We have praised county government in St. Charles a few times here at the Show-Me Institute. The primary reason is their refusal to use tax increment financing in the unincorporated areas, and to fight it when the municipalitites use TIFs. But they just did another thing that we have called for several times here at our friendly little blog — they have gotten rid of their government lobbyist!

Political Fix has the story here. Now St. Charles will use current employees to handle those duties — but from within the scope of their current jobs, not as brand-new positions devoted to doing the same things the lobbyist did. Kudos to County Executive Steve Ehlmann for making this move. We do not need one level of government paying lobbyists to get money from other levels of government. That just grows the leviathan, and the influence of government at every level in our lives.

As I have said before, don’t take my words here as an attack on lobbying as such. I have nothing against lobbyists, and certainly nothing against Jim Cooper, whom I have never met. I just dislike the practice of using tax dollars to lobby for more tax dollars from another government. Thanks to Combest for the link, and to Brian Simpson for covering the move as well.