Wolff, Nirenberg castigate Bonnen
Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff said disparaging remarks made by the Texas House’s top leader about cities and counties weren’t anything new, but what was surprising was how plainly he showed his animosity.
“Now the truth finally comes out,” Wolff said. “They were determined to … do everything they can to damage local government. And they did a pretty good job about it.”
The remarks came in a recording made secretly during a June meeting between Speaker Dennis Bonnen, state Rep. Dustin Burrows, RLubbock, and prominent conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan.
Bonnen is heard to say he went into this year’s legislative session with the intent of making it “the worst session in the history of the Legislature for cities and counties.”
And, by session’s end, state legislators had enacted a law that limits how much more in property taxes cities and counties can collect without asking voters — a substantial blow to local governments, which vehemently op
posed the measure.
Texas lawmakers also cut fees that telecommunication companies paid cities. For San Antonio, that resulted in a $7.3 million budget loss.
And the Republicans said they want to make the session in 2021 even worse.
“In this office and in the conference room on that end, any mayor, county judge that was dumbass enough to come meet with me, I told them with great clarity: My goal is for this to be the worst session in the history of the Legislature for cities and counties,” Bonnen said in the recording.
“I hope the next session's even worse,” Burrows responded.
“And I'm all for that,” Bonnen said.
Neither Burrows nor Bonnen responded to requests for comment Wednesday.
In a twosentence statement released earlier this week, Bonnen called it a mistake to meet with Michael Quinn Sullivan, the CEO of Empower Texans, and characterized it as a “political discussion.”
State legislators’ animosity toward cities and counties is wellknown, Nirenberg and Wolff said Wednesday.
“His vocabulary has only slight
ly improved from the time I met with him,” Nirenberg said of Bonnen.
Nirenberg blasted the ongoing controversy over the recording — secretly made by Sullivan — as a “telenovela” and “a distracting drama from the mission that we all should be serving.”
The recording of the private meeting has embroiled the Capitol since Sullivan revealed its existence in July and accused the Republican speaker of offering him a quid pro quo.
Sullivan released the recording Tuesday showing Bonnen offered Sullivan media credentials to gain access to the Texas House floor — if Sullivan agreed to target certain moderate House Republicans, including Steve Allison of San Antonio.
Critics allege his offer constitutes a bribe.
The Texas Rangers are investigating those accusations and will turn over their findings to both the Legislature and Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne, who will decide whether there’s evidence of a crime.
Possible criminal charges include abuse of official capacity, which covers misusing government property, with varying penalties depending on the value of the item. There is no set value for media credentials.
A bribery charge is another possibility.
Bonnen’s attorney said this week that neither side would have benefited financially from Bonnen’s offer.
The recording has tested Republicans’ comity and prompted calls from some House members for Bonnen to resign.
“He was dealing with the devil and the devil did his due for him,” Wolff said.
The recording revealed Republicans’ further plans to limit the authority of cities and counties.
Burrows, who resigned as head of the House Republican Caucus in August amid controversy over the meeting, talks about a plan to lower property taxes by taking cities’ and counties’ cut of sales taxes.
“I've pitched this to the governor, I've started pitching this to some of my colleagues,” Burrows said. “Why don't we just take the 2 local pennies that are being used for economic development and put those into driving down property taxes? We don't raise anything, it's already a statewide average, it's economic development dollars, we hate cities and coun
ties.”
Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat who has years of experience on the House Ways and Means Committee, said he’s suspicious of the plan.
“Given revelations in the tapes with regard to Burrows’ view on local government, I’m not sure he is wanting to come up with objective and good public policy,” he said. “I have serious doubts.”
The two Republicans also took aim at cities and counties’ ability to hire lobbyists to represent them at the Legislature. For example, San Antonio City Council members voted in 2017 to set aside $474,000 to hire lobbyists to represent them during the 2019 legislative session.
Lawmakers failed to pass a bill forbidding the practice earlier this year. But Burrows expressed a desire to take it up again in 2021.
“Most people don't understand what … taxpayerfunded lobbying does,” Burrows said. “They don't know it's being used against police, fire, taxpayers everything else. Trying to expose it and build a case will make a difference to getting it passed next session.”
Nirenberg defended the city’s practice of hiring lobbyists. He pointed at Senate Bill 2 — the law limiting how much more in property taxes cities and counties can collect each year without voter approval, which the city lobbied against.
Right now, cities, counties and other taxing entities can collect up to 8 percent more in property tax revenue each year without asking voters. But Senate Bill 2 will require voters to approve any increase larger than 3.5 percent when it takes effect next year.
State lawmakers said they enacted the measure to provide tax relief. But San Antonio officials have said that relief will be minimal at best — and that homeowners could wind up paying more if the city’s credit rating is downgraded as a result of the law, translating into higher interest payments on city bond projects.
“You can look at the record of achievement of that agenda and it’s not served Texas residents very well in recent memory,” Nirenberg said.
Bonnen could pursue a more aggressive agenda against cities and counties in the next session as he says in the recording, Wolff said, but that depends on whether Democrats gain a majority in the Texas House in 2020.
“If they’re going to do more, they got off to a good start,” Wolff said. “We’ll see how this election comes out before he talks too … much.”