Pennsylvania Has a Budget Deficit. So Why Are Taxpayers Funding Lobbyists?

Originally published by RealClearPennsylvania.

Should Pennsylvania taxpayers fund political lobbying efforts for taxpayer-funded organizations lobbying for more taxpayer funds? Not only is this practice misguided, but it’s also fundamentally wrong, blurring the line between public service and self-serving advocacy at the taxpayer’s expense.

At this very moment, Pennsylvania lawmakers are negotiating the state budget – sort of. They face countless difficult decisions while allocating the commonwealth’s limited resources. Considering Pennsylvania’s $4 billion structural deficit, those resources are finite. And the last thing we need are lobbyists siphoning those limited funds away from the real needs of the commonwealth’s people, especially the students trapped in failing schools and hard-working Pennsylvanians trying to make ends meet.

Unfortunately, such behavior is the status quo, especially in Harrisburg.

Read more at RealClearPennsylvania.