A partnership of oilmen, car dealers and liquor merchants spent nearly $2,000 so far this year stocking a private bar for state lawmakers in a downtown condominium.
But that is just the beginning. In just the past two weeks, lobbyists have spent more than $80,000 -- $340 per member of the General Assembly -- literally wining and dining lawmakers, their spouses and staff members.
June Houston, a Georgia State University employee buying her own lunch Wednesday at a Waffle House two blocks from the Capitol, called those figures "ridiculous." With so much being spent on food and drink, there must be a quid pro quo, she said.
"There is a lot going on behind closed doors that we're not aware of," she said. "They are being influenced."
The practice of allowing lobbyists to pick up the tab for meals is as old as the Gold Dome itself, and a free meal is never far away when the legislature is in session.
On Wednesday morning, Speaker David Ralston gaveled the House to order, calling to representatives who were huddled in an antechamber snacking on breakfast treats provided by the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores. Many representatives came to their desks to find milk and juice awaiting for them -- also gifts from lobbyists.
The scene is the same on the Senate side where the Georgia Food Industry Association has a franchise on that chamber's anteroom.
Lobbyists even help lawmakers clean up afterward. On Feb. 3, the Georgia Association of Dental Hygienists provided gift bags of toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss to every legislator.
Each of these trade groups has reasons to butter up lawmakers. For liquor dealers, this year's issues include the a bill to remove the state's ban on Sunday alcohol sales, while the convenience store lobby is watching closely plans to alter the state's tax code, which includes a proposed cigarette tax hike.
North Georgia attorney McCracken Poston, a former representative who left the House in 1996 in an unsuccessful run for Congress, said the reliance by lawmakers on lobbyists for everything from breakfast to after-dinner drinks fosters a cozy relationship between special interests and politicians.
“Basically these lobbyists have created a sense of indebtedness,” he said.
A traditional stop on this smorgasbord of special interest largess is a suite on the 12th floor of The Landmark, a Piedmont Avenue condominium building, as a refuge for lawmakers to drop in and unwind. Since the start of the legislative session last month, the Georgia Oilmen’s Association, the Georgia Alcohol Dealers Association and the Georgia Automobile Dealers Association have spent $1,903 stocking the suite.
Rep. Gerald Greene, who has owned a condo at The Landmark since the 1980s, said the suite and its open bar was there when he arrived. Greene, a Republican from Cuthbert in southwest Georgia, said it is a retreat from the stress of the Capitol for the 35-40 lawmakers who either own or rent a condo in the building.
“It’s a good time for us to sit around and discuss what is going on,” he said. “We don’t have the luxury of going home every night.”
During last month’s ice storm, Greene said lawmakers could not make it out to area restaurants, so they pooled their groceries and cooked a spaghetti dinner in the suite.
“We made our own garlic bread,” he said.
The oil lobby was there too, spending about $170 on supplies for the suite during the storm, according to records.
While some may see the value in allowing lawmakers a space to casually discuss events of the day, the fact that it is fully funded by lobbyists does not sit well with ethics reformers.
“If people think those things do not influence at least some legislators, then they’re being naïve,” said Julianne Thompson of the Georgia Tea Party Patriots.
“I guess sometimes I don’t think we think about it,” Greene admitted. “We are so much about doing what we have to do every day that sometimes we don’t think about how other people see it.”
As many times as Greene has been to the suite, he said he does not recall a time when he was directly pressured to vote a certain way on a piece of legislation by his hosts.
“They know that we’ve had a tough day and I think they do this as an opportunity for us to relax with one another,” he said. “It’s just like some going home to the family.”
Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, also owns a condo in The Landmark, but he said he does not frequent the hospitality suite. Still, he said there is nothing special about it.
“All the hotels and motels, wherever legislators congregate, they’ve always had them,” he said. “The only thing I can tell you is it’s an age-old practice.”
Poston, who sponsored a 1992 ethics law requiring lobbyists to file expense reports with the state, said there were several such rooms when he was a lawmaker.
“The open bar, 24-7, has probably ruined the careers and livers of many,” he said. He said it may be time for the legislature to outlaw such gifts, as several states have done.
Ed McGill, a lobbyist for the Georgia Alcohol Dealers Association, said the suite simply is an expression of southern hospitality. But he said his group, like dozens of others, is hoping to influence legislation that affects their industry.
“Everybody has their own selfish interest. I have no problem with that," he said. "There is nothing to hide. It's all above board."
McGill said the $80,000 figure is misleading, since more than half of the money is spent on large events at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot, a state banquet hall near the Capitol that plays host to numerous dinners during the legislative session.
The Georgia Electric Membership Cooperative threw a Valentine’s Day reception for the General Assembly at a cost of $9,184. Last week, it was the Georgia Chemistry Council that hosted lawmakers to the tune of $5,334. The Georgia Self-Storage Association served $4,640 in barbecue on Feb. 1.
In all, lobbying groups spent nearly $46,000 on big-ticket luncheons, dinners and receptions to which all lawmakers were invited. But McGill said others come too.
"If there are 350 people there, I don’t know how many lawmakers are there,” he said
Yet the practice is widespread enough to make ethics groups wince.
"Whether those gifts wield power over the decisions rendered on our behalf or not, the appearance of impropriety results in distrust,” said Angela Speir Phelps of Georgia Watch, a consumer watchdog group.
Staff writer Aaron Gould Sheinin contributed to this report.
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