Lobbying frenzy

During each legislative session, a small army of taxpayer-funded lobbyists rolls into Carson City to demand that lawmakers direct ever-greater sums of your money to the governments and agencies they represent. This year, those lobbyists are clamoring for massive tax increases to avert spending cuts. All the while, they're billing you for their work.

It's an insidious practice. Voters elect people to oversee public institutions that are funded by public money. These representatives are supposed to be the voices of their governments, and they're supposed to carry out the will of the citizens who put them there. Instead, they award huge contracts to ex-politicians and campaign consultants, who lobby the state on behalf of the government's interests, not the interests of the people.

Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick, D-North Las Vegas, introduced AB442, which would have prohibited Nevada government agencies from hiring paid lobbyists.

Unfortunately, the Assembly's Democratic Party leadership is beholden to public employee unions and the governments that enrich their members. Reforms that could infringe on any government's ability to secure additional funding and protect and expand worker compensation have no chance of passing the lower house.

So Ms. Kirkpatrick's bill was gutted like a fish. An amended version of AB442, forwarded to the Senate with nearly unanimous support, now only requires local and state government agencies to submit quarterly reports that explain the terms of their lobbying contracts.

"The most important part is this is the people's money, and we should be able to determine how the money is spent," Ms. Kirkpatrick told the Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee on Tuesday. "We should make sure we get our bang for our buck."

We'll always support more sunshine in government, but government contracts already are public records under Nevada law. And lawmakers certainly don't need to see a report every three months to know that cities, counties, law enforcement agencies, colleges and universities and schools are sending well-paid lobbyists in droves to Carson City.

These lobbyists aren't stopping at the corner market or the post office to consult average voters on their policy priorities and assure taxpayers they're getting "bang for their buck." This bill was supposed to make sure public money is spent on something else entirely.

The Senate should pass AB442 -- in its original form.