Former governor does about-face on lobbyists

By James Salzer

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Hoping to make a comeback next year, former Gov. Roy Barnes has challenged his fellow gubernatorial opponents to steer clear of special interests that helped fuel his costly but unsuccessful re-election bid in 2002.

During a September Democratic gubernatorial forum in Savannah, Barnes promised that his campaign wouldn’t take checks from lobbyists.

The stance represents a shift from Barnes’ last political contest, when an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of disclosures shows he took more than $1 million from lobbyists and special interest PACs and associations.

That’s on top of collecting millions of dollars from health care, banking, road-building and other business interests keeping a close eye on what was going on at the Capitol.

Barnes, who lost to Sonny Perdue despite outspending him seven-to-one, said recently he’s had a change of heart as he heads into the 2010 gubernatorial contest. He’s running a campaign this time around with little room for the same lobbyists who once helped put him in office.

“As you get older, two things happen to you,” Barnes said. “One is you learn from mistakes you’ve made in the past, and secondly, you get to the point where you decide, ‘I’m just not going to do that anymore, it’s just not right.’

“I have become very concerned that you have had an overwhelming takeover of the common interest by the special interests. We ought to say we’ve got to stop this right now.”

Barnes’ opponents find the stance hypocritical. They also argue that as a millionaire lawyer, Barnes is wealthy enough to fund his own campaign, so he doesn’t need special interest checks anymore.

“To put it mildly, it’s a disconnect for him to all of a sudden take on this air of righteous indignation about lobbyists running government when his whole campaign was based on lobbyist groups [in 2002],” said former state Adjutant General David Poythress, a fellow Democratic candidate for governor.

The approach, however, could help Barnes remake his image in a state now dominated by Republicans.

“Traditionally there has been a strong populist strain running throughout the Deep South,” said Democratic strategist Rick Dent, who works in Alabama and Georgia. “In the economic environment we’re in right now, any kind of anti-corporation, pro-populist, anti-special-interest campaign works even better.

In solidly Republican states such as Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina, Dent said it’s likely a sound strategy for Democrats to run against the statehouse crowd that lobbies the GOP majority.

University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock, who thinks 2010 will be a “lean year” for Democrats, isn’t so sure.

“I don’t get a sense that there is a huge backlash against the establishment or special interests,” he said. “There may be some of that, but I don’t think it’s a white-hot issue right now.”

Some lobbyists who contributed to Barnes in the past accept lobbyist-bashing as part of the political game.

“Both parties are extremely adept in securing contributions from wherever they can, and they are equally adept at condemning others who do the same thing,” said banking and health care lobbyist Wayne Garner, a longtime friend of Barnes who served with him in the state Senate.

“For Roy Barnes or Sonny Perdue or anybody under that dome to castigate anyone for taking money from a lobbyist is like being called ugly by a frog.”

Stance as governor

Barnes, a gregarious, yarn-spinning trial attorney, had the kind of love-hate relationship with lobbyists common among Georgia governors. He had a lengthy career in the General Assembly prior to winning the top job. By the time Barnes became governor, he had known many of the veteran lobbyists for years.

Yet in his first State of the State speech in 1999, he warned lawmakers to ignore lobbyists who would try to weaken or kill his legislation cracking down on HMOs.

“Watch those eel-skinned briefcases and alligator shoes. It’s their job to put a wedge between us and what the people want and demand and deserve,” Barnes said.

Still, he counted on those briefcases and alligator shoes to help fund his previous campaigns.

The AJC reviewed more than 11,000 donations to Barnes’ re-election campaign in 2001-2002. He received at least $350,000 directly from lobbyists and more than $650,000 from PACs and associations, most with lobbyists at the Capitol.

In his first year as governor, Barnes pushed legislation creating a consumer advocate to deal with insurance disputes and issues. However, he agreed to exempt Columbus-based Aflac Inc. and other Georgia companies that write supplemental health care policies from being under the advocate’s oversight. When asked why, he said, “I needed to make sure it would pass.”

The company and its executives are traditionally big donors to campaigns and have long had a strong lobbying team, including Robinson, a former state Senate leader from Columbus.

A few years later, Barnes’ campaign took nearly $100,000 from executives and lobbyists seeking the state’s largest-ever contract, a $1.87 billion telecommunications deal. Lobbyists close to Barnes worked to win the bid, but the plan died after Perdue took office.

Once he left office, Barnes went back to railing against special interests.

Barnes said no one thing made him decide to stop taking money from lobbyists. In an interview with the AJC, he was reluctant to give specifics about how special interests are controlling policy. But he mentioned tax breaks that lawmakers approve for companies each year and the big-money health care debate in Washington as examples.

In an opinion piece published in the AJC this year, Barnes also cited a pro-Georgia Power bill that passed the General Assembly. State lawmakers overwhelmingly agreed to let Georgia Power begin charging higher utility rates to pay for the construction of nuclear reactors six years before they are completed. Georgia’s biggest industries, which had lobbyists at the Capitol, were largely exempted.

In 2001-2002, Barnes’ campaign collected about $15,000 from Georgia Power officials and staffers, including $1,000 from Ed Holcombe, a lobbyist for the company who is now Perdue’s chief of staff.

“Georgia Power is not alone,” Barnes said last week. “On a national level and a state level, it just appears to me, and it appears to everybody, that special interests are controlling the debate going on in Congress and the General Assembly.”

Lobbyists have long written or helped write bills at the Capitol, including during Barnes’ tenure as governor in 1999-2003.

Lindsay Thomas, a lobbyist for AGL Resources and a former congressman, said most lobbyists are honest brokers of information who don’t deserve to be singled out as bad players at the Capitol.

“If you’re going to stay in this profession, you have to be honest,” Thomas said. Thomas contributed $1,000 to Barnes’ re-election campaign during the 2001-2002 period. While he declined to address Barnes’ fund-raising last time around, Thomas said he gives to candidates “who understand the process and will give you a fair shot.”

Time will tell how well Barnes lives up to his pledge.

He did not begin collecting money for his 2010 gubernatorial race until after this summer’s June 30 deadline to report contributions. His first report isn’t due until January.

Virtually all of the other candidates have already taken money from lobbyists and/or special-interest PACs, according to their reports.

Last month, Barnes’ campaign had a $1,000-per-head fund-raiser in downtown Atlanta. Among the organizers were Buddy Darden, Gordon Giffin, Keith Mason and Ed Sims of the powerful and well-connected McKenna, Long & Aldridge law firm. Darden and Mason have been registered to lobby at the Capitol for years. However, they recently terminated their statehouse lobbying affiliations.

McKenna, Long & Aldridge has had more than a dozen staffers register as lobbyists in recent years. But Barnes’ campaign manager Chris Carpenter said firm officials were told in advance that no checks would be accepted from anyone on the State Ethics Commission’s list of registered lobbyists.

While Barnes hasn’t sworn off special-interest PAC money, his campaign Web site makes donors check a box saying they are not a registered lobbyist. His campaign also checks the names of donors against State Ethics Commission registration lists to make sure no lobbyists contribute. Staffers say a few checks have been returned to lobbyists who donated.

Poythress, one of Barnes’ Democratic opponents, said statewide candidates have to accept money from lobbyists and special interests if they want to be able to afford a serious campaign.

“You just have to do it in such a way that you don’t sell your soul to them,” he said.

How we got the story

When former Gov. Roy Barnes pledged to abstain from taking campaign contributions from lobbyists in his 2010 campaign, reporter James Salzer, who covered Barnes’ gubernatorial races in 1990, 1998 and 2002, began researching the former governor’s history with lobbyist and special interest money. Using campaign records available on the Georgia Secretary of State’s Web site at sos.georgia.gov/elections/campaign_disclosures/disclosure.htm, he reviewed more than 11,000 contributions Barnes received in 2001-2002 when he was running for re-election. Those contributions were matched with 2001-2002 lobbyist rosters available at the State Ethics Commission www.ethics.ga.gov/Reports/Lobbyist/Lobbyist_Menu.aspx. Salzer also interviewed several veteran lobbyists, other candidates, political strategists, election experts and Barnes for the story.