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Article published Sep 1, 2004
Agencies use your money to try to get more of it, and now they hide
the practice
One of the most egregious uses of taxpayers'
money by state agencies is the hiring of lobbyists.When a state agency hires a
lobbyist, it is spending your money to convince your elected leaders to take
more of your money away from you and give it to the state agency.That's the
primary purpose of agency lobbyists: to protect and enhance the agency's budget.
And the state has only one place to get money to fill that budget -- it takes it
from you.Gov. Mark Sanford acknowledges the outrage that taxpayers should feel
at this abuse. He says he doesn't want divisions of the government "using tax
dollars to lobby to get more tax dollars." That's why he prohibited the agencies
under his control from employing lobbyists.But under the state's government
structure, most agencies don't report to the governor, and they're still hiring
lobbyists.The Associated Press reports that between January 2003 and May 31,
state agencies spent $2.2 million on lobbyists.But the actual amount is probably
much larger. Many state agencies are no longer reporting the money they spend on
lobbyists.They have decided that their lobbyists aren't really lobbyists.
Instead, they are "legislative liaisons." They also believe that this means they
don't have to report the money they spend on these employees, who are still, in
reality, lobbyists.The General Assembly should require better reporting of these
expenses, but lawmakers should go even further and ban the expenses. The state
House has passed a bill that would ban agency lobbying expenses, but the Senate
has refused to pass it.If a state agency needs to give lawmakers information
about its operations, the agency head can appear before legislative committees.
But no agency has any business hiring full-time lobbyists.As taxpayers, we
should pay to fund vital state services. And we pay for the General Assembly. We
pay lawmakers to study issues and budgets and do what is right for us. We should
not have to pay for lobbyists to tell those lawmakers what to do.And there is no
way that we should be forced to pay for those who work against our interests,
who urge lawmakers to increase taxes so they can spend more of our money.Any
state agency that has enough money to hire lobbyists must have too much money in
its budget and is ripe for a funding cut.