In Business Magazine instructs people to look at my blog (See Sept 8, 2009 video update) to see if they are on the list of businesses that are having complaints filed against them. So far, I only filed 6 complaints, but in case you’re wondering what I am thinking . . .
First of all, there was nearly a quarter of a million dollars reported to be spent on lobbying in the first half of the year in 2009. I hadn’t reported it before, as it’s wildly inaccurate because of the people who did not file or falsely filed and it really punishes those who file. So, look at this list as the the list of honest people/businesses who revealed what they had spent . . . or those who were forced to because of the complaints. The registered lobbyists and their filings can be found here.
Edgewater/Landmark X $86,140 (originally reported less than $1000)
WI Wine and Spirit $37,473
Madison Turners $24,081
Westgate Mall $15,100
Hy-Vee $10,500
Kraft $9,349 (originally no report)
Hawk’s Creek $8,500
Smart Growth Greater Madison $5,750
Benchmark Holdings $5,390
Madison Community Cooperative $4,312
Kelley Williamson Co $4,250
Downtown Madison Inc $3,650
Wisconsin Grocers Association $3,488 (partial amount)
Realtors Association $3,485
McGoff $2,719
Homberg Equipment $2,531
Veridian Homes $2,450 (partial amount)
Palisades $1,960 (partial amount)
Bernie Lange $1,500
Badger Coaches $1,248
Business Improvement District $1,000
Chamber of Commerce $599 (partial amount)
Ken Keryluk $413
Meriter Health $245 (partial amount)
There are many, many interesting things about the reports. First of all, 89 (71% of those reporting, 47% of those registered) lobbyists reported spending less than $1,000 on their projects, exempting them from reporting and only 36 reported expenses, many of them obviously in error. 65 lobbyists/projects didn’t file expense reports at all. Some perhaps because they started their projects after the filing deadline or are exempt so didn’t file. I added these numbers up quickly, so these are approximates and it’s hard to talk about lobbyists and principals because Veridian, MG&E and Alexander Company have almost 25 lobbyists registered between the three of them – skewing the numbers.
THE COMPLAINTS
In case you’re wondering what the updates are on the complaints, 5 of the 6 filed. 2 said they spent over $1000. Edgewater/Landmark X ($86,000) and Kraft ($9,000) are joined by Madison Development Corporation, Pellitterri and Danisco that all claimed less than $1000 in expenses and Marcus Corporation, the group we put money in last years Capital Budget for, are holding out – I believe they are claiming they don’t know when lobbying begins, but I’m quite certain it begins when we make a decision about how much money to spend on the parking ramp at the Municipal building and decide not to redo the Government East parking ramp.
The word from Michael May is as follows:
September 3 “I have received responses from each of your organizations related to the complaints of violations of Madison’s lobbying ordinance. I am writing to inform you that I do not expect to review the materials until later in September. I will be in touch with you again once I have had time to review the materials.”
and
September 8 “Most of the responses were the filings, but there were a few letters. Once I get this organized, I’ll send you copies. I don’t intend to add them to the Clerk’s website, which is devoted to the filings.
We are under water right now with O’Brien gone and no ability to replace the position in the near term.”
Ahem . . .
WHO’S NOT FILED
I didn’t do alot of work, but off the top of my head, the biggest concern to me is that the downtown library project shows no lobbying numbers. Clearly, there was quite a bit of lobbying that went on and no expense reports filed and only a few registrations.
There are also a few higher profile projects that are suspect. Cliff Fisher was represented by Buck Sweeney and James McFadden and they don’t appear to be registered on the housing moving debacle. The 600 Block of E Johnson doesn’t seem to have meaningful registrations. Those come to mind because I dealt directly with them in district 2. Also, the bus companies and the Badger Depot project seem to need some additional filings.
I also wonder what is going on with all the hotel proposals, I’ve discussed the Edgewater, the library and Marcus, but what’s going on with Apex?
Like I said, I didn’t do alot of work to figure out who wasn’t filed, the TIF applications and hotels and library are what caught my eye. I have no doubt if I reviewed the minutes of meetings to find people with projects that are covered, I’d find many, many more.
OTHER ODDITIES
Some other thoughts, off the top of my head . . .
If a principal spends over $1,000 in a six month period, then all lobbyists registered for them have to file their contacts and expenses. In some cases, one lobbyist reported money over $1,000 and others reported under $1,000 and exempt. Soglin, Wisconsin Grocers and Veridian, I’m looking at you . . . and Chamber of Commerce and Meriter, I think you’re pushing it!
In other cases, one group spent $37,000 on the alcohol issues before the council, and yet other lobbying groups required to register because they are trade associations from the same industry claimed they spent less than $1,000.
I’m also surprised that Madison Area Builders Association, the Business Improvement District, Apartment Association of South Central Wisconsin and Marcus Theaters spent less than $1,000.
So yes, off the top of my head, there are plenty of obvious reasons to file more complaints, and I keep hoping someone else will do it besides me. Plus, I’m giving the City Attorney’s office time to deal with the first 6 and most important complaints. But yes, there will be more, at some point . . . it just takes alot of work to try to figure out what lobbying occurred if they don’t report it!
