Guest Column: Time to squelch mixing of tax dollars, lobbying

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt didn't seek a bailout from Washington, as opposed to many others. However, that case may not remain for Missouri with Jay Nixon in office. Whether Nixon becomes another beggar in line or holds the line, one thing is for sure: Taxpayer dollars should be kept away from the incessant act of lobbying for more.

It's called taxpayer-funded lobbying. A new study by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation found that the influence of lobbying by state and local governments and universities drives an enormous expansion of spending at the federal level.

From 1998 through the first half of 2008, the University of Missouri spent $3.48 million lobbying the federal government. From $810,000 spent by Missouri State University, to the $2.5 million spent by the city of St. Louis, taxpayer-funded lobbying is a large and ceaseless epidemic. Nationally, federal lobbying expenditures by local governments skyrocketed 241 percent between 1998 and 2007, and they don't appear to be slowing down.

The argument for such shilling goes like this: If our county or city sat out this bonanza, others would simply get our share. The trouble is, when everyone thinks this way, it results in a virtual feeding frenzy that breaks the bank at the federal level.

And frenzy is an accurate description.

Nationwide, state and local governments, public universities, transportation authorities and public water utilities spent an astonishing $138 million on federal lobbying in 2007, up 151 percent from an already sizable $53 million in 1998. They spent another $78 million combined on lobbying in the first half of 2008, the most recent data available. From 1998 through the first half of 2008, taxpayer-funded lobbying topped $1 billion.

Even though Gov. Blunt may have put a stop to taxpayer funding of Viagra by Medicaid and Medicare, taxpayer-funded lobbying by Missouri public bodies continues. The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission spent $40,000 of taxpayer funds to lobby for its issues in 2004. The Missouri State Office of Administration spent $25,000 on taxpayer-funded lobbying of the federal government in 2008.

And while we can get a pretty good accounting of how much lobbying Missouri's public entities do in Washington, there's no easy way to determine how much these school districts, cities and counties spend to influence legislation and lawmakers in Jefferson City. It's even more difficult to track such spending because municipalities and school districts typically belong to associations that do lobbying for them. Of course, the association dues used to pay for the lobbying comes from taxpayers.

Public bodies, nationally and around the state, are using our money to lobby for higher taxes and spending programs - and to oppose taxpayer protections. Higher government revenue provides greater funds to pay the lobbying fees. This is an expensive, vicious cycle. Furthermore, this process pits the tax spender against the taxpayer, which only leads to a distorted legislative process.

Thomas Jefferson said, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." A bill in that spirit last year, unfortunately never made it on the state ballot. The Protect Missouri Employee Paychecks from Politics Act proposed to prohibit deductions from workers' paychecks for political purposes.

We need government policies that will limit the burden of government. We do not need a big government consensus that disagrees only on how the pie is sliced up by highly paid taxpayer-funded lobbyists. An arms race of lobbyists trying to raid ever more tax dollars from the treasuries in Washington and Jefferson City ultimately will stick us all with higher tax bills, making government richer and citizens poorer.

Carl Bearden, a registered, nontaxpayer-funded lobbyist, is the Missouri director of Americans for Prosperity. He can be reached at cbearden@afphq.org.