Pennsylvania governments paid lobbyists more than $4 million this year to lobby the state and federal governments for more tax money

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports:

Pennsylvania governments paid lobbyists more than $4 million this year to lobby the state and federal governments for more tax money.

Watchdog groups call the expenses wasteful, saying taxpayers pay elected representatives to do that job. Government officials say they need lobbyists to compete for more funds.

"It further undermines the process by using tax money to use an alleged professional to do the same thing government is supposed to do in the first place," said Gerald Shuster, a professor of political communications at the University of Pittsburgh.

Campaign committees for six large lobbying firms with clients in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and state government donated $2.9 million in campaign money to state and federal campaigns in the past three years. Lobbyists say that's the nature of their business, and government officials say there's no connection between donations and contracts.

Rent seeking gone wild.