Wednesday, April 1, 2009 10:48 PM CDT
Lobbyists rake in $6M from cities, local governments
EIU has $50,079 contract for lobbying
By KURT ERICKSON, JG/T-C Springfield Bureau
SPRINGFIELD — Local governments and other public agencies spent more than $6 million in taxpayer funds to hire professional lobbyists last year, a new report shows.
The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform found that 115 cities, counties, universities and transit agencies paid out the largesse in 2008 in hopes of influencing state government.
The watchdog group said the contracts may be a concern because it’s impossible to know specifically what the lobbyists did for the money they earned.
“In most cases, we don’t know what these lobbyists are doing,” said David Morrison, deputy director of the organization.
Local governments, however, say lobbyists serve as their eyes and ears in Springfield at a time when the cash-strapped state is looking to shift a larger burden of services to cities and counties.
McLean County, for example, paid Anderson Legislative Consulting $7,500 last year to represent the county’s interests in Springfield.
“The big benefit you get is having the presence in Springfield on a day-to-day basis. They know what issues are important to us,” said county administrator John Zeunik.
Universities also anted up. Eastern Illinois University inked a $50,079 contract with Government Affairs Specialists, of which Loretta Durbin — wife of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin — is a principal partner. She has lobbied on behalf of EIU for several years.
Southern Illinois University has a $90,000 contract with the powerhouse lobbying firm of Fletcher, Topol, O’Brien & Kasper.
Rend Lake Community College paid Springfield lobbyist George Fleischli $19,900 last year.
The report notes that the City of Decatur paid $30,000 last year to Illinois Strategies, a lobbying firm that employed former state Rep. Julie Curry at the time
Effingham and Marion had contracts with Governmental Consulting Solutions, which is run by lobbyists Jim Reimer and Christopher Stone.
The Rock Island County Metro Mass Transit District — known as MetroLINK — paid Government Consulting Solutions $32,000 in the 2008 fiscal year.
Marion Mayor Bob Butler said lobbyists helped the Williamson County community secure funding for street projects last year.
“We feel working with the lobbyists has been very beneficial to the city,” Butler said.
Morrison said the analysis shows there is a need to improve disclosure laws in an attempt to boost the amount of transparency when it comes to local governments hiring lobbyists.
Contact Kurt Erickson at kurt.erickson@lee.net or 789-0865.
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out-there wrote on Apr 1, 2009 5:42 PM:
Why do we elect state representitives??
Do lobbyist represent the people or the biggest pay check.
This is like Govenor's refusing
federal money to help the people of a state with out the approval of its state representitives who are suppose to represent the people. "