But City Hall can do little to stop what Rix considers a far more serious threat to the historical character of Armory Park - a collection of giant billboards that loom over the neighborhood by day and shine bright lights into bedroom windows by night. But a business owner, the top lobbyists he hired and a state lawmaker from Kingman combined last year to weaken efforts at restricting billboard advertising. Rix loses because she had no effective champion among the people who get things done at the state Capitol - the close collection of 90 lawmakers and a cadre of powerful lobbyists who work hand in hand around the green lawn of the state Capitol during the three or four months that bills get passed. Two-thirds of today's lawmakers collected more than half their campaign donations from the registered special interests that work to influence their votes. Campaign finance reports show nearly two dozen state lobbyists, including some of the most powerful ones, exceeded the limit on how much a person is allowed to give each year to lawmakers.
Some lobbyists say the reports fail to reflect that half of their donations came from their wives.
And citizens on the panel said they seldom get a satisfactory airing of their concerns. They struggle for time to leave work for hearings in Phoenix, only to find the hearings rescheduled or their time stolen so a committee chairman can have a staff member lecture to them. Besides, says veteran lobbyist Edward Wren, killing a bill or passing one takes more than a five-minute stint at the podium when a committee hears testimony. Even the League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson, champion of direct citizen involvement, is experimenting with a paid lobbyist during the session now under way in Phoenix. I always lobby a bill ahead of time.