Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying Survives

Rep. Jeff Alltus’ attempt to ban taxpayer funds from paying for lobbying died Friday in the House State Affairs Committee.

Alltus, R-Coeur d’Alene, said he made his point. “I think it sent the message that these organizations which are lobbying against the taxpayers have got to quit doing that,” he said.

Alltus’ bill would have stopped cities and counties from lobbying the Legislature through their statewide associations. It also would have prevented Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Kootenai County from doing what they did this year: Hiring a lobbyist to push special legislation.

Alltus said his bill wasn’t intended to hurt local officials.

When Rep. June Judd, D-St. Maries, asked him how the hardworking, part-time county commissioners in her six-county district would be able to track legislation and present her with their opinions without using their association, Alltus said, “There’s a new invention called the telephone.”

, DataTimes