As more cities consider imposing restrictions on short-term lodging in private residences, purveyors of the service, like Airbnb, have not been idle. This year, for the first time, Airbnb and others have registered lobbyists in Sacramento and, according to a recent report in the Orange County Register, "Airbnb reported spending more than $67,000 on lobbying through the first half of this year."
But traditional hoteliers are way ahead of them. According to recent data, the hotel and restaurant industry spent $3.4 million on state lobbying on a number of issues last year — including the ill-fated Senate Bill 593, which aimed to tax short-term rentals the same as hotel rooms.
When Thomas Jefferson's original tombstone, a granite obelisk that was given to the University of Missouri in 1885, was slated for restoration a scant three years ago, the university could not have been prouder of owning such an important artifact of a Founding Father.
Indeed, seizing upon the moment, the Mizzou press office issued a release touting ties with the Sage of Monticello: It noted that the University of Missouri was the first public university in the Louisiana Purchase Territory (for which Jefferson was chiefly responsible) and that its curriculum had been modeled on Mr. Jefferson's ideas about education.
