Inquirer editorial: Phila. needs effective legislators, not lobbyists

Philadelphia's impressive lobbying tab should presage a taxpayer windfall in one of two ways: Either the city can save the public half a million dollars a year on the professionals in question, or most of the dozens of legislators paid to represent local interests in the capital are superfluous.

Intergovernmental lobbying serves primarily as a jobs program for former politicians and operatives. No sooner do certain legislators and aides leave the official payroll than governments like Philadelphia's hire them as paid monuments to the incompetence of their former colleagues.

As the Inquirer's Jonathan Tamari and Claudia Vargas reported this week, the city spent about $483,000 on lobbyists last year. They include a former congressman, Bob Borski; a onetime aide to Reps. Bob Brady and Paul McHale; the late Rep. William H. Gray III's son Justin; and former state Senate Majority Leader F. Joseph Loeper, who served time in federal prison in 2001 for obstructing a tax investigation.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's bloated legislature includes no fewer than 33 members nominally paid to represent Philadelphia, while three congressmen represent parts of the city in Washington. If the city's lobbying bills are not an extravagance, they can only be seen as a tacit indictment of these representatives - not to be confused with the criminal indictments that all too frequently winnow the city's legislative ranks.

Philadelphia isn't the only town doing more than its share to keep lobbyists employed. A 2009 report by New Jersey's state comptroller found that local governments there had disclosed nearly $4 million in spending on Trenton lobbyists in two years. The comptroller warned that the expensive contest for the state's attention could amount to "a race to the bottom for taxpayers."

Philadelphia's lobbying is similarly costly, and its benefits difficult to discern. Mayor Kenney should eliminate these expenses and ask more of those elected to represent the city.