Time to End the Practice of Taxpayer-funded Lobbyists in Ada County
Guest post from Ada County Commissioner Ryan Davidson
The following is a guest post by Ada County Commissioner Ryan Davidson:
As a private citizen, I was always offended when I heard about tax dollars going to lobbyists.
You may not be familiar with this practice, but any public institution can use your taxes to hire private lobbyists to lobby any other institution, usually for more taxes to be collected and spent. Cities can lobby the State, the State can lobby the feds, and the feds can lobby the cities. It becomes one endless cycle of forcing citizens to pay to subsidize their own tax increases.
Imagine my surprise then to find out that Ada County had its own contract lobbyist on the payroll. It's a relatively new phenomena, started in 2018 when the Board was under Democrat control. Ada County had been paying a whopping $80,000 per year for this service. On Tuesday, November 28th, this contract will be up for renewal in front of the Board of Commissioners. I believe its time to put an end to this extravagance.
Out of all 44 counties in Idaho, Ada is truly the last one who should be using tax dollars for private lobbyists.
Our courthouse office is mere blocks from the Capitol, a short ten-minute walk. All three Commissioners (two of whom are former legislators themselves) already have extensive contacts in the Capitol based on our years in politics. We can easily represent ourselves.
The median income in Idaho for an individual is about $32,000. Lobbyists are earning $80,000 per year – per client – and most professionals have many clients. The legislative session is only 3 months, and work for a client may amount to only a few hours a year, depending on the issue. While large corporations can handle this, Governments should not be justifying this kind of expense.
Ada County is already represented by the Idaho Association of Counties, who sends representatives to the Capital each year to talk about county issues. Five legislative priorities are chosen per year to focus on. Ada County’s proposal - reforming the law relating to hospital property tax exemptions – was selected as one of the Association’s five priorities, meaning, we will already have a lobbying presence there. This is still taxpayer-funded lobbying and I am concerned with it, but at least the Association represents all counties equally and only on issues of broad support. As an individual Commissioner I don’t have any control over them since they are supported by all 44 counties, but I do have control over what matters are placed in front of me to vote on. From a pragmatic perspective, Ada County’s private lobbyist is unnecessary.
It’s time to put an end to this program. If we don’t do it now, it will never go away. “The closest thing to eternal life on Earth is a government program.” -Ronald Reagan. If you feel the way I do, you can contact the Commissioners at BOCC1@adacounty.id.gov before Tuesday to weigh in with your opinion.
Ryan Davidson
Ada County Commissioner
Here’s what they sent back to me: Thank you for contacting the Board of Ada County Commissioners. The contract for lobbying services is not on the agenda for Tuesday, November 28, 2023. No decisions have been made by the Board at this time. All contracts, including this contract for lobbying services, follow a prescribed approval process to ensure compliance with Idaho law.
As you are likely aware, Ada County has retained the services of a lobbying firm to assist us for a number of years now. Being a county commissioner in Idaho’s most populous county is a full-time job. Our days, and often evenings, are filled with meetings necessary for the proper operation of county government. Commissioners’ meeting schedules simply won’t allow us to be at all necessary legislative meetings and committee hearings on bills that impact Ada County.
Financial, public policy and other issues of great importance to Ada County will be discussed at the Legislature this session:
Criminal public defense reform, including the county obligation to provide child protection attorneys
Tax exemptions for non-profit hospitals
Emergency Medical Services authority and funding
Funding of court services for high profile trials
Governance and funding formulas for health districts mandated by the state
State water policy which impacts local land use planning decisions
Reimbursement to counties for state inmates in county jails
These are issues that will impact Ada County residents greatly. It is important for the county to have its interests represented well this session to ensure good public policy making.
Like all county expenses, the funds to pay for lobbyist services had to be budgeted. This spring and summer the Board of Ada County Commissioners went through the regular and extensive budgeting process and the funding for these services was approved unanimously. The county budget was approved line by line during presentations, approved again in its entirety as a Tentative Budget, and the final budget unanimously approved by the Boar
It took under 60 seconds to send an email to end this!😉Thank you.