First Lobbying Disclosures Detail Special Events for Lawmakers
July 28, 2008 – 5:47 p.m.
By Alex Knott, CQ Staff

Along with millions of dollars in campaign contributions, new reports show that lobbyists spent about $1.5 million to help pay for parties, fundraising events and meetings for members for Congress during the first half of this year.

According to a CQ MoneyLine analysis of reports filed so far with Congress before the lobbying disclosure deadline of July 30, nearly $1.2 million is listed as “honorary expenses” and another $300,000 as meeting expenses — all of it associated directly with either legislative or political events tied to lawmakers or government officials.

Those figures could increase dramatically, however, as more individual lobbyists and firms report their expenses over the next two days. As of Sunday night, 7,000 disclosure forms and amendments had been filed, but some lobbying and campaign finance experts estimated that as many 40,000 could come in by the deadline of midnight Wednesday.

“We are expecting about 40,000 filers,” said Jan Baran, the head of the election law and government ethics group for Wiley Rein. Baran feels some sympathy for the congressional offices responsible for enforcing the new lobbying rules, but he said the process has been “incoherent and chaotic” so far because reporting guidelines were changed earlier this month and disclosure forms were only made available to lobbyists a month ago.

The first incoming reports provide a small window into how much is spent on events for lawmakers who lobbyists are hired to court and influence. They also, for the first time, allow the public to match the faces of the individuals, groups and industries with the favors that doled out to members of Congress for the specific purpose of influencing the outcome of a particular bill or policy.

“We now have the ability to examine how this money is being spent,” said Paul S. Ryan, FEC program director & associate legal council for the Campaign Legal Center. “At the end of the day, it’s a step in the direction of ending the pay-to-play culture here in D.C. where lobbyists and special interests do spend a lot of money courting elected officials to get the policies they want.”

Increased disclosure was mandated by last year’s lobbying overhaul law (PL 110-81), requiring for the first time that lobbyists report their campaign contributions, expenses paid for congressional meetings and fundraisers, as well as donations to presidential libraries.

Some of the disclosures filed so far include:

— $61,000 spent by transportation labor union conglomerate Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) to honor House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar , D-Minn., as 2008 ATU Legislator of the Year. The chairman was honored because he “led the way on some of the ATU’s top priorities, including increasing funding for mass transit and preserving transit labor protections,” according to an ATU publication.

— $28,000 paid by the American Association of Port Authorities to honor Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert C. Byrd , D-W.Va. The association named Byrd “Port Person of the Year” for helping secure $400 million in funding during fiscal year 2008.

— More than $236,000 spent by Health Net Federal Services on dinners, banquets and receptions for 11 members of Congress and other government employees, including Defense Department officials.

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