Lobbyists’ gifts are a red herring

by J Scott Christianson, Columbia Daily Tribune Columnist

In Sunday’s Tribune, an article by Jason Rosenbaum outlined the gifts, meals and other perks state legislators regularly receive from Capitol lobbyists while the General Assembly is in session. The total spent by lobbyists is impressive. The gifts buy access — legislators are a captive audience while eating a free dinner or watching a Cardinals game from a Skybox. It’s smart politics on the part of the lobbyists and the modus operandi of our state legislature.

Though free meals and game tickets buy access, they certainly don’t buy votes. The public might frown on those who accept the gifts, but I would trust just about any legislator in Jefferson City to be able to receive these perks and still feel comfortable voting against his or her benefactor when the time came. Democracy is not corrupted by the hundreds of dollars given directly to legislators in the form of meals, game tickets or other gifts. That is a red herring. The real problem is the hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbyists and their interests give to the election campaigns.

Imagine you are in the General Assembly and know you will have to raise between $100,000 and $700,000 for your next re-election campaign. Can you afford to vote against a special interest that says it “wants to support you” and has access to that type of cash? Few legislators could afford to vote against such a well-funded special interest, especially if the legislator wants to seek statewide office. And even…