Lobby-Free Zone

If one Utah legislator gets his way, it will soon be illegal for cities and counties in Utah to hire people in DC to lobby Congress for federal pork. Not only will this save taxpayer money, it will put rascals, like U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch's son, out of business. I haven't been this excited since I heard that the people of Popayan are making Coke with real coke.

John Dougall...would forbid the cities and counties in his state from hiring Washington, D.C., lobbyists to seek federal funding for transportation programs, construction outlays and other civic projects. Obtaining advantageous treatment in the federal budget only distorts the state’s ability to sort out municipal priorities on its own, Dougall says.

“For states to be groveling, it’s bad form and bad policy,” he says.

Dougall’s stand on principle, though, could prove costly. The generously larded highway law enacted this year included about $24 billion worth of local projects earmarked for the states, and Utah’s congressional delegation made sure that $430 million of that went to specific projects in the Beehive State.

A Utah lobbying freeze could also mean less business for some K Street shops — which raked in more than $775,000 from Utah localities last year, according to a study by the Utah Taxpayers Association. One of the state’s best-heeled lobbyists is Scott Hatch, son of the state’s senior senator, Republican Orrin G. Hatch. The younger Hatch is a partner at Walker, Martin & Hatch, which reported earning nearly $300,000 over the last three and a half years representing Riverton City. He didn’t return calls seeking comment, but his lobbying filings indicate that he did seek funding for unspecified municipal projects.

Critics, however, say that Dougall is just trying to benefit the state's domestic lobbying firms, who are paid to lobby state legislators like Dougall.

lobbyists for Utah cities and counties say the rationale behind Dougall’s bill isn’t so pure. They claim that they’re being used as a symbolic quarry in a bigger turf war that Dougall and state transportation czar Njord are waging against local governments. In their view, Njord and Dougall want the state to control the apportionment of transportation funds to Utah municipalities.

Symbolism and hypocrisy aside, I love the idea of prohibiting government from using taxpayer money to lobby for more taxpayer money.

Via CQ Weekly (subscription required).