Chip Taylor

The interest group theory of government

Here's a data point from Tennessee in support of the theory.

Conflicts of interest don't bar lobbyists from state board seats

Lobbyists have been appointed to more than 50 seats on state boards and commissions in the past three years, about half of them to panels that have sway over the very issues the lobbyists are paid to influence, a review of state records shows.

Sitting on state boards allows lobbyists more access to policy-making and gives them the opportunity to affect special-interest legislation on Capitol Hill.

State boards reach into almost every aspect of daily life in Tennessee, recommending policies on everything from health care to child care, from taxation to taxidermy.

Gov. Phil Bredesen and others who appoint commission members say lobbyists bring expertise and, indeed, state law requires special-interest voices on most boards for balance.

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Three states — Missouri, Illinois and South Carolina — ban the appointment of lobbyists to state commissions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And an effort in North Carolina is under way to do the same.

In Tennessee, such a ban is not on the books, in part, because of lobbyists.

In April, lobbyists sat shoulder-to-shoulder across a subcommittee table from Sen. Bryson, who was pushing the plan at a meeting at Legislative Plaza.

One of them, John Lyell, a lobbyist who has represented health-care industry interests, pawnbrokers and the Tennessee Titans, complained that the bill would make him a "second-class citizen."

"It offends me personally, quite frankly," Lyell told Bryson. "Don't kick me around. ... I'm a first-class citizen."