Lobbying Reports – What a mess!

So, I went to go look at the results of so many people registering as lobbyists. Bleck.

Here’s some of the things that I found:

1. Some people did not fill in the amount of money that they spent, and it was clearly over $1,000
2. Some people grossly underestimated what they spent.
3. Some people I know I met with didn’t write me down as a contact.
4. Some companies registered and didn’t have all of their lobbyists fill out the reports.
5. About 60 companies registered and then never filled out another form to either cease activity or file their expense reports.
6. Another 25 companies that filed expense reports for the first half of the year did not file the reports for the second half of the year.
7. Some companies filed expense reports, but never registered in the first place.
8. Of those 50 that gave us the information, during the 2nd half of 2005 they spent $243,662.72.
9. There is still much work and education left to be done, some even over-reported.
10. The clerks office is not looking at these reports and the City Attorney’s office is not following up on problems when they get the reports.