The Houston Chronicle recently reported that the town of Shenandoah Texas has hired taxpayer-funded lobbyists for $30,000 this session. At first blush, this is not shocking since our friends at Americans for Prosperity-Texas have estimated that governmental entities in Texas spend up to $52 million in public funds on lobbying, almost always advocating for more government and higher taxes. But we hadn’t heard of Shenandoah so we wondered how many people live there – the answer in 2005 is 1,715.
That means the city of Shenandoah is spending $17.50 in taxpayer money to lobby the Texas Legislature for every man, woman, and child who lives there. That is $70 for a family four. We bet that buys a very nice dinner in Shenandoah, a hamlet in Montgomery County.
For more on this subject, check out our previous post and the interim report by the Texas House, which recommends significant and much needed reforms in this area to prevent taxpayers’ money from being used to extract more of their money. The bottom line is that every Texas community has elected representation in the Legislature so it is inexcusable to pay one level of government to lobby another level of government.
