Tennessee Taxpayers Association

It Appears That the Various Levels of Our Government May be the Largest Users of Lobbyists in Tennessee 

There are government paid professional lobbyists, governmental association lobbyists, governmental staff members, and elected and appointed officials who are all lobbying our State Government to further governmental interests that are often adverse to the interests of taxpayers. 

Governmental lobbyists, governmental association lobbyists, governmental officials, officers, and employees are ubiquitous in the halls of the Legislature.

Why are they there?  Of course, it is usually all about the money.

Should the various governments be permitted to spend public funds to hire lobbyists to work against taxpayer interests?

NO! !

There is an obvious conflict with the taxpayers and citizens when these lobbyists are used in governmental efforts such as  1) seeking new forms of taxation  2) seeking to increase or expand existing taxes  3) seeking new or increased fees or charges against citizens  4) seeking to obtain hidden tax increases by deleting taxpayers’ rights in the taxing process and in appeals or protests  5) opposing legislation sponsored by individuals and private groups or associations which would promote fairness to taxpayers.

The conflict may even be an unavoidable one when public funds are used to pay lobbyists for any governmental purpose. 

Below is a list of single officials, cities, and counties that hire professional lobbyists.  There are numerous other government agencies and districts such as utility companies and school districts, but we don’t have to list these lobbyists to demonstate the broad use of lobbyists by our governments. 

This information was gathered from the records of the Tennessee Ethics Commission.

In addition to these directly hired lobbyists, often governments and government officials will join together in associations in order to be more effective in influencing the Legislature and/or the Administration.  In this way all the interests of governments and/or the actual officials can be represented by lobbyists.  

The largest local government associations that hire professional lobbyists are:

The County Services  Association is comprised of three other associations;  the Association of County Mayors, the Tennessee County Commissioners Association, and the Tennessee County Highway Officials Association.  

The County Officials Association is composed of County Clerks, State Court Clerks, Registers and Trustees.  

The TN Municipal League is composed of Tennessee cities and towns. 

Some of these same Associations, plus others, also have in-house registered lobbyists. 

There are also other governmental agencies and associations whose officers or directors regularly lobby legislators on behalf of their agencies or associations but have not registered as lobbyists with the Tennessee Ethics Commission.  For example:

This Assessors Association proudly proclaims on their website how well their Director has shepherded important legislation through the Legislature.

Therefore, governments, in one form or another, wield enormous power and influence through the use of lobbyists.

Taxpayers presently do not match the power of these government lobbyists, but collectively they do have the potential to far surpass them.  After all, there are more taxpayers than government officials and taxpayers can collectively afford to counter any efforts by the governments to take and/or waste our funds through direct or hidden agenda tax legislation.

Taxpayer power in government affairs is possible and can be obtained through the efforts of the Tennessee Taxpayers Association.   Join and Support.

       copyright – Tennessee Taxpayers Association – August 16, 2009

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