Part One: What they say they've done, and what they don't say about the cost:

        Precinct One Commissioner Lisa Birkman has stated that Precinct Three Commissioner Valerie Covey "led the effort locally" to enact "important legislation". She also gave Covey "kudos" for her "hard work". What Ms. Birkman once again fails to mention is that the “hard work” has cost YOU, the taxpayer, hundreds of thousands of dollars, as documented by invoices from and payment to professional lobbyists.

        The self-proclaimed, “fiscally conservative commissioners” Lisa Birkman and Valerie Covey are once again wasting your tax dollars on their pet projects and are trying to hide the actions and costs. The same Commissioners who pull out props while on the dais, such as oversized scissors to “cut the budget” in order to look fiscally conservative, just blew more tax dollars. The one-million-dollar, boondoggle, taxpayer-sponsored, health care facility known as “BirkmanCare”, the “Covey’s Castle”, and now this new financial indignity being dubbed as “Lobbygate”, are just three of many examples of these two Commissioners' insatiable appetite for blowing over a million of your tax dollars. 
       
      Texans pay their members of Congress salaries totaling nearly $6 million each year to represent their interests, but for Lisa Birkman and Valerie Covey, that’s not enough. They feel THEY must spend hundreds of thousands of your tax dollars on professional lobbyist to pressure your legislators into passing legislation on your dime. Why did these Commissioners feel it necessary to burden the tax payers of Williamson County by saddling them with a statewide issue?

        In 2006, when the economy was thriving and we were not in the horrendous economic situation we are in now, the taxpayers approved a $228 million road bond initiative to improve mobility in Williamson County. But now we are in a financial debacle and must be prudent with our tax dollars. It was once said “If you build it, they will come. If you don’t build it, they will come anyway”. 

         We now have Commissioner Covey paying hired guns with your tax dollars to enact legislation that purely benefits her own interests. Many have asked why roads are so important to Commissioner Covey. The road map on her campaign contribution list spells this out. The majority of her contributors are directly tied to roads. And now, we have a few Commissioners wanting ANOTHER $250 million initiative. We are BILLIONS in debt in this county. County Judge Dan Gattis Sr. himself said, “Our debt is killing us”. 

        In December 2010, the Williamson County Commissioners Court approved an Austin law and lobbying firm, Smith-Robertson, to perform "legislative initiatives", another name for lobbying. This decision was passed by a unanimous vote by the court quickly and quietly. Unfortunately, without any oversight of the court, this issue slipped past everyone, just as Commissioner Valerie Covey wanted. 

        The details of how this action occurred and to whom the legislation was important, and just how much the "kudos" cost the taxpayers of Williamson County are upcoming over the next few days. This is one issue you will not believe.