Plus meeting with groups in our districts, and meetings like this on Fridays. A lot of lobbyists built up relationships over 20 years with legislators who are now gone because of term limits. Now we're relying on those lobbyists for information. But the pressure is more on them to be upfront and accurate, because they haven't built up those relationships with us. Don't forget, we also have the Legislative Service Commission, which evaluates bills and gives us information on issues.
Lobbyists are just one source of information.
Our priority is that we represent the people back home. There's a wrong perception here. A legislator who's been there a long time doesn't necessarily understand history better than a new legislator. Remember the double dipping issue. Clearly what the legislature wanted to do in 1993 was get rid of it.