The latest round of gift disclosures is now available on the State Ethics Commission website.
It took a while because it’s all done manually. Sort, organize, scan, upload. It’s a big job.
As usual, even casual browsing yields interesting issues.
I started with the disclosure filed by House Speaker Calvin Say because he usually submits a very thorough listing of gifts, and this year was no exception.
Right away, I noticed the list of gifts from the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii valued at $205 during the latter half of 2011, and $70 this year.
There’s nothing improper about those gifts, but several exceeded the threshold for itemized disclosure by the lobbyist or the client.
So I jumped over to the Chamber’s report of lobbying expenses from May 1-December 31, 2011. The gifts to the speaker valued at $25 or more, or with an aggregate value of $150 or more, should have been itemized, but the Chamber failed to report them. No itemized gifts during the January-February 2012 reporting period, either.
It’s possible that these gifts were reported by individual Chamber lobbyists, but that will take a visit to the Ethics Commission office to check. But this is an example of how the disclosure rules make it cumbersome to do even a rough, informal audit of compliance.
Then there are two breakfast meetings between the House Speaker and Dennis Francis, president and publisher of the Star-Advertiser, and Mark Oto, a former top aide to Say and now a lobbyist for HMSA. Don’t you wonder what was discussed? And who paid the bill?
How about the $50 ticket to a “gala” event sponsored by the Hawaii Medical Association? That expenditure isn’t disclosed on the HMA report for the period.
There are lots of meals with lobbyists where Say reports a value of under $25. But the total value of the meal, including the lobbyist’s meal as well as the speaker’s, would be over the itemization threshold. I’m betting very few of those meals were reported by the lobbyists.
Then I wondered, what was real estate developer/investor James Wong up to? He had breakfast or lunch with the Speaker nearly every month between sessions, and he shows up on other gift lists as well. He isn’t registered as a lobbyist, although he has interests all over town.
In any case, you get the idea. It’s very hard to tell whether or not the law is being followed. It really does need an overhaul. But getting legislative backing for a proposal to tighten disclosure requirements seems like an uphill battle.
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Lotta cookies there. He can’t be eating everything he gets.
The Speaker’s disclosures are very refreshing. And if power can be measured by the number of cookies received, they demonstrate that he must be the most powerful politician in the state.
Not just “seems.” The bills never even get a hearing.
I find the entire paid lobbyist industry revolting. The lobbyists (those of the Gucci loafers and plastered smiles) slither in and out of legislators’ offices without so much as an appointment, whilst individuals and poor non-profits scrabble for a moment of a staffer’s time.
Now, since Citizens United, how can an individual taxpayer or small non profit even attempt to participate in the process.
Yes I am whinging-Yes I am angry- Yes I fear for the future of representative democracy.
Should we even bother to vote anymore?
Who turned down your request for a meeting?
Had you had a previous meeting?
Just wondering because I have always gotten a meeting the few times I asked, and I am definitely not a paid lobbyist.
To the best of my recollection, I have never been turned down completely, but I often get turned over to a part-time undergraduate UH-Manoa staffer who is young enough to be my grandchild and has zippo de nada experience on whatever subject I might be seeking support or opposition.
Even so, at least the office door is open at least 30 hours a week throughout the year.
Considering the pitiful wages and the short-term nature of the jobs that are offered, it is no secret or surprise that few experienced people apply—with the bulk of the exceptions to that hiring trend being retired folks and (to use Geller’s term) “embedded lobbyists.”
Only a true policy nerd would ever try to make a career of it… [cough]