City Council Challengers, Incumbents Split on Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying

This is the first of a new series of articles before the May 1 election day detailing the stances of Amarillo City Council candidates on key issues. Responses by the candidates were taken from their questionnaire responses for the 2021 Amarillo Pioneer Voter Guide, which will be released in the coming days.

On the topic of taxpayer-funded lobbying, there is a clear divide between the challengers and incumbents seeking seats on the Amarillo City Council this year.

The topic of taxpayer-funded lobbying has been a hot one in recent years in Texas, with many activists and lawmakers expressing opposition to local government use of lobbyists to advocate against issues like property tax relief. In fact, the sentiment against taxpayer-funded lobbying has grown so strong in recent years that the Republican Party of Texas has made ending the practice one of its legislative priorities for 2021. This followed a vote by Republican primary voters in March 2020, in which nearly 1.9 million Texans — or about 94 percent of primary voters — voted in favor of ending the practice. This included primary voters in Potter and Randall Counties, which reported 94 percent and 95 percent opposition to taxpayer-funded lobbying, respectively.

And the widespread practice of government entities using taxpayer dollars to pay lobbyists has also been happening in Amarillo. New data from Transparency USA compiled last year showed Amarillo taxpayers have covered up to $465,000 in lobbying fees per session since 2019.

With this in mind, as part of The Amarillo Pioneer’s Voter Guide questionnaire for the 2021 Amarillo elections, the candidates running for mayor and Amarillo City Council were asked to provide their thoughts on taxpayer-funded lobbying.

The candidates showed a clear divide on the issue in their responses, with the incumbent members of the City Council expressing support for the practice, and the challengers calling for its end.

Amarillo City Council, Place 4 incumbent Howard Smith said in his questionnaire response that he feels there is a “time and a place” for taxpayer-funded lobbying, crediting lobbyists paid by local tax dollars with the creation of the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine.

“There's a time and a place for utilizing lobbyists,” Smith said. “In the case of the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine for instance, lobbyists played a critical roll in making this a realty for Amarillo.”

Place 2 City Council incumbent Freda Powell also echoed Smith’s comments, saying the cost of lobbying is an investment by local taxpayers.

“The cost of having representation in Austin is a small part of our annual city budget,” Powell said. “But the return on investment is invaluable.”

However, the challengers for the City Council are not as supportive of the issue. Amarillo mayoral candidate Michael Hunt says the cost of taxpayer-funded lobbying is too great of a burden to local taxpayers at the moment.

“I am totally against forcing taxpayers to pay for lobbyists who advocate for higher taxes, and increased spending,” Hunt said. “If elected, Amarillo will not be sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to Austin lobbyists.”

Jason Foglesong, an Amarillo government teacher who is challenging Powell, also expressed opposition to taxpayer-funded lobbying, citing that local taxpayers should be represented in Austin by their state representatives, not by Austin-based lobbyists.

“It's not an appropriate thing to spend tax money on,” Foglesong said. “The people have representatives in Austin to speak out on their behalf. The idea that anyone could use tax money to pay for a lobbyist to represent their own interests is outrageous.”

Meanwhile, Richard Herman, a former Potter County justice of the peace who is challenging Smith, took a softer stance on the issue, saying he believe the practice could provide a “competitive advantage,” to Amarillo, while going on to say he believes any funds spent on lobbying should be closely monitored.

“[It] should be monitored closely to make sure we are not spending more than we are receiving,” Herman said.

Incumbent Mayor Ginger Nelson and Amarillo City Council Place 3 incumbent Eddy Sauer were the only candidates not to respond to this or any of the other questions provided to the candidates through the questionnaire.

Full responses to the questionnaire by the candidates on this issue and many others will be available by next week on the Amarillo Pioneer website.

Election Day is May 1.