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.

Lack of Leadership affects school finance system

Rita Haeker, president of Texas State Teachers Association, is the author of the commentary, “Leadership lacking when it comes to school finance”. She blames the school finance system for the Texas school budgetary problem, not the struggling economy. Budget problems are mounting for many school districts. This will be a major legal and financial quagmire agenda item for the next governor.

I don’t think property tax increase is the answer to the budget problem now and in the future. People are struggling to pay their current high property taxes. I agree with the author regarding the state government shrinking its responsibilities on the matter. Budgetary task is one of the essential reasons for the politicians’ elections. They should take on the responsibility of coming up with a balanced school budget. It wasn’t too long ago that Texas lawmakers, facing a court order, finally, undertook a major overhaul of the school funding system.

The author makes a point that the budget cuts proposed by state Education Commissioner Robert Scott are not realistic ones.  The governor is responsible for guiding the $35 billion public school system and its 4.4 million students, which experts say needs a major overhaul to make sure schools are getting enough money.


I think the budget situation will call for disparate acts in 2011. Joe Smith, a school consultant and former superintendent has said, "There's going to be a whole lot of districts that are going to be up against the wall."

The author lists the lawmakers’ proposed budget cuts of totaling 260 million dollars from textbook purchase to dropout preventions programs. However, in a blog posted in the TexasMonthly by Paul Burka, the headline says: “Perry: no cuts to education budget in 2011”. Sherry Kofler had a ten-minute live interview with Perry on Sep 17. All of Kofler’s questions pertained to the budget. The most important part of the interview was when Kofler asked Perry, “Can you assure public school educators that our education budget will not be cut?” Perry’s response: “Yeah, I think so.”

We should not be surprised by a politician saying one thing during an interview, but have a hidden agenda behind the scene. I am not for raising property taxes every time the state is short in budget. Every industry with the exception of health care of course, is cutting cost. Perhaps education system can find a way to cut cost without sacrificing quality of education.  My recommendation would be to reduce the four-year high school duration to three years. This should keep the students busier during the senior year instead of being part time students.

I think Ms. Haecker complains about the budget cut, but she really does not offer a smart solution to the budget issue, instead she only defends the existing budget. She should evaluate the options within the education system’s efficiency. 

Time cures all problems, including the dishonest politicians

Is Texas making the right choice when it comes to candidates for 2012 president? Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and perennial big thinker in the Republican Party, recently has indicated that he will run for president in 2012. I think the article “Texas Republicans prefer Newt Gingrich for president; Ron Paul lags far behind” is worth reading, because we will see more of Texas support for Mr. Gingrich in the near future.

How easily Gingrich’s ethic issues are forgotten by Texas republicans. All that was needed is time. Time cures all problems, including the dishonest politicians.

On January 21, 1997, the House voted 395 to 28 to reprimand Gingrich for ethics violations dating back to September 1994. The House ordered Gingrich to pay a $300,000 penalty, the first time in the House's 208-year history it had disciplined a Speaker for ethical wrongdoing.

Eighty-four ethics charges most of which were leveled by House Democratic Whip David Bonior were filed against Speaker Gingrich during his term. These included charges that he claimed tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes. Eighty-three of the 84 allegations were dropped. Gingrich denied the charges over misuse of tax-exempt funds; however, he admitted to providing inaccurate statements during the probe over the college course and agreed to pay $300,000 for the cost of the investigation. The House Ethics Committee concluded that inaccurate information supplied to investigators represented "intentional or ... reckless" disregard of House rules.

The full committee panel did not reach a conclusion about whether Gingrich had violated federal tax law and instead opted to leave it up to the IRS.

In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the "Renewing American Civilization" courses under investigation for possible tax violations.