Beacon Poll: Stop Local Governments From Hiring Contract Lobbyists – Claiborne Progress

By Jon Styff

The central square

It’s unclear how many people are or were aware of the process by which local governments hire lobbyists on contract to lobby state and federal governments. But a new Beacon Center poll clearly shows that taxpayers are against the practice.

Only 5% of potential voters support the practice, while 72% of the 1,200 people who responded to the poll said they were opposed and 24% said they were unsure.

“Ultimately, a lot of people don’t know this is happening in the state,” said Mark Cunningham, vice president of communications and outreach for the Beacon Center. “When you look at that number, it’s shocking that only 5 percent of people think this is something they should be able to use tax dollars for.”

The survey also asked several questions about funding for broadband, which has been a top priority in recent years thanks to federal taxpayer funding.

Reliable broadband access is available at home for 85% of respondents, with 71% finding it very or somewhat affordable and 28% finding it very or somewhat unaffordable at home.

The main issues with broadband include the cost of service for 37% of respondents, speed and reliability for 19%, availability for 10%, customer service for 6% and freedom from problems for 24%.

Only 4% said broadband access was not important to their household, while 93% said it was.

“A lot of cities and counties have said there’s not enough high-speed internet and the government needs to step in and spend millions and millions of dollars to have government-run internet,” Cunningham said. “We just wanted to see if the problem is as bad as local governments are saying.”