elephant.jpg

“Good laws, if they are not obeyed, do not constitute good government.” — Aristotle

Governor Bobby Jindal, the leges and the so-called “good government watchdogs” and the media are busy patting each other on the back about the laws passed during the special session that purport to limit what lobbyists can do.

Apparently, lobbying is an inherent evil in government.

The new laws only affect those lobbyists who work for us private citizens. That is, those persons we hire to represent us in Baton Rouge because we’re too busy to go there. It’s a form of exercising our First Amendment Right.

Illegal lobbying

Nothing has been done to control the public lobbyists, i.e., public servants who push for law changes and funding for government agencies many times against the interest of the taxpayers.

Another example of “good government” laws that goes unenforced is the one that prohibits public servants from lobbying the legislature.

LA R.S. 43:31(D) provides in part:

No branch, department, agency, official, employee, or other entity of state government shall expend funds of, administered by, or under the control of any branch, department, agency, employee, official, or other entity of state government … to lobby for or against any proposition or matter having the effect of law being considered by the legislature or any local governing authority.

In other words, it is illegal to do what is a common practice at the Capitol.

Members of the governor’s staff and others being paid by the taxpayers regularly lobby in front of lege committees urging leges to vote for and against pending legislation.

Less obvious lobbying goes on behind-the-scenes when leges are called by the governor’s minions to pressure them into voting for or against legislation or to drop legislation not supported by the administration.

Catch 22

There was a lot of effort during the special session to make lobbyists more visible at the Capitol.

Laws were passed to limit how much lobbyists can spend on wining and dining leges.

Laws were passed to prohibit lobbyists from giving leges tickets to athletic and other events.

All those laws only apply to or would apply to REGISTERED lobbyists.

Persons who lobby leges on behalf of state agencies, including the governor’s office, are not REGISTERED lobbyists. They can’t register because the above law makes lobbying by public servants illegal. Thus they can’t be regulated because they can’t do what they do legally.

These public servants not only avoid any of the lobbyists’ restrictions, but they are illegally lobbying.

If lobbying by the private sector is as bad as some of the rhetoric we heard during the special session, then illegal lobbying by those who are paid by the taxpayers is worse.

When will the illegal lobbying be regulated?

C.B.