Absurdity is the only word to describe such actions

Many are screaming they need a bailout; however, some cities have an abundance of taxpayer funds to use in the absurd manner of lobbying against the desires of the taxpayer.

The good folks at AFP report that congratulations are in order for former state representative Fred Hill. It appears he hit a jackpot! "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 on Jan. 13 and within two weeks had lobby contracts lined up, making as much as over a half million dollars lobbying. We don’t know precisely what he’s making because he isn’t required to report that, even though he’s taking tax dollars. Still, the range is anywhere from $360,000 to almost $675,000." His client list:

City of Allen $25,000 - $49.999.99
City of Coppell $25,000 - $49.999.99
City of Farmers Branch $25,000 - $49.999.99
City of Richardson $50,000 - $99,999.99
Conference of Urban Counties $50,000 - $99,999.99
Texas Association Of Counties $150,000 - $199,999.99
Town of Addison $25,000 - $49.999.99
Town of Flower Mound $10,000 - $24,999.99
and he is still signing others up as clients.

The city of Austin has 15 lobbyists and is paying more than $1 million in lobbying fees.
Houston has 17 lobbyists and is spending as much as $950,000. Dallas has 11 and is spending as much as $450,000, and San Antonio has nine lobbyists, spending more than $800,000. To our knowledge Fred Hill is not representing these cities as of this writing.

What's wrong with this picture?

We taxpayers elect our local, state, and federal officials to work together. We should not have to worry that while we are working hard to take care of our families, earn a living, and pay taxes, some of our hard-earned tax dollars are being used to lobby for policies that raise our taxes, and dig deeper into our pockets.

In a new note from Empower Texans:

"On the one hand, the City of Austin is spending almost $1 million of the taxpayers money to lobby legislators. On the other hand, residents can expect reduced services as the city faces a large budget shortfall. Why not cut out the taxpayer-funded lobbyists?"

Sign the petition to stop the use of taxpayer funds to lobby against your wishes:

http://texastaxpayers.com/taxpayer-lobbying