Posted on 09/09/2012 9:56:02 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The slogan goes, "Don't Mess With Texas." But with President Barack Obama in the White House a more appropriate cry might be: "Try it and we'll sue."
The Texas attorney general's office has filed 24 lawsuits against the federal government since Obama took office — litigation that has cost the state $2.58 million and more than 14,113 hours spent by staff and state lawyers working those cases.
....Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the costs are worth it, calling the litigation "a fight against the unprecedented ideology coming from the Obama administration." In an interview, he said the legal battles he wages are meant to promote industry and protect Texas jobs.
Abbott took office in 2002 and sued the federal government three times between 2004 and 2007 while fellow Republican George W. Bush was president. But the floodgates opened under Obama, with Texas suing two dozen times since 2010. Sixteen of Abbott's lawsuits challenged environmental regulations.
....Texas has won five of Abbott's 27 cases, lost eight and had two others dismissed because the regulations or laws being challenged were lifted or repealed by Congress. The other 12 are pending.....
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
$2.5 million spent of defending state sovereignty is a drop in the bucket when you compare it to the size of the Texas government and the size of the Texas economy.
Ditto to what you said.
So... state employees who are lawyers are working on this case rather than on others.. so does this 2.58 million include their salaries as state employees? Employees who would have jobs regardless of the case they worked on?
I don't get why litigation has,
1. Cost the state anything it wouldn't be spending anyway, and
2. The must have a hell of a salary!
Texas objected to the communists like attitude of King Obama in controlling what should be up to Texas. Texas believed in the Constitution whereas King Obama believed he was a God sent to Earth to hoppieee and changeee to his way or no way at all.
It is a well known fact that a majority of readers skim articles (I am often guilty of this, I admit). The above referenced sentence was constructed specifically for those skimmers as the take away will be: '5 out of 27..........pretty lousy record for Texas.'
Reality is Texas' position has been validated either by courts or Congress 7 out of 15 times.
And cases are moving to Appeal and then to the Supreme Ct.
And a good read it is. It is worth every penny I pay on taxes to sue until the cows come home-anything to keep the more government/liberal vision out of my state now and forever...
Maybe I’m wrong here but a States Attorney General office is a sunk-cost in terms of goverment spending anyway.
Unless they hire outside lawyers, pay overtime, or incur extra above-budget costs, they are doing the job the people of the state elected them to do.
This ‘extra cost’ “how are we gonna pay for it” “ needless extra expense” stuff is just part of the liberal lexicon used to divert attention from the real problem - duly elected Texas officials are forced to defend Texas Citizens’ interest against the usurped Federal Government. Money damn-well worth spent if you aks me.
Ditto +1. 2.58 million out of a 40 billion annual budget = 0.0065%. The article “forgets” to put the amount into perspective.
“In all, Abbott’s federal cases have cost the state more than $2.8 million. That includes $1.5 million-plus in salaries for state employees working on the cases, nearly $250,000 in court costs and the travel expenses of attorney general’s office personnel, and roughly $1 million for outside counsel and expert witnesses.
Attorney general’s office staff and state lawyers have also spent more than 17,325 total hours working those cases. That’s the same as more than eight state employees dedicating a full year of 40-hour workweeks to lawsuits against the federal government.”
Oops! Skipped a line in the quote;
“”We are tasked by the state Legislature to hire lawyers to defend the state of Texas and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Abbott said. “This is absolutely part of their day-to-day jobs.””
$2.5 million is tiny compared to the welfare fraud or any other budget item.
$2.5 million spent pushing back the federal dictators is well spent.
If I’m reading the article correctly, most of the money spent was not spent on suing the federal government but defending Texas from suits filed by the federal government against laws passed by the state legislature. Isn’t that what a state Attorney General is supposed to do?
God bless Texas and Attorney General Abbot. Obama has picked a fight with Texas. He should be forced to fight every one of these issues in court. That’s money well spent, in spite of the Houston Comical’s whining.
Indeed!
Greg Abbott is TOPS. I heard his speech at the TX GOP Convention and he is where he should be, for now. At some point he is destined for bigger things.
BUMP!
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