State lawmaker proposes all-out gift ban
The most far-reaching reform in 15 years would exempt only flowers and trinkets for legislators.
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published December 6, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - House Speaker Allan Bense proposed a sweeping ban on gifts to lawmakers Monday that could reshape their relationship with lobbyists, or ruin the chances for a more modest plan to require lobbyists to disclose their fees.
The Panama City Republican opened Monday's weeklong special session by surprising many with his plan to replace the current $100 limit with an outright prohibition that would strike at the heart of the way lobbyists curry favor with legislators using meals, drinks, tickets and other gifts.
The House Ethics & Elections Committee voted unanimously in favor of the bill Monday, as one of Bense's top deputies, House Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, stood in the back of the room, watching how his fellow Republicans voted.
"What a sad day in Florida, if in fact this is what's needed for us to conduct ourselves in an appropriate manner," said Rep. Joe Pickens, R-Palatka, who voted for the bill.
In a state capital where lobbyists build careers on the art of pleasing legislators, the notion of banning gifts seems so far-fetched, some lawmakers say Bense is simply trying to undermine any hope of reform.
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Dania Beach, questioned the logic of banning lobbyist-paid meals while allowing lobbyists and their clients to make unlimited campaign donations to political parties.
"The way this bill is drafted," Ryan said, "it is not intended to pass."
What Bense proposed Monday is the most far-reaching reform of legislative ethics in 15 years. The only exemption would be for flower baskets and other congratulatory trinkets handed out on the first day of the annual legislative session.
The ban could affect virtually everyone in state government, including all employees of the Legislature and state agency officials and employees. A Senate committee postponed action on a lobbying bill to consider the implications of an all-out gift ban.
The House gift ban was added to a bill that would force lobbyists in Florida to reveal for the first time how much money their clients pay them to influence policy. The fees would be reported quarterly in broad numerical ranges, and lobbyists would be subject to random audits.
Bense insisted he was not proposing a gift ban as a poison pill to kill lobbyist reforms, which are a top priority of Senate President Tom Lee, the Republican from Brandon.
"There's no malice intended. We just kept thrashing and thrashing," Bense said. "We just couldn't get through the gotchas and the what-ifs, so we thought we'd do the ultimate."
According to the Web site of the National Conference of State Legislatures, Wisconsin is the only state that bans lobbyists from providing legislators with any gifts.
Tallahassee is a hyper-political atmosphere where personal relationships are the grease that keeps the wheels of government grinding.
The House leaders' call for a blanket gift ban was particularly surprising because House members had resisted the Senate's demand for greater disclosure of lobbying practices last spring.
Bense said he hoped the change would improve the public image of the Legislature.
"I think it would certainly go a long ways toward helping it. I've got no problems with it," Bense said. "If we're going to clean it up, let's do it right."
The House gift ban surfaced on the first day of a five-day special session devoted largely to overhauling Medicaid and legalizing slot machines in Broward County. It is far too soon to say whether the provision will pass both houses, but Lee said he welcomed the possibility.
"It's a good breakthrough," Lee said Monday. "I think this is the only reasonable conclusion we could come to. ... I'm more than comfortable with this being done away with altogether."
Lobbyist Brian Ballard, who represents dozens of business clients, applauded Bense's proposal and urged the Legislature to go further and ban lobbyists from making campaign contributions.
"I think it's a principled stand," Ballard said. "If it's such a problem, it makes sense to get rid of it completely."
Only by prohibiting lawmakers from accepting campaign money from lobbyists, as Connecticut is now considering, can the influence of special interests be truly curbed, Ballard said.
"If you want reform, get to the heart of the problem. Otherwise, you're talking around it," Ballard said.
Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that lawmakers should write a bill that focuses more tightly on the lawmakers who accept gifts, not just the lobbyists who give them.
"I think lobbying reform needs to focus also on legislative behavior," Bush said. "It shouldn't just be about lobbyists. It ought to be about the people who have been the beneficiary of lobbyist largesse as well.
"It's a two-way street," added Bush, who must decide whether to approve or reject any legislation that passes this week. "The disclosures ought to be both ways. The level of gift-receiving (attention) should be heightened."
By proposing to choke off basic sources of contact between lobbyists and lawmakers - meals and entertainment - House leaders are proposing the most far-reaching ethical reforms since a ban on lobbyist-paid trips and expensive gifts 15 years ago.
A scandal in which lobbyists provided lawmakers with free trips to hunting lodges, ski chalets and even the French Riviera led to nearly two dozen lawmakers being charged with misdemeanors. A chastened Legislature rewrote state law to compel disclosure of all gifts worth more than $25 and a ban on gifts worth more than $100.
In 1996, Senate President Jim Scott, a Fort Lauderdale Republican, got the Senate to pass a ban on lobbyist-paid meals and drinks for lawmakers that was lifted two years later by Scott's successor.
But the Democratic majority in the House overrode Speaker Peter Wallace's efforts to pass similar restrictions. The 1996 House gift-ban proposal was co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Davis, a Tampa Democrat who's now running for governor.
--Times staff writer Joni James contributed to this report. Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.