Local governments bound to keep using lobbyists

But local officials (who are mostly part time) don't have the time, the expertise or the relationships to consistently win in the Legislature. And it simply doesn't work to rely on the city and county associations because priorities and positions differ widely from city to city and county to county. Sometimes, on issues like sales tax distribution or RDA reform, cities are fighting each other in the Legislature. A particular city, for example, can't rely on the League to lobby for funding for a city road or a freeway exchange. Urban and rural counties disagree on some legislative issues.

The bottom line is that legislators would do serious damage to their younger sibling politicians at the local level if they forbade them from hiring lobbyists. Legislators themselves rely upon lobbyists, so why prevent local leaders from hiring them?

Pignanelli: The proposal by Sen. Scott Jenkins and the Utah Taxpayers Association (the other "UTA") to prohibit local government from retaining contract lobbyists has some merit. During my legislative service few, if any, government entities utilized professional government relations experts outside internal staff and officials. Counties and cities relied upon the abilities of their elected municipal leaders and hometown legislators. In fact, this is the overwhelming reason why Sandy city has enjoyed so much success at the state Capitol. The city can boast a long string of powerful representatives (i.e., Senate presidents Arnold Christensen and Al Mansell; current House Speaker Greg Curtis). Further, Sandy is blessed with perhaps the state's greatest politician, Mayor Tom Dolan — a formidable coalition builder and dealmaker.

Because Sandy's legislative achievements have been attributed to its lobbyist prowess, there has been a steady arms race among local governments in order to be competitive. (My firm has been retained on occasion to represent smaller public entities, usually in response to the massive lobbying efforts of a larger competitor.) West Jordan has pushed the issue to the ridiculous by refusing to even participate with the municipal association Utah League of Cities and Towns, relying entirely on outside consultants. Thus, the Jenkins/UTA legislation raises the important question of whether taxpayers should bear the burden of lobbyist expenses when they are already paying for local government to conduct such operations. Utah County and its cities, without any outside lobbyists, annually reap numerous rewards from the Legislature.