Three cheers for the lobbyists. They’re how we exercise free speech in Jefferson City | Opinion

When it comes to state government, the Missouri Constitution tells us who’s in charge right out of the gates. Article 1, Section 1 reminds us that “all political power is vested in and derived from the people.” Subsequent articles lay out the branches of government, their duties and responsibilities. But the prominence of the people sits above all.

The people express this power in several ways. We elect our governor, Senate and House members. We utilize the petition process to enact legislation or constitutional amendments. We speak our minds individually to those we elect. We can also organize and speak as a group through leaders or, gasp, paid lobbyists! This is all good.

The U.S. Eight Circuit Court of appeals agrees. It just struck down a Missouri measure, adopted by petition in 2018, that restricted the ability of legislators and employees of the General Assembly to serve as paid lobbyists. The court ruled, however, that it violated the individual right to political speech and petition government. The court also found that, despite claims, proponents were unable to demonstrate the corruption the measure was meant to address.

Lobbyists have always been looked down upon. Like lawyers (and many lobbyists are both), one can easily imagine that everyone hates them until they need one. But lobbyists are indispensable because government has become so large, so opaque and so unwieldy that the romantic scene depicted in Normal Rockwell’s painting “Freedom of Speech” has become grossly naive.

Intermediaries speaking to legislators isn’t new. Versions of the term “lobbyist” date back to 1640, when they would gather in the lobby of the British Houses of Parliament to speak to members. The word first appears in print in the United States as early as the 1830s.

Lobbying is intrinsic to democracy. And it was defended by one of the Founding Fathers.

James Madison considered the role of special interests, or factions, in “The Federalist No. 10.” He defined factions as “united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” Everyone reading this has had some interest in legislation before Congress or the Missouri General Assembly. Madison argued that a chief role of government is to foster and protect factionalism, because it was exactly this trading between parties with different interests that keep government accountable.

An irony is that a previous court case seeking to limit a person’s ability to lobby was promulgated by legislators. In 2014, several urged the professional association of lobbyists to file a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission because one person, Ron Calzone of Dixon, was not registered as a lobbyist. However, Calzone was just an activist for the causes he cared about. He was, and is, a constant presence in Jefferson City during the legislative session, but he neither collected nor spent any fees as part of his advocacy. He was merely a citizen taking advantage of his First Amendment rights.

It took five years before the Eighth Circuit ruled in Calzone’s favor. David Roland, co-founder of the Freedom Center of Missouri represented Calzone, noted the majority found “interactive communication concerning political change is speech at the very core of the First Amendment’s concern, and that it also amounts to petitioning the government for redress of grievances.”

Missouri’s initiative petitions are another way people can seek redress from government. Pundits complain about the money behind these efforts, but they’re expensive precisely because government regulation of such things, paired with complicated court rulings and conflicts of interest among elected leaders who oversee the process, require the use of professional signature-gatherers, campaign strategists, consultants and armies of lawyers.

If you want to change government, it’s going to cost you. A lot.

So raise a glass to the beleaguered lobbyists. They may not be loved, but they are necessary. If you want fewer of them, with less power and earnings, then remove from those whom they seek to influence power over so much of our lives.

Patrick Tuohey is co-founder of Better Cities Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on municipal policy solutions, and a senior fellow at the Show-Me Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to Missouri state policy work.