Lobbyists spent most on Wichita lawmaker

Lobbyists have spent more than $400,000 this year treating lawmakers to dinner, baseball games and other forms of entertainment.

That’s a drop from the previous year, which saw lobbyist spending exceed $500,000 at this point after a standoff over taxes resulted in the longest legislative session in the state’s history.

Between January and August, lobbyists spent $412,209 on lawmakers and legislative staff members, according to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.

The majority of that money can’t be tied to any specific lawmaker; about $290,000 was unitemized, a figure that represents cocktail receptions and other events open to all lawmakers.

Lobbyists tended to spend more on lawmakers who held leadership positions or committee chairmanships.

Lobbyists spent the most – $2,721 – on Rep. Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee and the KanCare Oversight Committee.

Hawkins said he uses meals with lobbyists as an opportunity to dive into issues during the hectic session.

“Especially during session, it’s really the only time you can really spend quality time to where you can really dig into a subject and work to dig and get something done,” Hawkins said. “Otherwise, a person gets five or 10 minutes and that’s all they get, because I just don’t have the time.”

The companies managing KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid system, spent nearly $500 on meals for Hawkins this year. “A lot of times I’m talking to them about the problems that they’ve got that they need to fix,” he said.

He also said that sometimes organizations use these dinners as a way to seek his help with a problem.

“You wouldn’t believe the number of issues from across the state,” Hawkins said. “People, I think, have gotten to know that they can call me, and I’m going to work to get this problem solved whether they’re in my district or not.”

Top recipients

The 10 lawmaker recipients:

▪ Rep. Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, House Health chairman, $2,721

▪ Sen. Julia Lynn, R-Olathe, Senate Commerce chairwoman, $2,578

▪ Rep. Scott Schwab, R-Olathe, House Insurance chairman, $2,418

▪ Rep. Willie Dove, R-Bonner Springs, House Health vice chairman, $2,022

▪ Sen. Kay Wolf, R-Prairie Village, State Building chairwoman, $1,967

▪ Rep. Erin Davis, R-Olathe, House Children and Seniors vice chairwoman, $1,898

▪ House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, $1,887

▪ Rep. Marvin Kleeb, R-Overland Park, House Tax chairman, $1,861

▪ Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, $1,752

▪ Sen. Michael O’Donnell, R-Wichita, Interim Senate Health chairman, $1,721

Rep. Mike Houser, R-Columbus, was the least lobbied member of the Legislature, according to the data. The only thing Houser received was an $11 portable charger from the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, something given to all 165 members of the Legislature.

“I didn’t go up there to eat and be dined. And I have a day job, too, so generally whenever I get done with what we’re doing at the Capitol, I go back to my motel room, work on a laptop and do my real job,” said Houser, who works as an estimator for a construction company.

Asked whether he thought the amount lobbyists spend on his colleagues was problematic, Houser replied, “I don’t know. You know, you hear people talk about it.

“There’s some of them guys who will get, like, $3,000 worth of meals, and that’s pretty high. That’s going out quite a bit,” Houser said. “And people on the other side of the fence might say, well, maybe they’re buying their influence. The little times that I do go on those things, not very much business is talked about, just to be honest with you.”

‘To build relationships’

John Federico, a contract lobbyist who represents a range of clients including Microsoft and General Motors, spent more than any other lobbyist. Federico, who holds receptions for the entire Legislature at the start and the end of the session, spent more than $17,000 between January and August.

“It is to build relationships,” Federico said. “It is to introduce many times my clients to the legislators that I’m working with on behalf of their interests, but never is it a situation where they are invited to a lunch or a dinner to talk specifically about a piece of legislation.

“If business is discussed, it’s usually in very generic terms. I wouldn’t want to link one with the other,” Federico said.

This story was originally published October 10, 2016 at 6:48 AM with the headline "Lobbyists spent most on Wichita lawmaker."