University of Lobbyists

Become a lobbyist by graduating from the finest institution of Texas government. Our legislature process can train you to become a lobbyist in a short time. It is guaranteed that once you are elected and completed the legislator’s course, the process will land you on a lucrative lobbying position with extraordinary financial benefit.  While you are being trained to become a lobbyist, you will receive financial aid for $7,200 a year. So, hurry up and get elected to become a legislator to start your journey of becoming a successful lobbyist eventually.

Below is the 4 step process of how to become a successful lobbyist:

1). Election process 
2). Get elected  
3). Get trained by the legislature process

4). Graduate and become a lobbyist.

To start the election process, start spending money (yours or donations) for advertisements. Don’t worry; if you spend your own money, it is an investment; it will payoff big in the future, guaranteed. Come up with some mumbo-jumbo ads of negative stuff about your opponents, and positive ones with your family and pets in it. Make sure you make a nice slides show of you with your family, doing family activities like reading to your kids, walking with your wife, and make sure to hold hands and smile. During your campaign, use a lot of family words and phrases. If you are visiting some work places, wear jeans and a hardhat.  Make sure you act like a shark when making campaign movie clips; if any politician is not popular and is bleeding, go after him or her. Attack any bill that is not popular as well. Shake a lot of hands; use the sentences like “We want to get our state back.”

Seriously, that is how the local election system and becoming a lobbyist work. It is a big threat to the integrity of the Texas legislative process when a former legislator becomes a lobbyist. In that case, the lobbyist has access to the legislative staff, but is no longer beholden to the Texas citizen. However, he or she has obligations to a paying client.

Lobbyists are in direct communication with legislative or executive branch officials to influence their decisions about public policy. In Texas, lobbyists play a significant role in influencing legislation and shaping administrative actions. The action may not be in the best interest of Texas citizens. Many businesses and other groups pay lobbyists to represent their interests before the Texas Legislature.

Now, the question is: what to do about it? Are we stuck with a corrupted legislative system? Sir Winston Churchill (British politician 1874-1965) figured out the answer when he said “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”

Don’t Budget Prematurely

Paul Burka, senior executive editor of TexasMonthly is the author of “Is it time to institute annual budget sessions?” He posted it in BURKABLOG on Thursday October 7, 2010. In his article he criticizes people responsible for writing the state budget, not having a clue over when and what measures to take for dealing with the budget shortfall. 

Paul makes a good point that in the best case, the budget processes is completed in June 2011, way two early into the biennium. It makes sense to come up with the budget in the second year of the biennium, when there is more information about the state of the Texas economy. Now there is the question of, is there any motive by the panicked-budget-cutting? Paul, rightfully so, points out that history has shown the current way that the budget is written lends itself to panicked budget-cutting any time that there is a downturn. He thinks the law makers should study the results of taking premature reactions to the budget shortfalls in the past, before start taking drastic measures for the present one.

I agree with Paul on the budget resulting surplus in 2003 only because estimating done by Comptroller Strayhorn proved to be too pessimistic. Legislators did not question the $9.9 billion shortfall, and acted prematurely on cutting the budget unnecessarily. That is an example of political motive, politicians trying to use the budget processes as a tool to score points with their opponents.

Paul is correct saying, Texas is facing a significant budget gap in the 2012-13 biennium. What is less clear is the exact size of the gap the Legislature will face when it convenes in January 2011.

Paul makes a good point, blowing the budget shortfall horn too early is nothing but a tactic to scare the general public into believing that budget cuts have near-apocalyptic implications, and start with 10% cuts and may be more in the future.  In 2003, state agencies added to the rhetoric by inappropriately responding to questions about possible cuts in budgets and programs.

I agree with Paul, we need to wait. The budget gap in the 2011 legislative session will provide the perfect backdrop to enact the necessary changes. When this budget process unfolds, the sky will not fall in 2011 any more than it did in 2003.