Kirk Watson Wants to Blow the Lid off Lobbyist Wining and Dining of Legislators

I’ve known many downtown restaurateurs who literally planned their budgets around each legislative session. Why? Because they could count on a jump in sales as lobbyists wined and dined all too willing legislators. And the beauty of the system was that the $114 spending cap per lobbyist before names of legislators had to be reported got be easily gotten around.

Now Senator Watson wants to toughen up those reporting laws, making the money spent more transparent and accountable.

So if the bill gets passed what will be the outcome? Well, fewer bottles of Caymus Special Selection ’03 will be ordered, that $100 Tomahawk may get reduced to a hangar steak, and so on. These restaurants had better be more aggressive courting the public than counting on that huge block of spending that occurs every two years.

Now, that’s if the bill passes. Given the fact that no legislator wants you to know that he and a few colleagues ran up an astronomical tab while being “lobbied” the legislation may face an uphill battle. But this will be an interesting one to watch. Perhaps we’ll get Kirk in the studio soon for a podcast!