Lobbyist handouts not fully disclosed

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The Wild Hog Supper, the traditional feast that kicks off the Georgia Legislature, cost $7,677, according to disclosure reports by the lobbyists who paid the bills.

Except it didn’t. In fact, the total price was $16,393.

Most of the Wild Hog was paid for by a nonprofit called the Friends of Agriculture Foundation, which says it’s not a lobbying group and is therefore not required to report what it spends on meals or other gifts for lawmakers. But the foundation’s board is made up of lobbyists for some of the state’s most powerful interests, and the only thing the foundation does is put on the Wild Hog Supper.

Legislative leaders defend Georgia’s wide-open rules on lobbyist spending this way: Lobbyists may spend whatever they want on legislators, but they have to account for every dime in public disclosure reports. So even if the spending is high, the leaders say, the whole process is transparent to the public.

Except it isn’t. The reporting requirements are loose at best, and vague descriptions are common. In addition, lobbyists are not required to submit receipts or any other documentation of their spending. Unlike expense accounting in private business, they simply state a figure and offer no backup. And, as with the Wild Hog Supper, sometimes they don’t report the full expense.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution discovered the total cost of the feast by filing an open records request with the state building authority for billing records, a step most citizens would find cumbersome.

Tobacco lobbyist Don Cargill, a member of the foundation board, defended not reporting most of the expense.

“The Friends of Agriculture was not a lobbying firm and I do not have to report it,” he said. “That is not a reportable item, and I checked this out thoroughly before I did it. This is just a group of people who are doing this.”

The “group of people” includes the lobbyists for Coca-Cola, AT&T, Georgia EMC and the state’s alcohol dealers. Some of them reported their contributions to the Wild Hog, while others did not.

“Those people who have reported, it that was their feeling they needed to report it,” Cargill said, adding that he did not believe a penny of the cost needed to be made public to comply with state law.

He has company. A list obtained through an open records request of events at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot adjacent to the Capitol — a popular venue for feeding state lawmakers — shows a number of events that never appeared on any lobbyist’s report.

‘We are not lobbyists’

On Jan. 9, the evening of the Legislature’s first day, the Dalton-Whitfield County Chamber of Commerce and the Georgia Chemistry Council held overlapping receptions at the Depot. The Chemistry Council’s lobbyist disclosed spending more than $7,000 to feed and entertain lawmakers, but the chamber did not disclose what it spent on its similar event.

“We are not lobbyists,” said chamber CEO Brian Anderson. “We advocate and educate on issues important to business, but we don’t take specific positions.”

State law identifies a lobbyist, in part, as a person who is paid to advocate for or against legislation or anyone who spends more than $1,000 a year in support of or opposition to legislation.

Anderson said the reception drew half of the House and about 40 percent of the Senate, and legislators went home with a commemorative throw rug — a reminder that Dalton is the “carpet capital of the world.” But he described it as a legislative “meet and greet,” not lobbying.

“We don’t even have specific pieces of legislation,” he said. “If we were even close to the line we would register. It’s not that we don’t want to be, it’s that we don’t have to be.”

That may be true. But the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce took a different view in disclosing the cost of its annual seafood dinner, even though the events have similar aims. This year’s reception cost $88,000, thanks to its menu of fresh oysters and an open bar.

“I’ve always disclosed it because I’m spending money on members of the House and Senate,” said Trip Tollison, the Savannah Chamber’s registered lobbyist. “It’s kind of the law.”

Tollison said it is “just common sense” that groups spending money to wine and dine lawmakers should report.

“I know a lot of other chambers don’t file,” he said.

Other groups, too. On Jan. 17, the Georgia Charter Schools Association booked a banquet hall at the Depot and invited lawmakers for refreshments and a showing of the documentary “Waiting for Superman.” The association was in the midst of an intense lobbying campaign for a constitutional amendment restoring the state’s ability to create charter schools; even though it has several registered lobbyists, the association did not disclose how much it spent on the event.

William Perry, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said there is little enforcement, in part because of cutbacks at the state ethics commission.

“They do have one auditor, but it has been cut back from having three in the past,” he said. “That person can’t look at everything that comes in.”

Photos on the Internet

The evidence suggests that relying on lobbyists to voluntarily disclose how much they spend or who they are spending it on is a hit-or-miss exercise. And finding instances of lobbyists treating lawmakers to undisclosed meals and trips is tough — unless they post pictures of it on their website.

In 2009, the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia hosted a group of state legislators at its annual convention and golf outing. On its website, the association posted smiling pictures of a number of lawmakers, including committee chairmen and soon-to-be House Speaker David Ralston.

But the costs of travel, accommodations, meals and entertainment were not disclosed by the association, which represents the billboard industry. For years the industry fought for legislation enabling billboard companies to clear cut sign-blocking trees along state roads. The bill finally passed in 2011. Also that year, the association reported taking 34 legislators and two Georgia Department of Transportation board members to the 2011 convention at the Reynolds Plantation golf resort at costs ranging from $280 to $944 per person.

When contacted by the AJC, Conner Poe, the executive director of the association, amended his 2009 disclosure report to reflect $5,191 as an “estimated total guests costs for annual convention.” In an email, Poe said the association’s business partnerships allow it “to reduce or eliminate expenses when holding events and meetings.”

State law places no limits on gifts to public officials, but it does require public disclosure of “anything of value” given to them if the purpose of the gift is to influence their actions.

Ralston spokesman Marshall Guest said the speaker was not responsible for the trip not being reported and has a track record of working to strengthen disclosure.

“If there are any shortcomings in the current law, as you indicate there are, the House will examine ways to improve upon them,” he said. “Since taking office in 2010, Speaker Ralston has continually worked to improve and perfect this law.”

Guest noted a proposed bill that would give rule-making authority back to the ethics commission, a power stripped from the body under former Speaker Glenn Richardson’s tenure. Richardson resigned in 2009 amid revelations of an affair he had with a lobbyist.

Senate spokeswoman Natalie Dale said Finance Committee Chairman Bill Heath, R-Bremen, could not recall any of his expenses that were covered by the association in 2009 — other than the meal he was pictured eating.

“He honestly doesn’t remember much about the details of the event, being that it occurred several years ago, or his financial involvement to it,” she said in an email.

Even Common Cause has been criticized for failing to report its spending on legislators.

In an ironic twist, Perry last month amended his June 2011 report to reflect $300 in costs for several state legislators to attend a dinner where the group bestowed good government awards. Several people complained the expense should have been reported when they saw the lawmakers on the group’s Facebook page.

Purpose: 'N/A'

Even where lobbyists disclose the gifts they give to public officials, the details sometimes are fuzzy.

“For those who seek it out they see a lot of ‘N/A’,” Perry said, referring to the way lobbyists often put “N/A” or “none” on the form when asked what legislation they are trying to influence.

“Through lack of information it hides what is supposed to be disclosed,” he said.

Last July, the Metro Atlanta Chamber recorded a $76.47 charge for a “flight” for Senate Rules Chairman Don Balfour. The disclosure does not say where the Snellville Republican was going or why or what business the lobbyist for the chamber had with him.

Lack of detail in lobbying reports is common.

On New Year’s Day 2011, the University System of Georgia lobbyist covered the cost of Athens Mayor Nancy Denson’s trip to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, claiming $1,648.34 in lobbying expenses for “travel, lodging, tickets, meals and parking.” There were no details on how Denson traveled, how long she stayed or why the University System was paying for it.

Pat Allen, lobbyist for the University System, said the money for the trip came from the Liberty Bowl itself, which made funds available for Allen to attend as part of a “host committee.” But the vague nature of the state’s reporting system does not provide that kind of detail to the public.

Sometimes lobbyists attribute spending to their own firm rather than their employer, leaving the public to guess who is behind the effort.

Last month, legislators got $3,500 worth of commemorative cuff links and key fobs from lobbyist Jay Morgan. Morgan reported the expense, but not who was behind it. Nor does his disclosure say what or who the cuff links and key fobs were commemorating. He represents a number of clients ranging from Grady Health System to the Distilled Spirits Council to a real estate company that specializes in developments financed by tax credits.

Last year, Morgan spent nearly $2,700 on dinners, sports tickets and trinkets for lawmakers and only once disclosed his client. That was for a breakfast with the chief of the state tollway authority that he credited back to an international toll road developer.

Morgan said the spending is his own.

“When I entertain legislators, I do so to honor their service and sacrifice in volunteering for service in the General Assembly,” he said. He said he rarely expends clients’ money on gifts but discloses it when he does.

Morgan said the cuff links and key fobs are given to commemorate the legislative session itself.

Last week, Sen. Joshua McKoon, R-Columbus, introduced legislation to cap lobbyist spending at $100 per event and require legislative approval before a lawmaker could accept a trip costing more than $750. Legislators would be expected to prove the travel was educational or related to public policy before they could accept it.

McKoon said disclosure of gifts is not enough. People want some limits, he said.

“I think that the majority of Georgians would say there is a point at which they would become uncomfortable with a legislator receiving a certain dollar amount of value by one interest group,” he said.