Lobbyists. The name itself can portray a negative assumption of unethical, political behavior with government officials. Actually, most lobbyists are decent, honest people who are working for the interests of their client or group. By definition, a lobbyist represents a special interest group and attempts to influence governmental decisions on behalf of their group. Lobbying government has been around long before our country was formed. In the 19th century, the term lobbyist was synonymous with 'vote buyer' because of the belief that they corrupted Congress with money. But today, there are many honorable men and women who are professional lobbyists.
However, there are a few lobbyists and lawmakers who have chosen to abuse the privilege of representing the people. Over the past several years in Utah, unethical behavior between a few legislators and lobbyists have prompted other lawmakers to introduce legislation in helping curb the actions of a few. In the 2005 legislative session, for example, Democrat Ralph Becker presented a gift-ban bill to the House Rules Committee and the Republican lawmakers refused to hear the bill. In a highly unusual move, Republican Stuart Adams of Layton asked that the bill be struck from consideration. Another gift-ban bill was introduced in the Senate with the same results as Republicans defeated any Democratic attempts of legislating ethics in the legislature.
Over the years, Democrats have consistently introduced bills to make lawmakers more accountable to the public only to have the Republican-controlled legislature defeat them. To be fair, there are some Republicans who would like to see their colleagues agree to such ethics-type bills because of the inability to police themselves. Some would ask if there really is a problem to warrant such legislation. The answer is yes. In the past several years, watchdog groups have given the Utah Legislature low marks in areas of lobbyist spending reports, the lack of concern for strengthening ethics, and the lenient laws addressing conflict of interest. The Center for Public Integrity identified some areas of concern involving Utah Lawmakers:
- 44 percent of legislators sat on a committee with a personal professional interest.
-24 percent of legislators had financial ties to organizations that lobby state government.
The CPI report also shows Utah is near the bottom nationally of not disclosing any conflicts of interest with financial ties. The reason for having disclosure laws is to protect the public from having lawmakers behave in their own self-interest.
The Republican-controlled legislature has shown its indifference to the people of Utah. With the acceptance of weaker ethics laws, the desire to gut the GRAMA act and the closed-door meetings disguised as "Republican Caucus Meetings," it is very clear that Republican lawmakers love to hide and keep the public in the dark. Since Republican lawmakers are unwilling to show the public what they are doing, the time has come to vote in more honest and caring lawmakers. The best remedy is to elect more public officials with integrity who are dedicated to ethic reforms. For now, with our one-party government, ethic reforms and openness are a distant dream.
By Todd Weiler, Davis Republican Party Chair
Under Utah law, "lobbying" is defined as communicating with a public official for the purpose of influencing the passage, defeat, amendment, or postponement of legislative or executive action. Most major corporations and political interest groups hire lobbyists to promote their interests as intermediaries; others maintain in-house government or public relations departments.
For the most party, lobbyists must be registered and are governed by strict reporting requirements. Critics complain that politicians appear to be acting in the interests of those who fund their campaigns. Sup-porters respond that many politicians act in the interests of those who fund them due to shared local interests, and that lobbyists merely support those who agree with their positions.
Although many express their opinions that lobbyists somehow corrupt the political process, the truth is that they actually provide the grease that allows the political machine to run smoothly. Since Utah employs a part-time legislature, elected officials are the first to tell you that they would never be able to understand both sides of the many issues they are asked to consider without the help of lobbyists.
Imagine for a moment that you are appointed to represent your district in this year's session, which will begin in a few weeks.
You would be tasked to review and/or vote on approximately 800 different bills. A good lobbyist would be one of your most valued resources for getting up to speed on a wide variety of topics, as long as they follow a few simple rules: be factual, tell the truth, know lots of details, and explain both sides of the issues.
Any lobbyist will tell you that they are only as effective as their reputation. If a lobbyist ever gets caught telling half truths, etc., word quickly spreads around Capitol Hill that he or she cannot be trusted. Accordingly, lobbyists face the reality that honesty and integrity are the best policies.
Since most people are busy and do not have an extra two months to camp out at the legislature, lobbyists are often hired to represent the interests of businesses and associations. If there are particular topics of interest that arise during the legislative process, then lobbyists will notify their clients to rally their employees and members in support of or against proposed laws.
Some lobbyists represent just one company while others represent a variety of interests. A few of the major power broker lobbyists in Utah today are Sue and Cap Ferry, Sue Koehn and David Copeland, Candace Daly, Mike Sonntag, Nancy Sechrest, Doug Foxley and Frank Pignanelli, Mike Ostermiller and Chris Kyler, Craig Peterson, Des Barker, Spencer Stokes, the Tetris Group, Fred Finlinson and Christine Fox (water issues), Ruland Gill and Rey Butcher (Questar), Eric Isom (Qwest), Tom Bingham (Utah Manufacturer's Association), Lincoln Shurtz and Jodi Hoffman (Utah League of Cities and Towns) and Bette Arial (Envirocare).
The author welcomes your comments at toddweiler@parrylaw.com.
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