By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief
On a podcast episode on Monday night, Mayor Ginger Nelson defended the practice of using Amarillo taxpayers' dollars to cover the salaries of Austin lobbyists, all while comparing our community to a toilet.
During an interview with Dan Butcher on the High Plains Pundit Podcast, Butcher pushed Nelson over the issue of taxpayer-funded lobbying, as data from Transparency USA shows local taxpayers have spent as much as $465,000 since 2019 on lobbyist salaries. When Butcher mentioned that the lobbyists employed by the City of Amarillo are not from our community and do not understand the issues in our community, Nelson defended the practice, saying it is no different than hiring a plumber to work on a toilet.
“And I would give the analogy of a plumber or an electrician who comes to work in your house,” Nelson said. “They're not part of your family. They don't know your family values or your character. But they sure know the one issue you need them to work on and that is a flushing toilet. And that is an important issue and you can tell them our priority is this flushing toilet and they know how to make flushing toilets or non-flushing toilets flush again.”
I wish I could say her statement is unbelievable but really it isn’t.
Over the past four years, Nelson and her establishment cronies have neglected issues in this city, all while growing government, empowering the establishment, and kicking citizens out of City Hall. And this doesn’t even take into account the unreasonable and excessive spending by Nelson and the City Council and their approval of four consecutive years of tax increases.
And now Nelson thinks it's acceptable to compare Amarillo to a toilet?
Because of Nelson and her Amarillo Matters PAC-owned cronies, Amarillo has suffered tremendous financial mismanagement. Last year, Amarillo did not even receive enough revenue from designated streams to cover debt service on key projects. Yet, Amarillo elected officials have continued to send our tax dollars downstate to wealthy Austin lobbyists who do not understand the issues our own city faces.
Nelson’s tenure has been bad enough, but for her to now compare lobbyists employed by taxpayers to plumbers working on a toilet is beyond unacceptable. The only proper analogy featuring taxpayer-funded lobbying and toilet would be to say we have been flushing our tax dollars down the drain while Nelson and her big-money donors and the wealthy Austin lobbyists making a killing off of Amarillo taxpayers are laughing all the way to the bank.
Ginger Nelson’s campaign website says she viewed Amarillo as her “shining city on the hill” when growing up in Spearman. Maybe in Spearman it's viewed as acceptable to compare a great city a toilet, but that’s not what I was taught in Amarillo.
I am a lifelong resident of this community who loves everything about the Texas Panhandle. The people, the places, the scenery, and the general attitude of the individuals in this community are just a few of the things that make this city great. And for my Mayor — the person who is supposed to be my elected voice — to compare my hometown to a toilet speaks volumes.
Mayor Nelson, if you really believe it is acceptable to defend taxpayer-funded lobbying by comparing the city you are elected to represent to a toilet, then it’s probably time for you to pack your bags and leave City Hall. Your disconnect from reality is clear from your statements on this podcast.
I never thought I would have to mention this, but I have never heard Nelson’s primary challenger, businessman Michael Hunt, or any of the other candidates compare Amarillo to a toilet. But, I guess Mayor Nelson is once again striving to be the example of what servant leadership doesn't look like.
Here's the bottom line: Amarillo cannot afford taxpayer-funded lobbying if we cannot even afford our debt service for the year. And beyond that, Amarillo deserves a representative who views this community as more than just a toilet bowl that needs a plumber to make it flush again.
Amarillo voters, remember this statement come May 1. It's time to end taxpayer-funded lobbying and it's time for a new mayor in Amarillo.
Nelson/Photo by Campaign