| The Office of State-Federal Relations (OSFR) is a state agency that uses taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists to fight for Texas' issues in Washington D.C. I have always felt that we have Congressmen and Senators for that job, but that's not the issue today.
Tomorrow, August 8, the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission will hear testimony from the OSFR that recommends that the OSFR be entirely dissolved as a state agency and, instead, be put under the complete control and oversight of the Governor's office. From the OSFR's July 2006 Staff Report:
Key Recommendations * Abolish the Office of State-Federal Relations as an independent state agency and restructure it within the Office of the Governor.
* Authorize the Office to contract with federallevel government relations consultants and establish clear contracting guidelines in statute.
This past March, the OSFR came under controversy for paying $1.1 million in taxpayer money to fund lobbying contracts for former DeLay Chief of Staff Drew Maloney and Jack Abramoff’s close associate, Todd Boulanger. I wrote about it here, and the Lone Star Project did a report about it as well.
In short, instead of recommending an end to these taxpayer-funded handouts for Delay-style lobbyists, it seems the OSFR plans tomorrow to recommend that the Governor's office have a blank check to hire whomever and whatever type of lobbyists he wants.
Stay tuned to BOR as we learn more about what will happen. If you want to watch the Sunset Commission in progress tomorrow, they meet at 9:00. You can watch the video from the Senate Committee room here (Channel 7). |
