Less than three months after they passed historic ethics reform in March, dozens of Georgia legislators headed to the beach for summer conventions — sun, surf, golf and cocktails, most of it paid for by lobbyists.
It all took place the same year that legislators capped gifts from lobbyists. That crackdown didn’t apply, however, to the summer convention season: lobbyist spending for the events actually jumped more than 17 percent — from $74,000 in 2012 to about $87,000 this year — according to an analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
To lobbyist Gary Horlacher, the summer meetings are little more than “paid vacations” and show the Legislature wasn’t really serious about ethics reform.
“This is a very good illustration of the lack of substantive change,” said Horlacher, a one-time candidate for secretary of state who ran on ethics reform (and lost). “Rhetoric is one thing, real change is another… . Now they are back to lying on the beach and enjoying what comes with the office.”
The lawmakers and their benefactors, while downplaying the recreational aspects of the meetings, say it’s important that business interests and legislators have some face time.
“Legislators should get to know the people they make laws for,” said Kathy Kuzava, president of the Georgia Food Industry Association, which spent more than $14,000 on a dozen lawmakers and state officials during its July summer convention at the Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort. “It’s important for legislators to learn from and understand the people they legislate.”
‘Honeymoons and junkets’
Other lobbyist spending has declined dramatically since lawmakers began talking of capping or banning gifts to lawmakers. The General Assembly this year voted to put a first-ever limit on gifts from lobbyists, capping them at $75, as of Jan. 1, 2014.
But lawmakers carefully preserved the summer convention season, arguing that these events provide them an opportunity to mingle with “job creators” and hear their concerns. When they passed the spending caps, legislators exempted “educational, informational, charitable, or civic meetings or conferences that … directly relate to the official duties of that public officer.”
via Lawmakers pass ethics law, then hit the beach | www.myajc.com.
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