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Lobbyists give, officials take

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published March 13, 2007

There is something wrong when legislators seek legal advice about accepting birthday cards from lobbyists but shamelessly ask them for thousands of dollars for a golf tournament or weekend boat cruise. They might be following the letter of the gift ban law, but they are in gross violation of the spirit.

As the Times' Lucy Morgan reported, legislators have asked their lawyers for hundreds of opinions about whether they can accept such freebies as Florida State University lapel pins (no) or peanuts from telephone lobbyists (no). Yet lawmakers have no problem asking lobbyists to contribute to their favorite charities or their political committees that are nothing more than slush funds. They will take nearly $100,000 in free rooms and entertainment from Walt Disney World or solicit large checks from favored lobbyists for a weekend beach retreat by claiming they are political functions or leadership training. The caucuses for Hispanic and African-American lawmakers even reorganized so they could keep the lobbyist money flowing. Now that's gall.

It's easy to make fun of the gift ban given the lawmakers' hypocritical behavior. But the gift ban is serving its purpose in Tallahassee, and lawmakers are no longer eating and drinking on a lobbyist's tab the night before they vote for a bill benefiting the lobbyist's client. It was never intended to clean up the abuses where real money is on the table.

One way to start cleaning up this mess would be to ban lawmakers from creating their own so-called 527 groups, often organized at the state level as committees of continuous existence. Banning free meals doesn't accomplish much when legislators can pressure lobbyists to make unlimited contributions to these slush funds, which are often used to pay for food, trips and self-promotion. At the very least, the $500 limit on contributions to individual campaign accounts should apply here as well. Unfortunately, former Senate President Tom Lee couldn't persuade his colleagues to do the right thing.

The lawmakers' junkets that are paid for through the political parties are more problematic. At some point, elected officials and party leaders who aren't benefiting from these outings are going to have to stand up and object to their state political parties being used as money launderers. Lobbyists are going to have to reject more invitations instead of writing large checks as the cost of doing business. And voters are going to have to question whom their legislators really represent - their constituents or the special interests who paid for the golf tournament, the Destin boat cruise and the Mardi Gras Celebration at Universal Studios.

[Last modified March 12, 2007, 22:35:04]