How money talks

An analysis of money spent on lobbyists shows groups spent fortunes to be heard down on Jones Street

First, you think...this must be about Washington, where the image of lobbyists has been ingrained in the public consciousness by the exploits of Jack Abramoff and stories of four-figure restaurant tabs and golfing trips to Scotland. But, no. The nearly $15 million spent on lobbyists' fees and other compensation in 2005 was in North Carolina. An informed analysis by the watchdog group Democracy North Carolina (nonprofit and nonpartisan) says it's so in painstaking, and some would say painful, detail.

Democracy North Carolina, with research director Bob Hall leading the way, has done a good service here. Their report shows that special interest groups were willing to pay to play -- in other words, to employ lobbyists who those groups felt could get lawmakers' attention and work for the benefit of these groups. (Sometimes, that meant the public interest, other times not.)

Just as an example: N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry, a coalition of business interests that wants to protect favorable tax laws and labor laws and other things that help their members move about without the encumbrances of too much regulation, spent $220,000 on lobbyists in 2005. That went to 11 different lobbyists, Hall reported.

Think about that. Eleven people doubtless didn't leave many ears unbent. Other top spenders were state employees, electric cooperatives, insurance interests and the N.C. Press Association.

Requiring the public disclosure of money spent does give the public a glimpse as to the curiosities of how lobbying works, and it raises some interesting questions: For example, it's not surprising that in 2005, lottery companies spent big on lobbyists, because they were trying to push North Carolina's lottery through to passage and get the business of running it. But power companies also paid to have lobbyists on hand. So did banking interests, and Realtors and the hospitals.

Here's where the public comes in. Whenever an issue arises that involves these special interests, particularly when it involves a regulatory question, it's important that the folks back home keep an eye on how their legislators are voting, and what connections they might have to these interest groups and their lobbyists.

Thanks to ethics reforms passed last session in the shadow of former Speaker Jim Black's troubles, legislators no longer can have their hands out or take all the freebies that lobbyists used to shower upon them. That's fine, but loopholes still need to be closed. The money paid to lobbyists by their clients may be a separate issue, but it's all part of the big picture of how loudly special influence talks on Jones Street -- and how valuable it is to interest groups to have some strong tonsils on their side.

The information provided in this report is part of a puzzle to which all voters, and all citizens, must pay attention. If the people are going to take back their government, the more they know the better. Even if, sometimes, it hurts.