Lobbyists’ largesse at Capitol: $87,248

By Chris Joyner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Lobbyists spent $87,248.49 the first two weeks of 2012 wooing legislators with receptions, meals and trinkets while ethics groups renewed their call for limits.

“It’s a huge amount of money,” said Julianne Thompson of the Georgia Tea Party Patriots, one of a coalition of groups calling on the Legislature to put a cap on gifts. “I just don’t understand why legislators feel they are entitled to this.”

Big ticket items in the report include several receptions, including $7,035 for a reception hosted by the Georgia Chemistry Council on the first day of the session and $6,776 for another reception two days later by the Georgia Bankers Association.

The total spending breaks down to about $370 per legislator. Put another way, it is more than $6,200 per day spent for reasons that largely are unclear.

While lobbyists are required to report their spending every two weeks during the General Assembly session, they are not required to explain it. In this first report of the year, the field for “bill number” — the only area on the form where lobbyists can express their intentions — reads “none” or “N/A” or is blank for 99 percent of the money spent.

Much of the money went for food and drink, but some of it went to pay for gifts for lawmakers. The state dental association bought toothbrushes for every legislator, and Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill received a book on the history of the University of Alabama-Birmingham provided (unexpectedly) by the University System of Georgia.

Lawmakers living in the Landmark Apartments received copies of the AJC, courtesy of the gas station lobby.

The lobbyist for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority was busy meeting the lawmakers’ requests for tickets, including 14 tickets to the sold-out Monster Truck Jam at the Georgia Dome and luxury suite tickets to the Atlanta Falcons’ final regular-season game on New Year’s Day, according to the disclosure reports.