This is an oldie but a goody.
I first asked this question in 1999 when former Mayor Sue Bauman appointed the paid industry lobbyists for the Apartment Association and the Realtors to sit on a committee studying Section 8. At the time, what I felt was unfair was that these were people paid full time to take positions the vary issue they were being asked to decide on this committee. Therefore, their seats on the committee gave them even more power to perform their jobs that they were paid to do. They could make (and second) motions and influence legislation and the discussion in new ways that they had not been able to do before. And in this case, they were able to issue a “minority report” after sabotaging the process.
In general, it does leave one wondering if a lobbyist’s vote on a committee just indicates what the industry paid them to think, or was it an independent vote? And how can they do their jobs of lobbying, when they are part of the government process that they are trying to influence? Do they lobby themselves? And is it fair to other committee members when the lobbyists are paid to do their committee work and lobby the other committee members?
Arguments about why we would put a third party paid lobbyist or industry lobbyist on a committee ranged from them being experts on a particular topic to wanting to co-opt them through the committee process.
Since that time, we have appointed other third party paid lobbyists and industry lobbyists. Right now, we have a third party paid lobbyist for developers chairing a committee on TIF policy. And more recently, the Mayor is wanting to appoint the lobbyist for Smart Growth (Greater) Madison (developer lobbying group) and Downtown Madison Inc. (representing downtown developers) to a committee to advise the City on re-writing the zoning codes.
Is there no one else who can serve? Don’t they have volunteer members of their organizations that can represent their interests? Or are their members not willing to serve and only want to pay others to represent their interests? Is this the way we want to do business in the City of Madison?
Note: Thanks to Alder Rummel for pushing and asking me some good questions on this topic.
