11.13.06
Funny Perry, GOP Corruption Editorial In AAS
Texans paying $15,000 a month for a GOP lobby in a Democratic Capitol. Here’s a couple of excerpts.
Texans lost a ton of influence in Washington when Democrats took command of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives after last week’s elections.
We have our state leaders and former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to thank for that. The loss of clout was compounded because state GOP leaders took partisanship to new levels, from a divisive mid-census redistricting to questionable campaign financing artifices.
One of those partisan stratagems was to hire private GOP lobbyists to represent the state in the halls of Congress. With the coming shift in power in Washington, that decision has backfired spectacularly.
Now that the Democrats will control the agenda in the Capitol, the Republican lobbyists the state’s leaders hired can only hurt Texans, not help them. It was a mistake when Gov. Rick Perry chose to hire lobbyists connected to DeLay, now languishing in disgrace and facing criminal charges, and the Washington lobby he cultivated. It’s a bigger mistake to continue to pay them $15,000 a month.
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Using taxpayer money to pay private, partisan lobbyists was a dubious strategy to begin with. Now that the worm has turned in Washington, Perry’s decision could be disastrous for Texas. These lobby firms ignored Democrats all year — and worse, worked to defeat them — and the Democrats won’t forget it.
Democratic leaders have asked Perry to dump these wasteful contracts with tainted lobbyists and let the Office of State-Federal Relations handle the state’s lobby work in the new Congress. Perry should heed that advice.
Texans should not have to pay GOP activists to represent their interests before the Democratic majority in the House and Senate. Governor, dump these disastrous lobbyists and terminate these harmful contracts for the good of Texas.
Funny in a sad way. How the hell did this guy get reelected?