Lobbyist on board? Bill calls for ban

State law prohibits lobbyists from serving on state boards and commissions that regulate their clients. And Georgia’s ethics code states that public servants, including those on boards and commissions, should never offer opinions on decisions that would affect them or their businesses financially.

But state ethics law doesn’t stop lobbyists from sitting on boards when their clients could have a direct interest in the boards’ actions.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found at least a dozen registered lobbyists currently serving on state boards and commissions. They hold decision-making positions related to everything from the state’s technical college system to state investments to Jekyll Island development.

Now a movement is afoot at the Legislature to amend proposed ethics legislation, SB 17, to include a total ban on lobbyists serving on state boards. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the head of the Senate, supports a complete ban.

For years, ethics advocates have asked for stricter rules on lobbyists serving on boards. Some legislators proposed a complete ban during debate over Perdue’s ethics reform package in 2005, but the proposal was cut from the final legislation.

Some states forbid lobbyists from serving on state boards or commissions. President Barack Obama last year directed all federal departments and agencies not to appoint lobbyists to boards or commissions. Current lobbyists on boards are being allowed to serve out their terms.

In Georgia, Atlanta trial attorney Emmet Bondurant said having a lobbyist on a state board creates an inherent conflict of interest.

“People who are paid to lobby the state on a particular issue should not be sitting on boards and commissions,” he said.

In 2005, the state passed Perdue’s ethics reform legislation, which forbids lobbyists from serving on boards that regulate their clients.

Legislators added that provision to ethics legislation in response to a specific scandal. In 2002, H. Boyd Pettit III, a former legislator, resigned from the state Department of Transportation board after the AJC reported he was a lobbyist for an investment banking firm that helped the State Road and Tollway Authority write bonds for a road project. Today Pettit is a lobbyist with the firm GeorgiaLink.

Since taking office in 2003, Perdue has appointed lobbyists to several boards. “No one is appointed to a board if they have a conflict of interest,” Perdue spokesman Chris Schrimpf said.

One of Perdue’s appointees is lawyer and lobbyist Robert Highsmith Jr., the governor’s former legal counsel who drafted the 2005 ethics legislation. Today Highsmith serves on the governor’s Judicial Nominating Commission, a powerful legal board that vets judges. Highsmith said his appointment has “nothing to do with lobbying.”

“I’ve never had a conversation with a lobbying client about a judicial appointment, casual or otherwise,” said Highsmith, who lists his own law firm, Holland & Knight, as one of his lobbying clients.

Highsmith said he supports the 2005 limitations, but said an outright ban on lobbyists serving on state boards would shrink the number of possible volunteers.

“If you take them out of the mix, you narrow an already narrow pool of people willing to serve,” he said.

Many of the lobbyist/board members the AJC attempted to reach did not return calls. Those who did said they scrupulously avoided conflicts of interest. Some said their work on boards does not overlap with lobbying.

Harold Reheis, a lobbyist with Joe Tanner & Associates, sits on the Employee Retirement System board, which oversees billions of dollars in investments for state pensions. Perdue asked him to serve on the board, but the retirement system board formally appointed him. Reheis, who retired as director of the state’s Environmental Protection Division in July 2003, began lobbying in September of that year.

Today one of his clients is IBM. The retirement system invests tens of millions of dollars with the company.

Reheis said board members are not involved in daily investment decisions, and if a vote or recommendation ever came up that involved one of his clients, he would abstain. “Anyone sitting on any other board would do the same thing,” he said.

Some state board members are registered as lobbyists, but only lobby occasionally. Sylvia Russell, president of AT&T Georgia, serves on the State Board of Technical and Adult Education. Because she sometimes meets with state officials, she registered as a lobbyist.

“No AT&T contracts have come before the board during Sylvia Russell’s tenure,” said Sage Rhodes, an AT&T spokeswoman. “If such a contract were considered, she would, of course, abstain from voting.”

Dwight Davis, a partner and prominent trial attorney at King & Spalding, serves on the Department of Natural Resources board. He said most of his legal work is in court, but he registers as a lobbyist for the times a client wants him to meet with state officials. He said he hasn’t had a conflict arise, but would recuse himself if one did.