The Texas Association of School Boards had six registered lobbyists in 2001. This year they had 8 and spent between $350,000 to $650,000.

In 2001, Dallas ISD had four lobbyists; Northwest ISD didn’t have any. This session, they had eight and nine, respectively.

Legislation which would have required putting 65% toward instruction, greater fiscal accountability, and disclosure of lobbying expenses by school districts was met with massive opposition by the education lobby, much of it fueled by tax dollars.

Heaven forbid! Putting more education money in the classroom could cut down on the amount schools can spend on lobbying and on suing the state for more money.

Organizations of government entities should not be lobbying the Legislature. Taxpayers can’t and shouldn’t have to compete with organizations they fund.

Taxpayer-funded lobbying clearly distorts the democratic process. Allowing the government the ability to allocate tax dollars for lobbying transforms government from its appropriate role as a neutral policy-maker into an advocate of certain policies and ideologies. This situation produces fertile ground for abuse. It also provides a shield for elected officials in cities, counties, and schools to hide behind the lobbying activities of organizations and other lobby-hired guns.

This weekend, as the Texas Association of School Administrators and the Texas Association of School Boards were scheduled to meet in Houston (the conference was postponed due to Hurricane Rita), the conference website touted sponsorship of six architectural firms and various school vendors.

It doesn’t pass the “smell test” for architects and education vendors to be sponsoring education conferences.

An Apple computer education executive was one of the “distinguished lecturers.” Apple has positioned its company to benefit should the Legislature decide to replace textbooks with laptops.

It is fair to surmise that taxpayers don’t benefit when education vendors sponsor school association conferences and school districts both lobby legislators and join organizations that lobby.

And clearly taxpayers lose when tax dollars are used to sue the state for more tax dollars.

Most taxpayers -- busy earning a living and working to make ends meet -- likely have no clue that their tax dollars are being used to fund lawsuits and lobbyists who, in turn, demand more of their hard-earned tax dollars.

Gov. Rick Perry set many educrats squealing like pigs with his executive order requiring school districts to disclose their expenses for lobbying, public relations and lawsuits (including expenses for the school finance lawsuit suing the state for more funding). But that information will likely provide taxpayers with some interesting factoids.

Disclosure is long overdue.

It is appropriate for taxing entities to post on their websites how much is spent lobbying and suing. Legislative hearings should require that lobbyists declare whether they are paid by an entity that receives public funding.

The first step is to increase disclosure. The bright light of public scrutiny can be a powerful disinfectant. But a prohibition on taxpayer funded lobbying is needed.

Pitting the tax spender against the taxpayer clearly distorts the legislative process. Voices of taxpayers are being overshadowed by powerful entities and hired guns.

Thomas Jefferson will likely be joined by legions of taxpayers who share his disdain at the practice of using taxpayers’ own money to lobby against taxpayer interests.

This article appeared in The Lone Star Report.