Jun. 13, 2005
Lobby Reformers Keep Eyes on Prize
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - Nancy Johnson lives in Fearrington Village, a Chatham County retirement community. She was enjoying the modest fare at a reception sponsored by the non-profit Democracy North Carolina. It was at the end of Lobby Day when citizens interested in lobbying reform spent time walking the halls of the General Assembly, asking for support.
“My concern is special interests. That why I’ve come,” she explains.
Johnson is like other citizens from around the state who gathered in Raleigh. She believes that the money culture that has spread like kudzu around the legislative building is out of control.
Such public interest helps explain the Senate’s unanimous, 49-0 vote earlier this session on Sen. Tony Rand’s, D-Cumberland, Senate Bill 612. Says Rand, “I think it’s important that the public believes we’re serious about doing the public’s business, and we’re not too cozy with those who are hired to represent specific interests.”
House Majority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange, introduced a companion bill, House Bill 6, and it is awaiting action in the Judiciary I Committee. Hackney is chairman of the committee. “We’re on the third or fourth or fifth draft,” he says.
The bill probably will remain in committee until the House completes work on its version of the 800-pound gorilla budget bill. Hackney, seldom effusive about any bill’s prospects, hopes his lobby legislation will move out of committee by the end of June.
Does he feel good about the bill’s chances? “I think so,” he replies. “The Speaker’s (Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg) for it. Many in the other party support it.”
The House bill, however, is not the same as Rand’s bill. The Senate bill has four main components:
1. Full disclosure on money spent on legislators by lobbyists. Closing the so-called “goodwill loophole” is considered by many, including Hackney, to be the most important reform.
2. A “cooling off” period for legislators who step down from office before accepting lobbying jobs. This “revolving door” practice has raised questions about whose interests legislators are serving when they are voting, one day, on special interest bills and are working for those same interests a week later.
3. A ban on gifts worth more than $100 to legislators.
4. More money from lobbyists’ fees for enforcement by the Secretary of State’s office.
The House bill expands registration and regulation rules to “executive lobbyists.” These are people who lobby the executive branch of government.
While this may look like applying rules for the legislative goose to the executive gander, the executive branch regulations are something very new to North Carolina politics.
For example, if you contact a member or employee of the executive branch—such as the governor, Council of State member, or Cabinet secretary—and work “for or against executive action” on such things as a state board nomination, executive order, or regulation, you may have to register.
The definition of the “executive branch” needs work. As written, it could include the Department of Motor Vehicle registration clerk or the governor. Similarly, if you’re calling the Wildlife Commission to complain about a new fishing license fee, does that constitute executive lobbying?
The House proposal also limits the price of gifts to legislators and executive officials to $25. That means no ACC football or basketball tickets.
Hackney may need a sixth version to clarify such issues. He adds, “Advocates for the bill think that forward progress on disclosure is the most important thing.”
This basic goal of both the House and Senate legislation along with the “cooling off” provision are gaining unified support.
Marc Siegel is the director of the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying Reform, a broad-based organization of groups in favor of lobbying reform. The N.C. Center for Voter Education, which distributes this column, is a member of the coalition.
Siegel says opposition has not been as strong as some cynics might expect, stating, “Most legislators understand the importance of having full disclosure and the cooling off period.”
Siegel has collected bipartisan supporting statements from former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt and Republican Gov. Jim Martin. Former Democratic House Speaker Dan Blue says the reform “is long overdue” and former Republican Party Chair Bill Cobey says the state should “strengthen our weak lobbying laws.”
N.C. Center for Voter Education Director Chris Heagarty says it is important to build more momentum for change, despite such strong endorsements. “Some legislators will talk a good game, but let the bill die in committee,” says Heagarty, ”It’s a lot easier for legislators to defeat this kind of bill by letting it die from neglect than it is for them to loudly champion their right to free steak dinners.”
It’s people at the grass roots such as Nancy Johnson who are giving that needed momentum to the effort. “This is one of those reform issues that the public really gets,” says Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. “They have a sense that there’s too much money and power for the lobbyists, and that gives us hope that [lobby reform legislation] will get passed this year.”
Barlow Herget is a former Raleigh city councilman and writes the Follow the Money column for the N.C. Center for Voter Education.
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