“We applaud the ruling which came out today as  a victory for taxpayers.  The ruling acknowledges that the Texas Association of Counties has been operating outside the law and that counties cannot use general revenue funds to join associations which lobby.  We will continue to fight to protect all tax dollars from being used to lobby.” 

 “Though this action is against one association, we are aware this practice is widespread.  We will work to see that state law is upheld and we are also committed to eliminating all public dollars from lobbying activities.” 

“Taxpayers should not be forced to finance lobbying activities.  Taxpayer-funded groups lobby for more of our tax dollars and oppose taxpayer protections.  It is a vicious cycle, and it’s fiscally, morally and ethically wrong”.

Peggy Venable, Texas director of Americans for Prosperity, joined AFP members Janice Brauner and Judy Morris, in filing the lawsuit. 

The lawsuit asserts that Williamson County has used general revenue funds to support county associations, including the Texas Association of Counties (TAC).  TAC employs registered lobbyists and participates in lobbying activities.

In the recent legislative session, county associations, funded with public dollars, opposed taxpayer protections that would have provided greater public accountability and transparency that would have helped end “taxation by valuation” and would have provided “truth in taxation.”  The county associations joined the cities’ lobby and opposed both appraisal and revenue caps. 

Lobbying with taxpayer dollars costs Williamson county residents approximately a half million dollars in the past 10 years, Venable said.   AFP estimates that millions of public dollars are spent on lobbying in each session.

One of our Founding Fathers found this practice objectionable.  Thomas Jefferson said, “To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”

Attorneys representing the plaintiffs are David Rogers and former Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith, Texas Legal Foundation. 

"The Texas Legal Foundation is pleased to represent the plaintiffs in this case because we believe in the principles of government accountability, limited government spending, the rule of law, and representation of the people through their elected representatives," Smith said.  "We believe that all these principles are endangered when taxpayers are illegally taxed in order to pay lobbyists to persuade the Legislature to raise taxes."

“We need more public officials like Cheryl Johnson, County Tax Assessor and Collector for Galveston County, who said that the county associations’ responsibility should be to educate and assist the counties and not to lobby,” said Venable. 

“This is an unusual action for AFP and represents the first lawsuit we have been involved in,” Venable said.  “But we wanted this to be a wake-up call to elected officials that taxpayer money should not be used for lobbying.”

Venable also cited other taxpayer-funded lobbying activities, though not in violation of state law, as inappropriate use of tax dollars.  She cited the City of Austin as having 26 lobbyists listed with the Texas Ethics Commission; the City of Houston has 23; Dallas Independent School District has eight, the Texas Municipal League has 14 and the Texas Association of Counties has nine lobbyists.  In comparison, the Texas Association of Business – essentially the state chamber of commerce – during that same time span had only five lobbyists. 

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Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org