June 3, 2008
DOES THE CITY REALLY NEED TO SPEND $50,000 ON A BYPASS LOBBYIST???
"To secure additional funding for the 510 Loop project, the City of Yelm contracted legislative services this week to protect city interests in the state Legislature.
The city contracted with Davor Gjurasic, of Gjurasic Public Relations, and Kathleen Collins, of Capitol Strategies, to lobby issues for the city, specifically the 510 Loop.
The pair was contracted by the city previously and helped the city acquire the first $35 million for the project.
While contracting for these type of services isn’t new to Yelm, it isn’t something they do annually.
“The city hasn’t always been in the position to lobby for money,” Mayor Ron Harding said.
“We figure this is going to be the year to get funding.”
In 2005 the city contracted the pair’s services for about $40,000, and they helped to obtain $35 million in loop funding in return.
Between June 1 and May 31, 2009, the city will pay up to $50,000 for the legislative services.
“It’s well worth the investment,” Harding said. “Hopefully we can get the whole $54 million (we need).”
With issues changing on an hourly basis at the capitol, Harding said it’s important to have someone up there being the eyes and the ears for the city," quoting the May 30, 2008 edition of the Nisqually Valley News.
While I applaud the intent of the Mayor & City Council focusing on the 2009 legislative session to get more funding for the Yelm Bypass, is spending $50,000 REALLY necessary?
Think about this for a moment:
Yelm has two powerful allies in obtaining funding in the 2009 state legislature in Rep. Tom Campbell & Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen. If these two public servants in Olympia can get funding restored when the Governor axed this from the budget in 2008, then they will be the ones best to deliver funding in the 2009 legislative session, and without the need for Yelm to outlay such $50,000 of taxpayer monies for a lobbyist to lobby the very people who are the very champions of Yelm's Bypass.
Go figure???
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
The work of Campbell & Rasmussen on Yelm's behalf were previously covered in-depth on the Yelm Community Blog:
April 13, 2008
March 21, 2008
March 21, 2008
March 1, 2008
HMMM!
I was stunned when I read the city was making this outlay for lobbyists. Rep. Tom Campbell & Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen have championed our traffic issues for years. The fact that the Yelm City Council has not noticed that they have made such an effort without being bought, is testament to the council's judgement.