A Montana objection to taxpayer-funded lobbying

Montana reporter George Ochenski of Missoula (Montana) News writes about the history of attempting to solve the taxpayer-funded lobbying problem in the Big Sky State and notes:

While the bill will probably face the same grim fate as its predecessors, it raises the important issue of lobbying by local governments—and lobby they do. Last week a hearing room was packed with local government officials testifying in support of the local option sales tax. One might wonder just how many of those testifying at taxpayer expense had the approval of the taxpayers to lobby for more taxes. My hunch is that none of them did. Nor, I suspect, did they have taxpayer approval to use taxpayer-funded equipment, supplies and facilities to lobby for more taxes. But make no mistake: with or without the public’s approval, they came to the capitol to lobby for more taxes.

I added the highlights.


See Inside Influence: Should state agencies lobby the Legislature? by George Ochenski.