Legislators say taxpayers getting pinched by government lobbyists

Monday, February 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A debate is raging over whether state agencies should have lobbyists on the payroll to sway lawmakers. The leader of the state Senate says lobbyists for state agencies serve an important purpose. Others want the taxpayer-funded practice stopped. "I am fundamentally against that system because it has become grossly abused," said state Rep. Dan Webb, R- Oklahoma City. "Taxpayers don't need a quasi-backdoor lobbying element to go out there and try to increase the tax burden on themselves by using their own money to do it."

Many public agencies often hire people to sway legislators or simply track bills that may affect the agencies. Sometimes, agencies use their own staffers, who for eight months out of the year may appear anonymously on government payrolls until they assume their high-profile roles during the Legislature.

Bart Bates is paid $65,000 a year to serve as legislative liaison for the Oklahoma Insurance Department. He said practically every state agency hires someone to represent their interests in the Legislature, but he said he does more than just troll for dollars. "I am a source of information. ... There are more than 100 insurance bills out here, and legislators need to know how everyone of those bills will impact Oklahomans," Bates said in a copyright article in the Sunday Oklahoman.

Some legislators defend the system as a reality of today's political climate. "The reality is, they are going to have one -- one way or theo ther -- whether it is in-house or external," said Senate President Pro Tem Stratton Taylor, D-Claremore. "Frankly, I would rather have someone who is knowledgeable about the process, who is hard working on a daily basis thansomeone thrust in for the moment," he said.

With hundreds of public and private lobbyists vying for the attention of lawmakers, some agency heads complain they can't be heard unless they do the same thing. "Nobody is more frustrated with this than I am," said Paul Dungan, director of the City - County Health Department of Oklahoma County. "I am not a politician. I am not a lawyer. I am a public health official, and in this environment we really need to know how to influence them properly."

Still, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars a year, that doesn't soften the opinions of legislators like Rep. Charles Gray, D-Oklahoma City, who is staunchly against these public funded lobbyists. "That should absolutely be prohibited," Gray said. "It is one thing for an agency to come and give us some information. It is something else for them to actively -- like higher education -- actively be over here wanting different kinds of things, especially tuition increases. If I had my way, they would not be allowed to do that."