Am I Missing Something Here?

Chron.com | Mayor sidesteps divisive vote by council

Jist: Rather than fight for a fractuous-at-best, losing-cause-at-worst council vote, Mayor White says he'll find private sector money to pay the Texas Municipal League, a lobbying group for cities in the lege and US Congress.

Someone explain to me how a privately funded lobbying group can (or, at least, ought) represent the city.

Still, while I can partially understand the importance of not worrying about any kind of talk-show-inspired battle over a little $68,000 line item in the budget, I'm a bit curious where the votes were lining up on this one now that we've got a nominal Democratic majority on the council. I mean, which of the following 8 votes is wobbling?

Bill White
Peter Brown
Sue Lovell
Ron Green
Ada Edwards
Jarvis Johnson
Adrian Garcia
Carol Alvarado

It sure seems like there's a bit more to this story that the Chron left on the cutting room floor. The mayor has made something of a habit of finding private funds for things he can't quite get through council with bipartisan support. So what's the difference there? Doesn't that private funding for public services put things at the whim of the mayor just a bit too much? And if it's deemed that there's nothing improper about this funding mechanism, then where's the fundraising group for putting more cops on the street? ... something the mayor says is his overriding passion these days.