The coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina becomesthe state Capitol east this time of year, as the summer beach resort conference season — paid for by lobby groups — kicks into high gear.
Lawmakers are hosted typically to speak to business groups. mingle and maybe pick up a “legislator of the year award.” Sometimes they play golf with lobbyists or hit the beach with their families. Some find it educational, while to others, it’s just part of their $22,000-a-year part-time job.
Disclosures reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show that in June, the insurance agents’ lobby paid for state officials to attend their annual conference at the Omni Amelia Island Resort. The optometrists’ lobby hosted officials at the Wild Dunes Resort at Isle of Palms, SC.; the state bar’s lobby picked up the tab for their stay at the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa; and the new car dealers association paid for officials to stay at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
None of those events compare in size to the Georgia Chamber of Commerce annual get-together at the King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort on St Simons Island. No business lobby hosts more lawmakers and state officials, and nobody spends more on lawmakers during the summer convention season.
Lobbyists’ reports show the chamber paid for more than two-dozen lawmakers or statewide elected officials to attend the event, at a cost of just under $22,000. That’s down slightly from the $25,000 spent last year.
In addition, 22 Capitol lobbyists representing a wide array of interests — from electric co-ops and health care giants to title pawn businesses, casinos, soft drinks and movie makers — paid for meals and/or drinks for lawmakers during the three-day event.
Republicans and Democrats attended, including House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington and Senate President Pro Temp John Kennedy, R-Macon, House Minority Leader James Beverly, D-Macon and Senate Minority Caucus Chairwoman Elena Parent, D-Atlanta. The chairmen of several key committees, including the tax break writing House Ways & Means Committee, the House budget committee, the House and Senate agenda-setting Rules Committees, and the Regulated Industries Committee took part.
So did Attorney General Chris Carr and Insurance Commissioner John King, whose office regulates the insurance and small-loan industries.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
A long history at the beach
Summer resort conventions are a tradition for lawmakers and the people who lobby them. The season generally begins in May and runs through mid-August, but sometimes can drag into September. Some legislators stay for three or four days. Some pop in, eat dinner, make a speech, then head back home or on to the next convention.
Sometimes the conventions are a family affair.
In the late 1990s, one lawmaker, Rep. Robin Williams, let health care lobbyists pay for his wife, mother, father, two teenage daughters, and even his great-aunt to attend beach conventions. Williams was later sent to prison for 10 years after being convicted in an unrelated scheme to siphon millions from a local mental health center.
Other types of lobbyist spending have declined dramatically since lawmakers capped or banned some gifts to lawmakers in 2013.
But lawmakers preserved the summer convention season, saying the events provide them an opportunity to mingle with “job creators” and hear their concerns. When they passed the spending caps, legislators exempted “educational, informational, charitable, or civic meetings or conferences that ... directly relate to the official duties of that public officer.”
Typically, such events have plenty of downtime activities: cocktail receptions, time at the pool or beach, and golf tournaments.
When the economy was booming before the Great Recession, some groups held conventions at places such as the Ritz-Carlton on Grand Cayman Island, Hawaii, and the Canadian Rockies.
The conventions are still held in nice locales, only the Ritz-Carlton hosting the event is more likely to be on Amelia Island than on Grand Cayman.
Lawmakers aren’t the only ones who bring families. For some, such as those who work in the grocery or convenience store industries, days off are hard to come by. So families plan their vacations around the conventions.
The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the convention season in 2020. In fact, lawmakers were in session that June because they had to suspend their regular session in March when the pandemic struck. But by the summer of 2021, it was back to normal.
And the winner is ....
The Georgia Chamber typically gives “Legislator of the Year” awards to members of the House and Senate leadership, or important lawmakers from the majority party, and one freshman. This year on St. Simons, the winners included House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, R-Milton and Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega.
“This legislative session, it was a privilege to work alongside the Georgia Chamber to promote the policies that have made Georgia the best place to do business,” Jones said in a statement when the award was announced.
“Throughout my time in the state Senate, it has been my priority to ensure the well-being and prosperity of our state’s business community, and I look forward to my continued partnership with the Georgia Chamber in those efforts,” Gooch said.
The third “Legislator of the Year” was freshman Sen. Shawn Still, R-Norcross, who, among other things sponsored bills to prohibit local governments from regulating the use of gas-powered leaf blowers and to expand the area of home delivery of alcoholic beverages. A version of the gas-powered leaf blower bill passed (the House also pushed a similar bill) but the booze delivery bill didn’t go anywhere.
Still was also one of 16 fake Republican presidential electors in 2020 who tried to award the state’s presidential votes to GOP President Donald Trump, even though three vote counts had shown that Democrat Joe Biden won Georgia by about 12,000 votes. Those actions have been part of the Fulton County investigation into Trump’s bid to overturn the election results.
Attorneys for several Republican presidential electors have said they were following legal advice to cast “contingent” votes for Trump while lawsuits contesting the election were pending in court.
Still said of his Georgia Chamber award, “I’m proud to be recognized as a pro-business legislator during my first year in office. The Chamber was an invaluable asset to me throughout the session, and I look forward to continuing that partnership on behalf of Georgia’s business community.”
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