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Show New Angles On Old Institutions You see a good deal of complaint voiced in the press these days about the tremendous pressure being exerted by lobbies on the people's chosen representatives in the state legislature. Now comes Rep. Ed. J. McPolin (D. Summit) and speaker of the house, to defend the lobbies. In an address to members of the Salt Lake Rotary club Tuesday the aen- tleman from Summit is reported to have said that bill-happy legislators "are lucky if they have time to read the title, let alone study each bill and that lobbies provide a way of hearing both sides to proposed laws." We earnestly hope Representative McPolin doesn't mean what it sounds as if he means. In the first place, if a legislator doesn't have time, as Representative McPolin says he doesn't, for at least a cursory study of the bills he votes on, then there is something some-thing terribly wrong with our legislative system. (Maybe there isn't time because the legislator is too busy listening to lobbies). In the second place, if a legislator has to depend on slanted information given him by spokesmen for special interests for his knowledge of the bills he votes on then there is something terribly wrong with that legislator. The plain inference is that if a given bill doesn't happen hap-pen to have a lobby for and 'agin', Representative McPol-in's McPol-in's type of legislator will find some other inadequate substitute sub-stitute for individual study and will vote accordingly. He might, for instance,, try an ouija board. |