MINNESOTA LOBBYISTS ARE FREE TO SPEND AS THEY LIKE//FEW LIMITS ARE
PLACED ON WHAT CAN BE SPENT ENTERTAINING LEGISLATORS
St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) - August 15, 1993
Author: BYLINE: Jack B. Coffman, Staff Writer

When Iowa lobbyist Keith Luchtel goes to the Capitol in Des Moines to
lobby for that state's automobile dealers, he can't treat a lawmaker
to anything worth more than $2.99 - about enough for a meal at
McDonald's.

In Wisconsin, when Gary Williams, president of the Wisconsin Auto
Dealers Association, heads for the Capitol in Madison to lobby, he
can't buy a legislator so much as a cup of coffee. It's the law.

But in Minnesota, when Louis Claeson, the respected veteran lobbyist
for the Minnesota Automobile Association, heads for the Capitol, he
faces no such restrictions. He can buy a legislator a cup of coffee,
a coffee cake, a coffee pot and a year's supply of coffee, for that
matter.

That's because in Minnesota, unlike neighboring Wisconsin and Iowa,
lobbyists face no such limits on entertaining lawmakers. At a time
when many states are enacting tougher restrictions on lobbyists,
Minnesota continues to operate with regulations that don't really
limit much of anything.

Next year, however, the lobbying scene could change. When the
Minnesota Legislature, slumping in public esteem because of telephone
and travel controversies, returns in February it will most likely
have to vote on legislation to restrict what lobbyists can spend on
them literally biting the hand that feeds them.

That hasn't been easy in the past. A lot of legislators and lobbyists
like the current system, and over the years efforts to enact even
modest limits on activity of the state's 1,200 lobbyists have
generally been stonewalled. Minnesota legislators have even blocked
efforts to require lobbyists to report the salaries they receive for
promoting special interests.

What's more, the state doesn't check the accuracy of what lobbyists
report. They don't have enough staff and it's not clear what they
could check anyway because the law requires so few specific expenses
to be reported. According to Mary Ann McCoy, executive director of
the Ethical Practices Board, it's ``an honor system.'' ``We accept
the document on its face,'' she said. No lobbyist has ever been
charged for making a false report.

The Minnesota law ``is all fluff'' and lobbyist spending reports
don't really provide much useful information ``because there are so
many holes in the bucket,'' retired lobbyist Frank Frison said.

The auto dealer lobbyists were listed here simply for consistency in
comparing Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. While Claeson has reported
spending $6,247 for entertainment, food and beverages for legislators
in the first six months of the year, the effort is quite modest
compared with the really big spenders.

According to a spot check of reports by lobbyists to the Ethical
Practices Board, the championship in that category is likely to go to
Ron Jerich, a lobbyist who reported spending nearly $63,000 in the
first six months of the year for entertainment, food and beverages
for legislators. Lobbyists for the powerful Opperman Heins and Paquin
law firm reported nearly $15,000 and rival Messerli and Kramer
reported over $16,000 for entertaining and dining lawmakers.

None reported exactly what the money was spent for or on whom it was
spent. While lobbyists must report their disbursements three times a
year, Minnesota's lobby law is so loose that a legislator need not
worry that his or her name will be listed as a guest of some
lobbyist.

As it is often fond of doing, the Legislature provides limits for
others that it does not provide for itself. In the 1993 health care
bill, for instance, the Legislature declared that drug companies
can't give samples or equipment to doctors worth more than $50 a
year. Those same companies can provide much more to lawmakers in the
process of lobbying them, however.

Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, and Rep. Becky Lourey, DFL-Kerrick,
are pushing legislation that would eliminate or sharply limit what
lobbyists can give or spend on lawmakers. Marty, who is chairman of
the Senate Ethics and Campaign Reform Committee, said hearings are
expected to start in February.

Marty said lobbyists are obviously making ``an investment'' when they
wine and dine lawmakers. ``They aren't offering the same thing to my
next-door neighbor.''

The sharp limits on lobbyist spending in Wisconsin and Iowa appear to
be working without hindering the ability of lobbyists to inform or
persuade lawmakers.

The result of the long-standing Wisconsin law is a more
straightforward relationship between lobbyists and legislators, said
Roth Judd, executive director of the Wisconsin Ethics Board. ``If you
appear before a committee of the Wisconsin Assembly you can be
assured the chairman and members of the committee haven't been out
the night before with lobbyists for the other side.''

During much of a Minnesota legislative session, special interests
have scheduled nightly dinners and receptions, which mean free food
and drinks in many cases. There have been nights when more than three
special interests offered such free spreads.

According to auto dealer lobbyist Claeson, these receptions offer an
opportunity for people in an industry to socialize with legislators
in an unofficial setting. ``It's pretty much schmoozing,'' he said.

Such activity is disappearing in Iowa, where state law limits what
can be spent on a legislator to $2.99. And Claeson's counterpart in
that state, Keith Luchtel, says dining with a legislator there is
``pretty much Dutch treat'' these days. And that hasn't put a crimp
in his ability to represent his client, he said.

==i Graphic: Pioneer Press Graphic
The big loophole
Minnesota's lobby law requires lobbyists to report what they spend
wining and dining lawmakers to the Ethical Practices Board three
times a year. But lobbyists don't have to report whom they spent the
money on - unless an individual expenditure is more than $50. That
creates a major loophole, and here is how it works:

A lobbyist can take a legislator to dinner and spend $49. There is no
need to report the legislator's name, because the tab didn't exceed
the $50 thrshold.

After dinner, the lobbyist could take the legislator to a ball game
and drop another $40 or so on tickets, soft drinks and bratwurst.
Once again, no need to report the tab because it's under $50.

They could go out after the ball game for drinks, spending perhaps
$20 - well under the $50 level.

By the end of the evening, the lobbyist has spent more than $100 on
the legislator, but doesn't have to report who it was spent on or for
whaat legislation. That's because the $50 limit applies only to each
individual transaction, not the total for the evening.
Edition: Metro Final
Section: Main
Page: 1A
Index Terms: POLITICS COST MINNESOTA
Record Number: 9308150101
Copyright (c) 1993 St. Paul Pioneer Press