In the final days before the start of the 2008 legislative session, a health care company lobbying for a law to help it get into the Georgia market doled out $41,000 in campaign contributions to more than 50 lawmakers and top state officials.

The biggest contributions from Cancer Treatment Centers of America went to legislative leaders, including Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Speaker Glenn Richardson, House Majority Leader Jerry Keen and Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, according to reports filed recently with the State Ethics Commission.

State Ethics Commission reports show lawmakers and state officials took in more than $1 million in campaign contributions in the two weeks leading up to the 2008 session, which began Jan. 14. Most of that came from groups such as the Cancer Treatment Centers, UnitedHealthcare, the National Rifle Association and dozens of other organizations with lobbyists and a huge stake in what happened during the session.

State law prohibits legislators from raising campaign money during General Assembly sessions. This is intended to prevent donors from directly influencing votes. But many lawmakers hold fund-raising receptions the week before the session, often with an idea of what donors are hoping to get from the General Assembly.

"You're either buying votes or you're rewarding [past] votes," said Neill Herring, a veteran environmental lobbyist who doesn't contribute to campaigns. Whatever the timing, Herring said, special interests are still buying influence.

Johnson (R-Savannah), who held one of the fund-raisers just before the session, said the system is a good one.

"I think it's about as fair as it can reasonably get," said Johnson, who took in $61,000 during the two weeks before the session. "Sure, they are trying to make sure when they need to meet with you to talk about an issue that you are more likely to make time for them. But it's accurate to say both sides [of an issue] are contributing."

Johnson holds pre-session fund-raisers every year, and he traditionally has one of the largest campaign war chests. It was at just under $600,000 by the time the session began.

Other big pre-session fund-raisers included Richardson, who took in $70,000; Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek), who received $74,000; and Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island), who collected $50,000. The speaker's MMV Alliance Fund, which he uses for his personal political expenses, received an additional $12,000.

Health care takes lead

Some of the biggest pre-session givers were health care interests.

The state spends billions of dollars a year providing health care to Georgians, and many companies have a big stake in the state budget. In addition, lawmakers this year passed legislation promoting high-deductible health insurance plans, a growing business, and certificate-of-need (CON) legislation allowing more competition in the health care industry.

The CON bill that passed and has already been signed into law could lead to Cancer Treatment Centers of America building a $150 million hospital near the Atlanta airport specializing in holistic treatment for cancer patients. It's something the company has been seeking for more than a year. The company hired top-drawer Capitol lobbyists to push its bill and spent thousands of dollars flying lawmakers to cancer facilities and wining and dining them.

The big campaign contributions went to decision-makers. Cagle, the Senate's president, got $2,000, as did Richardson. Keen, Burkhalter and House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) got $1,500. The maximum legal contribution to lawmakers is $2,300 for primaries and general elections.

David Kent, an official with the Illinois-based Cancer Treatment Centers of America, said giving before the session makes sense, logistically.

"It's easier for me to come in and meet with them when [most legislators] are in one place,'' Kent said. "There was no expectation that because we gave, that it would influence their opinion on this issue.''

Some lawmakers who received contributions from the company voted against its bill, he added.

The strongest opposition came from the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, a powerful group representing nonprofit hospitals across the state. The group, which objected to the cancer hospital and other proposed changes to the state's health care regulatory system, gave almost $60,000 to more than 70 lawmakers in December, the month before the session. The organization didn't list any contributions in January.

The hospital group usually gives to campaigns before the session starts, said Monty Veazey, its president and top lobbyist.

"You always hope to gain their ear by building relationships,'' he said. "You want to get your issue before them.''

The hospital alliance also worked hard for funding to improve the state's system of trauma care hospitals and for higher taxpayer reimbursements from Medicaid, the health-insurance program for the poor and disabled. But the contributions were, in part, an effort to counteract the money given by the Cancer Treatment Centers, he added.

"Any time you have this out-of-state, privately held company coming in and asking the state to give [it] a special exemption, and they start throwing money around, you feel like you have to step up to the plate,'' he said.

The health care industry was just one of many to give before the session. Insurers handed out checks and got what they wanted: legislation that would allow them to raise auto coverage rates without first getting state approval, as well as bills providing two premium tax breaks. The National Rifle Association handed out about $10,000 to lawmakers in January. The General Assembly passed legislation allowing holders of concealed-weapon permits to carry guns into restaurants, state parks and on MARTA trains and other public transportation.

Where money goes

The money that donors gave before the session started won't necessarily go to help the re-election of the recipient.

Many top lawmakers, including Richardson and Johnson, run with little or no opposition.

Groups with statehouse lobbyists reported giving $41,000 to Gov. Sonny Perdue's political action committee in January. Perdue is in his second term and can't run for re-election. Most of the money came from health care interests that have a huge financial stake in the $21 billion budget Perdue recommended.

Cagle, who also doesn't face re-election this year, received $17,000 from Capitol special interests. Again, most of it was from the health care industry. Unlike many lawmakers, Cagle did not hold a January fund-raiser before the session.

Perdue and Cagle could use that money this year to help Republican legislative candidates win election.

Johnson said it appears that special interests are directing more big contributions to those in statehouse leadership. Those leaders then dole out the money to candidates who need the help come election time.

Bill Bozarth, executive director of the watchdog group Common Cause Georgia, calls such fund-raising part of a "flawed process."

"The distortion of it is, when much of the money goes to leadership who hardly ever has opposition ... the money is clearly not for what the law intended, which is to run a viable campaign," Bozarth said.

House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin (R-Evans) doesn't have trouble raising money because his committee helps write the state budget. He raised $39,000 at a fund-raiser at the private 191 Club downtown just before the session.

Harbin said there were probably three or four fund-raisers a day at the club right before the session.

"The day I had mine, there were three, one right after another," he said.

Harbin said the contributions don't influence his vote or how he writes the budget. "I make my decision based on the issue, not on whether they give me money or not," he said. He thinks cutting off fund-raising during the session is good policy. "If you had somebody walking up to you during the session and they say they want to hold a fund-raiser for you and you're on the opposite side of their issue ... if it wasn't improper, it would certainly create a lot of improper opportunities," he said.

"The way we do it is the best we can do."

Maybe so, but Bozarth said average Georgians probably just see the pre-session contributions as another attempt to influence the process.

"The ability for the [legislative] leadership, without even asking for it, to get near the maximum contribution ... that clearly is an attempt to get access and influence," he said. "What is the difference between that and handing out checks for legislation? You have to be naive to think there is no connection between the legislators, the money and the people who give them the money."