By Rep. Jason Murphey

There is some very good news to report about the effort to level the playing field between the paid special interests groups and the people.

During the first six months of 2007, paid lobbyists reported giving legislators $137,000 in personal gifts, such as expensive dinners or sporting events tickets. This spending power basically bought access to the legislators on behalf of the spenders. This is the type of access that the average person (whom the legislators are supposed to be representing) simply cannot compete with.

I feel that the special interests’ influence problem has in large part been created by the massive size of government. Because state government has become so engorged with billions of our tax dollars, and because there are so many different government regulations and laws, a cottage industry has sprung up that is populated by those who seek to benefit their specific field of interest. Because there are millions of dollars at stake, these special interests will see an investment in personal gifts or political contributions to lawmakers as being a small price to pay, compared to the possible benefits. Read more…