In my position as a city commissioner I often find myself being lobbied by a resident or a developer who has a position they want me to adopt. That's fair. In fact, it's the basis of our system of government. We are, after all, a representative republic. Periodically we elect someone from our midst to go represent us at some level of government. Those people are expected to learn as much as they can about the issues, make judgments and decisions based on the information they've been able to gather, and then stand up to defend those decisions at election time, assuming they want to keep the job for another term. Lobbying is a reality. Although, contrary to popular belief, most lobbyists aren't paid for what they do. They're you and your neighbors. They're anyone who steps up to the plate to make their position known to someone who has the ability to cast a vote when the time comes. They're largely ineffective, too. Nobody likes to hear that, but it's true. Continue Reading »

===> Posted on October 25th, 2011 by Jamie Beckett. No comments. © GAN 2011.