Today, the Evergreen Freedom Foundation formally filed complaints with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) against sixty-eight public agencies for failing to disclose the hiring of lobbyists with taxpayer dollars. We want you to be one of the first to know about it. You can view the video showing delivery of the complaints to the PDC by clicking on the image.
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When people think of lobbyists, they usually imagine big businesses buying off corrupt politicians. They probably don’t imagine government agencies hiring lobbyists to buy votes at the capitol. It sounds absurd—and it is—but here in Washington public agencies spend millions of our dollars every year hiring lobbyists.
Unfortunately, the flagrant use of tax dollars to lobby for bigger government is a growing problem. While conducting research for the Freedom Foundation’s just-released report detailing taxpayer-funded lobbying in Washington, I found that public agencies spent over $42 million on lobbying in the last decade. And with unreported lobbying, hidden administrative costs, employee benefits, and lobbying at the federal level, the true cost of government lobbying is much, much higher.
Not only do city governments, county governments, public utility districts, and other public agencies spend millions of dollars every year lobbying the state, sometimes they don’t even tell us about it.
What I discovered was that, while lobbyists were disclosing payments from public agencies, those same public agencies had failed to comply with public disclosure laws and report their use of public funds to hire lobbyists. As it turns out, public agencies have failed to disclose over $4.6 million worth of taxpayer-funded lobbying—and that’s just what I was able to identify by cross-checking reports filed by contract lobbyists with reports filed (or not filed) by public agencies.
The problem is actually worse, since many agencies, such as Puget Sound Partnership (PSP), pay in-house staff to lobby in lieu of hiring contract lobbyists. I discovered PSP’s failure to report its lobbying by happenstance. It is likely several other agencies fall into this category, but would be difficult to identify without manually reviewing bill testimony and agency correspondence.
The flagrant disrespect for taxpayers and the rule of law from these public agencies is shocking. One especially egregious example is Sound Transit, which failed to report over $800,000 in lobbying expenses over the past seven years. Only after the Freedom Foundation questioned them did Sound Transit file the proper disclosure forms. And even the late forms are incomplete.
You can check out our press release and the actual complaint forms here. Find out if your city, county, or utility district is on the list.
It is natural to ask what business government has using taxpayer money to hire lobbyists in order to lobby itself for more taxpayer money. Lobbying with other people’s money distorts the political process, forcing citizens to fund the same lobbyists they may have to compete with in Olympia. When it results in higher budgets and higher spending, it’s doubly insulting to taxpayers.
You can check out the full report on taxpayer-funded lobbying and our policy recommendations for fixing the problems here.
It was a truly a spectacular opportunity for me to take on this project as a summer intern. The Freedom Foundation gave me a chance to do substantive policy work that was not only helpful for my future, but for the future of our state. I was extremely lucky to be offered this opportunity and I hope they will be able to offer equally exciting opportunities to future interns.
I know the Freedom Foundation will continue to lead the fight to ensure transparency and honesty in government, but they can only continue to do so with your help. If you want to help bring accountability to government, please consider making a donation to the Freedom Foundation. You can support them using personal or business funds. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation today.
With your help, the Freedom Foundation will work to put an end to this flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars and flouting of transparency laws.
Sincerely,
Preston Mui, Intern
Evergreen Freedom Foundation
