By Curmudgeon
Paul Rolly, of the SLTrib, has up on its website today a fine piece punching holes in the claims of Utah legislators that taking monetary "gifts" from lobbyists in no way affects their voting:
Lobbyists' lamentation: Utah's legislators insist that taking gifts, accepting Jazz tickets and enjoying free meals from lobbyists play no role in the decisions they make on legislation that may affect those lobbyists' clients.Sure. Right. To believe our legislators, we'd have to believe lobbyists and the companies that hire them are happy to expend all that money with no expectation of getting anything back for it. Nobody's that dumb. I hope.
They sure expect those lobbyists to be wherever they want them to be, at the appointed time they want them there to do whatever they ask them to do, even though the lobbyists know that with all that hoofing they do for the lawmakers, there's nothing in it for them....
It's the same group of lobbyists, representing deep-pocket clients, who are pressed to cough up dough for campaigns and pet projects over and over. But they should expect nothing from the lawmakers for their good will.
Update 7/6/09 11:51 a.m. MT: News is slow once again in Emerald City, which is what normally happens in The Best City in The World after a long holiday weekend. Treat this as another open-topic thread, if you like; and let's see if we can rustle up a little reader discussion. It's time to blow out those 4th of July holiday cobwebs, people.
