Student lobbyist roams halls of power

By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer

HELENA - Maureen “Mo” Weiland finished unloading her U-Haul at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, the day before the Montana Legislature convened for its 2009 session.

NICK WOLCOTT/CHRONICLE MSU student Maureen Weiland is in Helena for the 2009 legislative session lobbying on behalf of the Associated Students of MSU. Weiland didn’t have the luxury of sleeping in the next morning. She was at the Capitol at 8 a.m. the next day, checking committee schedules and bill numbers; giving out cards, networking.

Such is the work of a lobbyist. This year Weiland will be beating the granite of the Capitol for students at Montana State University as the Associated Students of MSU’s lobbyist, the latest in a long line of MSU students who have come to Helena to buttonhole lawmakers alongside energy company and union representatives.

Weiland, 21, is double majoring in political science and philosophy. And while the public policy work she’ll be doing will earn her 12 political science credits, they could just as well be credits in finance or economics:

With a barebones budget making its way through the Legislature, Weiland said a lot of her work is going to be about dollars and cents.

“It’s going to be a pretty tight year. It’s all going to be coming down to trying to maintain the level of funding we have now,” she said. This early in the session, she can’t tell if there will be an opportunity to play offense and lobby for increased higher-education funding in the budget.

As the state budget stands now, higher education will get a 3 percent funding increase n an amount analysts say will likely force schools to raise tuition to balance the books.

Weiland said even if tuition increases are necessary, she wants to make sure the state shares some of the burden of rising costs.

“We’re doing what we can to mitigate that burden so it isn’t prohibitive,” she said.

Funding isn’t the only issue Weiland plans to track in the coming months. She’s also planning to watch landlord laws and try to ensure the state moves forward with plans to improve energy efficiency in state buildings, including those on the MSU campus.

But “the budget is the biggest thing right now,” she said.

Higher education is at a disadvantage when it comes to budgeting. While the state can’t charge a third-grader or a prisoner for showing up at school or prison, respectively, it can charge a university sophomore a little more for that literature seminar.

Weiland said her strategy for talking lawmakers off that line of logic is to “show them how successful the University System is … remind them how successful their funding is.

“They’re really getting their money’s worth for this investment,” she said.

That’s what she’s in Helena for, said Michael Pasque, vice president of ASMSU.

“She’s our voice up there,” he said Thursday from Bozeman.

ASMSU President Shane Colvin said having a lobbyist goes a long way for students.

“It’s something that really ensures our views are represented well,” he said Friday. “When you have 12,000 students, it’s important you don’t under represent them.”

Daniel Person can be reached at dperson@dailychronicle.com.

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