Lobbyists spent more than $200,000, mostly on meals, gifts and tickets for legislators in 2007, a 28 percent increase over the previous year, state Ethics Commission records show.
Most of the money, or about 66 percent, was spent during the first half of last year when legislators were in session and before a new law took effect that limited the amount companies that hire lobbyists can spend.
A big chunk of the money during the last six months of 2007 was spent on season football tickets at the state's two largest universities, commission records also show.
A law that took effect July 1 states lobbyists can spend only $300 a year on an elected state official or legislator from each client they represent and limits companies that hire lobbyists to spending $300 a year on an elected state official or legislator, regardless of the number of lobbyists they have. Ethics concerning lobbying will again be an issue this legislative session, which starts today.
More than half the money spent in 2007 on legislators went to Republicans.
Republicans control the House of Representatives, 54 members to 47 members. More than $92,000 was spent in 2007 on House Republicans compared with more than $38,000 spent on House Democrats, according to lobbyist reports filed with the state Ethics Commission.
Republicans and Democrats are evenly split in the Senate. More than $33,000 in gifts was given by lobbyists to Senate Republicans compared with more than $27,000 given to Senate Democrats, according to lobbyist reports filed with the state Ethics Commission.
New rules proposed
The Ethics Commission has proposed a rule that would drastically cut the maximum amount of money lobbyists could spend on each legislator.The proposal would reduce from $300 to $100 the amount spent on elected officials during a calendar year by companies or associations that hire lobbyists. Those companies also provide the money to buy meals and other gifts for legislators.
The proposal also would require lobbyists to disclose gifts after spending more than $10 on a state official or aide during each six-month period. Lobbyists now are required to report gifts costing $50 or more.
Both proposals will take effect July 1 if legislators take no action on them by the time the session ends in late May. The House and Senate both have to pass a resolution to kill the proposals; the governor can veto the resolution.
How much was spent?
The money spent by lobbyists on legislators in 2007 is an increase of more than $40,000 over 2006, when lobbyists spent $161,552, records show. Lobbyists gave legislators $175,780 in gifts in 2005 and $125,000 in gifts in 2004, records show.
Rose State College professor John Wood submitted a report to the Ethics Commission that said companies employing lobbyists have an advantage over most Oklahomans, mainly because the average Oklahoman cannot afford to hire a lobbyist.
The typical annual income from lobbying in Oklahoma is $86,525, Wood said. Nearly 40 percent of Oklahoma lobbyists make more than $100,000.
Term limits in the state Legislature have increased lobbyists' relative power to legislators who are overall less experienced and have less institutional memory compared with legislators who have been in office longer, Wood said.
How funds are spent
Most of the money spent on legislators in 2007 was for meals, ranging from $6 breakfasts to $210-a-plate dinners.
Lobbyists also bought gifts and tickets, such as to concerts or to sporting events.
Season tickets to Oklahoma State University and University of Oklahoma football games made up 24 percent of the $207,784 spent on legislators last year.
OU gave 92 legislators season football tickets at a cost of $27,600, records show.
Legislators have the option to receive one OU discounted season football ticket, said Catherine Bishop, vice president of public affairs at the university.
The season ticket costs $379, with OU paying $300 and each legislator paying $79, Bishop said. The most OU or any group that hires lobbyists legally can spend on each legislator each calendar year is $300.
Legislators also have the option of buying up to one additional season football ticket at the public rate, which for 2007 was $370, Bishop said.
"Their visits give us the chance to make them aware of our academic and research programs, which are of great benefit to our state,” OU President David Boren said. "These tickets are paid for through athletic department funds, which come from ticket revenues.
"We do not use appropriated funds or funds designated for academic programs,” Boren said. "We remain one of the very few universities in the nation where the athletic department makes subsidies to academic budgets each year instead of the academic budget subsidizing athletics, which is true for most universities.”
About $1 million comes from the athletic department each year to support OU's library, Boren said.
OSU gave 80 legislators season tickets valued at $288 each for a total of $23,040.
"Football games are a great opportunity to have Oklahoma leaders visit our campus and get an update on what OSU is doing to fulfill its land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach,” said Gary Shutt, OSU's director of communications.
Each legislator has the option to receive one season ticket at no cost because it is under the $300 limit and the option to buy as many season tickets as they want, Shutt said.
Next year, however, a season ticket will cost more than $300 because OSU is playing an extra game, he said. Legislators receiving a free season ticket would pay the amount over $300, he said.
The $50,640 in OU and OSU season football tickets to legislators made up about 72 percent of the $70,414 in gifts given to legislators by lobbyists from July 1 through Dec. 31, records show.
Who got the most gifts?
Rep. Dennis Adkins, R-Tulsa, received the most in gifts during the last six months, according to available Ethics Commission reports. He received $1,733.
Five others received more than $1,000 in gifts during that time period: Reps. Mike Thompson, R-Oklahoma City, received $1,175 and Tad Jones, R-Claremore, received $1,070; Sens. Bill Brown, R-Broken Arrow, received $1,040, Owen Laughlin, R-Woodward, received $1,032 and Mike Mazzei, R-Tulsa, received $1,028 in the last six months of 2007.
Fourteen of the state's 101 representatives and two of the state's 48 senators received no gifts during the last six months of 2007, reports show.
During the last six months of 2007, Republicans received 61 percent of the money given to House members. House Republicans received $26,761 in gifts from lobbyists while House Democrats received $17,295, reports show.
In the Senate, Republicans received 58 percent of the gifts given, with GOP members getting $15,369 and Democrats receiving $10,991, reports show.
The exact amount given to legislators is unknown. Lobbyists only have to disclose gifts after spending more than $50 on a state official or aide during each six-month period.
Some miss report deadlines
About 100 of the state's 389 registered lobbyists had failed to file spending activity reports by the Jan. 22 deadline, according to the Ethics Commission. Fifty-six had failed to file reports through Jan. 31.
The $207,784 figure was obtained by checking paper spending activity reports filed by lobbyists through Jan. 31 with the Ethics Commission. About a dozen lobbyists filed online, a new option this year.
However, those reports were difficult to track because a new format for the commission's Web site showing lobbyist gifts is still being developed. One option showing lobbyists' expenditures for the year doesn't list specifically how the money was spent and another reporting option does not list the expenditures by lobbyists.
The state's Web site provider is designing the reporting site. Marilyn Hughes, executive director of the Ethics Commission, said she hopes the information can be displayed correctly in the next month or so.
Wood, the Rose State College professor, said Oklahoma compares poorly with other states in terms of lobbyist disclosure.
In 2003, Oklahoma ranked as the 42nd best state and in 2006 lobbyists themselves felt "there are as many shady deals and underhanded tactics in Oklahoma as there ever were,” according to a study, Wood said.
However, the Ethics Commission "has gained great strides” in putting lobbyist expenditures, names and employers online since 2005, he said.
"Interest groups are strong in the state, but face some limitations with the strength of the governor and Legislature,” Wood said. "However the business and oil interest groups in the state are very powerful coupled with a weak two-party system and term limits.”
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