In this week's issue, I published a story about how University of North Texas President Gretchen M. Bataille endorsed a tax increase for transit. She did so at the request of the City of Denton and its taxpayer-funded lobbyists. Remember, the University of North Texas is a state agency, which is prohibited by law from using appropriated funds to influence the passage or defeat of legislation. Over the past few months, the Lone Star Report has filed a series of requests under the Public Information Act relating to the government-funded lobby effort to convince the Legislature to raise taxes for commuter rail (the so-called Texas Local Option Transportation Act or TLOTA). We are continuing to file those requests and will keep our readers updated on our progress.

Because of the public interest in this topic, I have decided to place the article on the public portion of our website. Click here to read more about state agencies getting involved in pushing tax increases.  Also, I am posting a copy of Gretchen Bataille's letter to this site. Click here to read the UNT President's letter of endorsement for the local option tax increase bill.