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Gift ban puts chill on hot party

Now that legislators must pay their way, Tallahassee's bash has cut back the extravagance.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published March 7, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - One of the hottest tickets in town is now one of the priciest.

On the eve of the 2006 legislative session, the big-business lobby group Associated Industries of Florida held its annual bash Monday night for hundreds of close friends.

Attendance appeared lighter than in recent years, and it was anything but business as usual.

"I wouldn't be surprised if attendance is down a little bit," said the group's chief executive, Barney Bishop.

AIF's two-decades-old party was the first big test of whether the capital crowd is complying with a new law that bars lobbyists from giving anything of value to legislators, staffers and other state employees. The law bars those employees from accepting anything of value from lobbyists.

Perhaps for the first time in Florida history, legislators were seen pulling out their checkbooks and writing checks to a lobbyist-sponsored event. "I wrote a check," said Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale.

A ticket to this year's party cost $28, which the group calculated as the prorated share of each invited guest's share of the costs of food, drink, invitations, security and every other expense.

"Twenty-eight dollars for a Diet Coke," said Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, in mock disgust. The Palm Beach County lawmaker is one of the wealthiest legislators in Florida.

"Want to see my receipt?" asked Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland.

To keep the price down, AIF put on a more conservative show than usual, without the big video screens and elaborate ice sculptures of years past.

Included in each invitation is a notice reminding executive branch employees who are required by law to file a financial statement each year are barred by law from accepting free tickets as in years past.

"If you meet this definition and are prohibited from accepting this complimentary ticket," the notice says, "you are required to purchase your admission to the event."

In response to AIF's questions, attorneys for the Legislature recently told the group that the no-free-ticket policy includes "spouses, significant others and invitees" who go to the event with a legislator.

The state Commission on Ethics agreed.

AIF's 40 corporate sponsors include such business bellwethers as Anheuser-Busch, BellSouth, Coca-Cola, Delta, Ford, Sprint and Wal-Mart, and dozens of Tallahassee trade groups and lobbying firms.

AIF was worried about gate crashers, and whether it would be liable if one of its sponsors gave tickets to a business associate who in turn gave one to an employee who's ineligible for freebies.

AIF attorney Tamela Perdue sought legal advice from the Commission on Ethics for cases involving freeloaders.

"We'd like that onus taken off us, and put on the individual," Perdue said. "We're really doing everything we can to comply with the law."

"You want to have your hands clean when the violators show up," said Mike Carr, a Naples lawyer and Ethics Commission member. "There's going to be violations."

Carr compared the temptation to crashing such a huge party to "kids sneaking into the drive-in movie."

AIF's lobbyists recognize all 160 legislators on sight. In fact, the group publishes a legislative guidebook every two years. But, Perdue said, "We don't know every person who's been appointed to a commission."

Other scheduled events Monday night conflicted with AIF's party.

The Florida Democratic Party held a welcome-back reception for Democratic lawmakers and a few legislators held re-election campaign fundraisers. As of today, legislators are prohibited from accepting any campaign money until the session ends.

Still others had no plans to attend the AIF extravaganza.

--Steve Bousquet can be reached at sbousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263. Read the Buzz blog at www.sptimes.com/blogs/buzz.

[Last modified March 7, 2006, 06:05:15]