Comments on: Council committee votes on lobbyists http://ellensmith.org/blog/2007/12/11/council-committee-votes-on-lobbyists/ Sun, 06 Jul 2008 03:57:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Ellen Smith http://ellensmith.org/blog/2007/12/11/council-committee-votes-on-lobbyists/#comment-32884 Ellen Smith Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:13:00 +0000 http://ellensmith.org/blog/?p=76#comment-32884 Thanks, Ray. I think we are in agreement, although I don't think Oak Ridge could handle a World's Fair or Olympic venue! For the record, city staff says that Ferguson has saved staff time by doing some of the paperwork that otherwise would have needed to be done by city staff. Thanks, Ray. I think we are in agreement, although I don’t think Oak Ridge could handle a World’s Fair or Olympic venue!

For the record, city staff says that Ferguson has saved staff time by doing some of the paperwork that otherwise would have needed to be done by city staff.

]]> By: Ray Kircher http://ellensmith.org/blog/2007/12/11/council-committee-votes-on-lobbyists/#comment-32708 Ray Kircher Sat, 15 Dec 2007 16:17:09 +0000 http://ellensmith.org/blog/?p=76#comment-32708 I have seen value in a premise of what our future can be. The value we see in the Ferguson group is not anything more than what our representatives are supposed to be doing. If the representative doesn't anchor funding for municipal improvements, the representative is voted out. Looking at other Ferguson Group lobbying efforts, it appears to be the same. This group has only attached their effort to grants that would have been won without a lobbyist for example, water and sewer projects, green ways and police projects. In an effort to say our lobbyists bring value, can I have a response to how our representatives have worked for important municipal projects in Oak Ridge? Aren’t these the people who have taken credit while we pay for lobbyists? Overall, we are paying for work that would have been done anyway by our representative if our elected council were on top of the proper boards applying for these grants. This redundancy is glaringly apparent and needs to stop. Now if City of Oak Ridge were to bring a World's Fair or an Olympic venue, then hiring a lobbyist would be worth the value. I have seen value in a premise of what our future can be. The value we see in the Ferguson group is not anything more than what our representatives are supposed to be doing. If the representative doesn’t anchor funding for municipal improvements, the representative is voted out.

Looking at other Ferguson Group lobbying efforts, it appears to be the same. This group has only attached their effort to grants that would have been won without a lobbyist for example, water and sewer projects, green ways and police projects. In an effort to say our lobbyists bring value, can I have a response to how our representatives have worked for important municipal projects in Oak Ridge? Aren’t these the people who have taken credit while we pay for lobbyists?

Overall, we are paying for work that would have been done anyway by our representative if our elected council were on top of the proper boards applying for these grants. This redundancy is glaringly apparent and needs to stop. Now if City of Oak Ridge were to bring a World’s Fair or an Olympic venue, then hiring a lobbyist would be worth the value.

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