Straight Talk From Steve

Should government agencies be allowed to hire lobbyists?

This is a question that has bothered me ever since 2016 when I first went to Lincoln to serve as a State Senator. Lobbyists are supposed to represent the interests of select groups of people, not the interests of government entities. This is an important question to ask because last year 20.3 million dollars was spent on paying lobbyists to influence State Senators in the Unicameral Legislature.

The problem with allowing government entities to be represented by lobbyists is that it undermines the nature of what a government entity i...