Minnesota taxpayer-funded lobbying: How much disclosure is enough?

A few months back, the Illinois Policy Institute released a report heralding the transparency of Minnesota on the state’s disclosure of its taxpayer-funded lobbying.

Taxpayer-funded lobbying is just what it sounds like: lobbying funded by citizens’ money. Local and state governments use public funds, which come from tax dollars, to lobby for legislation and to attempt to gain money from other governments.

Not much is known about this process, which is why the Illinois Policy Institute was optimistic about Minnesota’s disclosure. Every year, the Minnesota state auditor releases the Local Government Lobbying Services Report, which details the cost of lobbying by entities in the state. The report includes payments to taxpayer-funded lobbying associations, as well as contracts with lobbyists. A very good job of proactive disclosure, especially considering the archives for this information go back to 1989.

Or so it would seem. The nonprofit Freedom Foundation of Minnesota recently released a report highlighting the federal lobbying spending of 26 public entities in the state. The entities spent $5.2 million since 2006 lobbying federal officials.

So what’s the problem? Federal lobbying isn’t included in the auditor’s report. According to the Freedom Foundation president, this needs to change:

“It’s critical that taxpayers have an understanding of how much their local governments are spending on lobbying,” he said. “It is important for them to know how much their cities and counties are spending to lobby legislators in St. Paul. It stands to reason it is just as important for them to know how much they are spending to lobby congressmen in Washington, D.C.”

That makes perfect sense. Minnesota should be lauded for its efforts in being accountable to its citizens, but in transparency, there’s always room for improvement. Federal lobbying should be disclosed as readily as state and local lobbying is. Minnesota will be all the better for it.