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November 14, 2009

TRIBUNE-STAR EDITORIAL: Lax law and unlimited gifts

As of the last reporting period, lobbyists spent more than $25.8 million trying to shape Indiana’s laws

Anonymous The Tribune Star Sat Nov 14, 2009, 11:12 PM EST

TERRE HAUTE — It was the party of the year, and, thanks to telecommunications giant AT&T;, state Rep. Trent Van Haaften was there.

On Jan. 19, the night before Barack Obama was sworn in as president, AT&T; paid more than $1,600 for the state legislator and his wife to attend the Indiana Inaugural Ball in Washington.

Three days later, back in his home state, Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon, introduced what AT&T; executives targeted as their top legislative priority in the Indiana General Assembly’s 2009 regular session. House Bill 1561, with Van Haaften as the lead author, proposed creation of a statewide mapping system for high-speed Internet access.

AT&T;’s gifts to the lawmaker didn’t end with the inauguration. The company also paid for him to attend a pro-am golf tournament in San Antonio. Executives even slipped in a $350 gift card to the pro shop. Altogether Van Haaften, whose broadband mapping proposal eventually became law, accepted more than $4,200 in handouts from AT&T; in one year.

It’s a common scenario in the Indiana Statehouse. Lobbyists, who outnumber legislators 5 to 1, focus most of their dollars on House and Senate leaders and committee chairmen, key figures who are the most likely to determine a bill’s outcome.

But there’s bait available to any legislator willing to bite. “At a minimum, breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the session,’’ said state Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, when asked about the types of handouts he could accept.

At a time when many of the people they’re elected to represent are out of work and fighting to save their homes, Indiana’s state senators and representatives are regularly feasting on plush rewards from lobbyists.

Golf trips are popular. Duke Energy paid nearly $1,700 for state Rep. David Wolkins, R-Winona Lake, to attend the 2008 Ryder Cup near Louisville, Ky. “In my 20 years, I’ve gained a lot of friends in the lobbying community,’’ he told The Indianapolis Star this summer. “They know that I like sporting events.’’

Out-of-state excursions also are on the gift list. The Indiana Motor Truck Association paid $2,900 for House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, to travel to Puerto Rico last year.

Tickets to Indianapolis Colts and Indiana Pacers games also are readily available. The Indiana Energy Association supplied state Rep. Eric Turner, R-Marion, with two tickets, worth $717 apiece, for a Pacers game last season.

It’s all perfectly legal in Indiana. State law, in fact, is so lax that the value of gifts that legislators may accept is unlimited.

Many of the perks are never revealed to the public. Lawmakers are not required to report gifts of less than $100 in value. A $90 meal at Indianapolis’ Morton Steakhouse, for example, would not show up on a legislator’s annual report.

Public universities, whose inducements to legislators include free tickets to major college sports events, are exempt from filing lobbying reports even though they employ top administrators whose primary responsibilities include pressing lawmakers for more money from taxpayers.

A loophole in the law also enables lobbyists to avoid disclosing everything that they dangle before legislators. If, for example, a lawmaker attends a dinner in which all members of the General Assembly were invited, the cost of the meal wouldn’t be reported as a gift.

Lobbying firms employ one other valuable tool to wield influence — the potential for a legislator to accept a six-figure job as a lobbyist.

In Indiana, unlike in many other states, legislators can leave public office and start work immediately as paid lobbyists. More than 30 former legislators, including high-profile leaders such as former House Speaker Paul Mannweiler and former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Larry Borst, have switched from making laws inside the chambers to shaping them in the Statehouse hallways. In some cases, legislators have lined up jobs as lobbyists while still voting on bills that affect their future employer’s interests.

Many of the lawmakers-turned-lobbyists receive generous legislative pensions and taxpayer-subsidized health care.

Lobbyists’ influence in the Statehouse is on the rise, with their numbers and the amount of money they spend at record highs. More than 750 individuals and 795 organizations and law firms are registered as lobbyists in Indiana. In the most recent annual reporting period, which ended April 30, lobbyists spent more than $25.8 million trying to shape Indiana’s laws. The small state agency, the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission, charged with tracking their operations is clearly overmatched. The commission, a creation of the General Assembly, employs only one part-time administrator.

Why should any of this matter to ordinary Hoosiers? Because the array of expensive gifts helps lobbyists secure easy access to legislators — access most members of the public will never enjoy. The cozy relationships built over dinners, golf trips and Colts games mean legislators view lobbyists more as friends than influence peddlers. And although it’s easy for Fortune 500 companies and groups such as the National Rifle Association to shower lawmakers with expensive gifts, it’s much harder for small business owners and organizations representing the poor and disabled to compete for legislators’ attention.

Lobbyists are so close to lawmakers that in some instances they even help write legislation. Many legislators admit that they rely on lobbyists, rather than independent researchers, to supply them with information needed to craft legislation. Some legislators allow lobbyists to supply drafts of bills and amendments. Think about that: A lobbyist representing a coal company could supply the draft of energy legislation and then submit amendments as the bill advances. “It’s one of the most insidious ways lobbyists are doing the job of legislative staff,” said Julia Vaughn, public policy director of Common Cause Indiana.

What will it take to transform the Indiana Statehouse into the people’s house, rather than a playground for legislators and lobbyists? Twenty-three Indiana newspapers have started the effort. They have united in an editorial campaign that will push ethics reforms from now until the close of the 2010 session.

But legislators are more likely to bow to reform if their constituents demand change. Hoosiers need to ask themselves a question: Do they want their voices or lobbyists’ influence to carry more weight in the Statehouse? Let the members of the General Assembly know your answer.

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