Lobbyists list spending $650,000 in '15 session

State Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock
State Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock

Lobbyists in Arkansas reported spending about $650,000 this spring as they lobbied Arkansas lawmakers and other state officials during this year's regular session of the General Assembly -- a decline of about $350,000 from expenses reported in the 2013 regular session.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Attorney David Couch of Little Rock

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Information about lobbyist spending.

This year's regular session is the first since Arkansas voters in November passed Amendment 94 that bars lawmakers and other state elected officials from accepting certain gifts from lobbyists, including meals and drinks during one-on-one and small group meetings.

Lawmakers and lobbyists said the amendment helped reduce this year's lobby spending.

State Sen. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot, assessed the effect this way: "The spontaneous [lobbyist saying] 'Hey, let's go out to eat and I'm picking up the tab,' those days are over."

But Amendment 94 still allows lobbyists to give lawmakers "food or drink available at a planned activity to which a specific governmental body is invited." That enabled lobbyists to pick up the tab as long as they invited an entire legislative committee or every House or Senate member to the event.

This year's 102-day regular session was 20 days shorter than the 2013 regular session, so there were fewer opportunities to court large groups of lawmakers.

Another factor in the reduced expenses is that some lobbyists said they didn't report their contributions that related to the House speaker's ball and Senate president pro tempore dinner -- historically among the most expensive legislative events.

Several lobbyists amended their lobbyist reports to disclose about $45,000 in contributions to the state Republican Party for these events, as well as the inaugural, after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette raised questions about the donations. They said they aren't sure that the law requires such disclosure, but they revealed it in "an abundance of caution."

The Democrat-Gazette compiled figures on lobbyists' total expenses by reviewing nearly 1,100 monthly reports that 366 registered lobbyists and lobbying groups filed for the first three months of this year. The Legislature recessed its regular session on April 2 and then returned briefly on April 22 to formally adjourn the session.

The number of registered lobbyists increased from 410 in 2007 to 420 in 2009 before dropping to 382 in 2011 and to 379 in 2013.

Lobbyists reported spending about $1.1 million in the 2007 session, about $1.3 million in the 2009 session, about $860,000 in the 2011 session, and about $1 million in the 2013 session.

The spending in 2009 was buoyed by two lobbyists representing a tobacco company who shelled out more than $330,000 in an unsuccessful campaign to kill then-Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's plan to increase tobacco taxes for a cornucopia of health-related programs, including a trauma care system.

Most of this year's reported lobbying expenses were for food and drink. The rest were for a variety of things, including advertising, postage, printing and lobbyists' lodging.

State Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock -- who proposed Amendment 94 along with state Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale -- said "we have managed to significantly impact and improve the way business is conducted at the state Capitol" by restricting lobbyist spending.

Sabin said the decline in lobbyists' reported spending in this year's regular session "proves the ethics amendment is having a positive effect."

Arkansas has one of the strongest ethics amendments of its kind in the nation, and "we are just seeing the impact of that," he said.

Amendment 94 also allowed state lawmakers to serve more time in the Legislature, created a citizens salary commission that more than doubled state lawmakers' salaries, prohibited corporations and unions from contributing directly to state candidates, and barred ex-lawmakers from registering as lobbyists for two years after they leave office.

ANOTHER AMENDMENT

Attorney David Couch of Little Rock, representing the Better Ethics Now ballot measure committee, said the drop in lobbyist expenses -- roughly 35 percent -- is less than he expected.

Couch said the new law restricting lobbying expenditures is too weak, and "this shows it's not working."

He is drafting a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit lobbyists from providing food and drinks to lawmakers, constitutional officers and their staffs and other state officials, he said.

Couch said lobbyists have abused the exemption from the gift ban in Amendment 94 that was aimed at allowing lobbyists to provide box lunches to lawmakers for policy briefings, and "we don't have an option except to close that loophole. If we are going to curtail the influence of lobbyists," lobbyists also should be barred from paying for dinners for the staff of constitutional officers, such as the governor's staff, he said.

Sabin said that what the Better Ethics Now group is proposing essentially "is what I initially proposed" in legislation two years ago, adding that Couch was involved in developing "the compromise" that is now Amendment 94.

A spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson said there were numerous requests for meetings with members of the governor's staff during the legislative session, and "after some time the governor made a policy [instituted on April 8] that any meal to be paid for by a lobbyist for the benefit of a staff person had to be approved in advance by the chief or deputy chief of staff.

"These requests are approved when appropriate," Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said.

Former Sen. Michael Lamoureaux, R-Russellville, is the governor's chief of staff, and former campaign manager Jon Gilmore is the deputy chief of staff.

Davis said he didn't have information available about how many of these governor's staff dinners were held during the regular session, but the governor "has attended two such events with staff, to my knowledge, and always pays his own tab before leaving."

Lobbyists Don Tilton and Paul Berry, who represent multiple clients, reported spending several hundred dollars apiece on two governor's staff dinners at Doe's Eat Place in Little Rock in January.

Tilton said he has paid for similar events for staff members of previous governors and the events aren't barred by state law.

Graham Sloan, executive director for the state Ethics Commission, said the commission hasn't received any formal citizens complaints about any violations of Amendment 94. He has worked at the commission since 1997, and he said he doesn't recall ever receiving a citizens complaint about the contents of a lobbyist's report.

Other EVENTS

A few of the biggest lobbying expenses occurred in March and were related to events affiliated with the top legislative leadership.

State Republican Party Chairman Doyle Webb said lobbyists contributed roughly $110,000 to the state GOP for the House speaker ball at the Marriott and the pro tempore dinner at the Old Statehouse; three-related receptions; and two luncheons -- one for senators' spouses, the other for representatives' spouses.

House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, said the state Republican Party offered to sponsor the House speaker's ball and Senate president pro tempore dinner during this year's regular session, after "we thought we needed to proceed in a different direction" with an "abundance of caution" under Amendment 94

In its review of lobbyists' reports, the Democrat-Gazette identified at least $32,500 in expenses reported by the end of last week by lobbyists for those two events.

When asked whether lobbyists are required to report their contributions to the GOP for those events, Sloan pointed to the commission's 1999 advisory opinion that said lobbyists to the state Republican Party governor's inaugural account should include their contributions in their lobbyist reports.

Lobbyists gave a variety of reasons for not disclosing their contributions on their reports.

The reasons included that the law wasn't clear on what they were required to disclose, their contributions were to a party and not particular events, and that their clients made the contributions, not the lobbyists.

Under state law, the commission can assess penalties ranging from $50 to $2,000 for violations of state ethics law, as well as issue a public letter of caution, reprimand or warning, Sloan said.

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