HOUSTON -- At his IT company, Randy Thomas cringes at the taxes small business-owners have to pay.
But what bothers him even more, he says, is what some of that money is paying for.
"It’s not right. It’s just out of control at this point," he said.
He’s talking about lobbyists.
According to Texas Ethics Commission records, individual Texas cities are spending between $2.8 million and $7.4 million on lobbying contracts this year. Those figures do not include the millions more being spent by counties, school districts and other public entities.
"It is still my money. It is still my employees’ money. It is coming out of our pockets," Thomas said.
As far as who is spending what, records show that Austin tops the list this year, with contracts worth between $425,000 and $870,000.
Houston comes in second, with $310,000 to $525,000.
Following Houston in spending are Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio.
Darris Hall, Houston’s Director of Intergovernmental Relations, said the Bayou City usually spends up to $1.5 million a year on lobbyists, and that’s par with other cities of its size.
"Lobbyists, in my opinion, are there as a point of reference for elected officials," Hall said.
He said after Hurricanes Ike and Rita, the lobbyists were crucial in securing recovery money for the area.
"Lobbyists are necessary in my opinion, the city’s opinion, because you have 181 members of the state House, you have 535 members at the federal level. We just can’t reach every one of them by ourselves, and we need outside lobbyists," Hall said.
But big cities like Houston aren’t the only ones spending money. In fact, some suburbs are paying much more per capita for lobbyists.
Right now, Sugar Land has an $86,000 lobbying contract.
"When you’re comparing our city to another one, that’s $2.5 million, it’s economy of scale," Sugar Land Director of Intergovernmental Relations Dale Rudick said.
City officials credit the firms with helping achieve all of the recent growth in downtown Sugar Land, and helping the city by part of a nearby state prison to expand their airport.
"It’s been a very positive thing to date," Rudick said.
Other cities in the Houston area, like Galveston, Dickinson and Stafford, are each paying less than $10,000 for lobbyists this year—but that, again, doesn’t include the money spent by counties, school districts and other public entities.
Experts say lobbyists are a necessary part of the political process, especially in a state without a full-time Legislature.
"My experience with the city, at least, and the county, is they get their money’s worth out of these lobbyists," 11 News political analyst Bob Stein said. "I think what lobbyists represent is an opportunity – not necessarily always a fair and objective one – to provide legislators what they need to make decisions in the best interests of the public."
But Randy Thomas said he’s not sure that it’s in his best interest.
"Texas gets a lot of money brought into this state. It really does. And I’m glad – but I think it needs to be handled by our legislators and not back-door lobby deals," he said.
It’s those deals he wishes he didn’t have to pay for.
