Lobbyists spend $500,000 on food, drink for Kansas lawmakers

Lobbyists have spent more than $500,000 treating Kansas lawmakers to dinner, drinks, KU basketball games and other entertainment since January.

During the longest legislative session in the state’s history, lawmakers faced pressure from lobbyists representing a host of industries as they struggled to craft a tax plan that could fix a budget deficit. The 114-day session was filled with fiery rhetoric, late nights, rejected bills – and lots of free food.

Kansas law prohibits lobbyists from making campaign donations during the session and limits them to spending $100 on gifts for a lawmaker. But unlike some other states, Kansas has no limit on the amount of food and drink a lobbyist can buy a lawmaker.

Advocates for transparency say these meals and cocktails can help sway lawmakers when it’s time to vote and should be tightly regulated.

But lawmakers say free food does not sway them to vote a particular way.

“If a $25 meal buys me, then I’m too damn cheap,” said Rep. Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, who chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee.

Hawkins received $4,178 in hospitality from lobbyists – about $3,900 as food and beverage – the second highest amount among lawmakers.

Lobbyists must report their spending to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, which is tasked with tracking political spending. Commission data gives a partial picture of which organizations were most active in lobbying and which lawmakers they focused on during the session. But more than half the spending is not itemized, meaning it is not linked to a specific lawmaker.

Hawkins chairs the House Health and Human Services Committee, which weighed Medicaid expansion this session.

“Medicaid expansion,” Hawkins said. “I just lived that thing for three and a half months. I was tired of even (using) the words ‘Medicaid expansion.’ It was just so daunting, all of the people who want to talk to you. Whether it’s for or against, they all want to talk to you.”

Hawkins said he had dinner meetings with lobbyists on both sides of the issue. He said those meetings were more about getting information and that meals themselves didn’t influence his position on the issue.

“Everybody’s wanting to put their two cents in,” Hawkins continued. “They want to talk to you. They want to share their side, and just to say no, I don’t think that’s right. We’re up there to listen to all sides.”

Lobbyists for the three companies with contracts to provide Medicaid services in Kansas as part of the KanCare program bought Hawkins a combined $1,629 in meals between January and August. Hawkins is also a member of the KanCare Oversight Committee.

Rep. Marvin Kleeb, R-Overland Park, who chairs the House Taxation Committee and had the job of shepherding a tax bill, received the most from lobbyists – $4,225 in meals and gifts through August. The bulk of that, $3,960, was for food and beverage. He did not return The Eagle’s phone calls on Thursday and Friday.

It’s “naive to expect that there’s no impact” of lobbyists treating lawmakers to food and beverage, said Emily Shaw, deputy policy director of the Sunlight Foundation, a national organization that promotes transparency and accountability in government.

Although some of the $526,581 lobbyists have spent on lawmakers is itemized – including a $4 ice cream cone lobbyist David Kensinger bought for Sen. Michael O’Donnell, R-Wichita, late in the session – more than half of it is not.

Lobbyists had $299,619 in unitemized expenditures this year. That figure reflects the cocktail receptions that many lawmakers attend and the box lunches that organizations buy for legislative committees.

Take Feb. 25 as an example. That evening, the Legislature’s social calendar shows, lawmakers had their choice between the monthly wine tasting hosted by the Kansas Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association; a party for all lawmakers who are Wichita State basketball fans hosted by Hickam Public Affairs, a lobbying firm that represents KanCare provider Centene; another reception hosted by the Kansas Association of Realtors, Kansas Contractors Association and other groups; or “The Best Darn Reception for all Legislators” hosted by Ash Grove Cement Co., AT&T and other companies at the Senate Luxury Suites in Topeka.

“Why does anybody throw a party for somebody?” Shaw said. “It’s to build a positive relationship. So even if it’s disclosed, I think we have to expect that there’s intended to be a persuasive effect there. And then you want to say, why don’t we explore bringing that persuasion into a more regulated environment?”

Shaw said it’s important to remember that the groups that can afford to treat lawmakers to the most lunches and dinners are the groups with the most money, something she said biases the legislative process toward moneyed interests.

Shaw said it’s striking that Kansas ethics law treats food and beverage as different from other gifts. Many states make no such distinction.

In Florida, lobbyists aren’t allowed to buy lawmakers even a cup of coffee. Florida restricts all food and other gifts, part of reforms that resulted from lobbying scandals.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch,” said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, who received less than $300 in lobbyist meals and gifts during the session. “It has to do with having access and getting your bills heard in committee and often getting your bills out of committee and onto the floor. … Particularly in light of the fact that you see who they are wining and dining. It’s the leadership.”

The 10 lawmakers to receive the most in food and gifts include the speaker of the House, the president and majority leader of the Senate, and five committee chairs.

House Speaker Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, who received $3,810 in meals and gifts, said in an e-mail that the “schedules of committee chairs and leadership alike are booked solid most days, so meal times end up covering more appointments.

“All meetings, including those over lunch and dinner, involve gathering information and taking in perspectives from all sides,” Merrick said. “This kind of spending is disclosed publicly for accountability purposes, which is an important part of Kansas’ ethics laws.”

Mealtime meetings

The Kansas Bankers Association spent the most on food and entertainment for lawmakers, at $26,135. The association fought with tech giant Uber during the session over insurance requirements for rideshare drivers, many of whom have car loans.

The Legislature passed the regulations favored by the bankers and then controversially overrode Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto before passing a compromise plan that both Uber and the bankers could support.

Doug Wareham, lobbyist for the bankers, said lunch and dinner is usually when lawmakers have free time, which is why so many meetings are scheduled during mealtimes.

“The meal literally has nothing to do with it,” Wareham said. “The value we see in it’s the time we have to spend so we can educate and inform.”

Next behind the bankers was the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the main opposition to rolling back a tax break for business owners. The chamber spent $20,139 on hospitality for lawmakers. The tax on business owners was scrapped from the final tax package.

Eric Stafford, one of the chamber’s lobbyists, said lunch meetings are important for establishing personal relationships with lawmakers and getting time to talk one on one about issues.

“If you look at where we take people, a lot of time it’s a quick sandwich at Quiznos,” Stafford said.

A lot of the lunches the chamber bought for lawmakers this year cost less than $15.

But it’s not all Quiznos. Chamber President Mike O’Neal took four Republican lawmakers out for a dinner that cost more than $140 apiece, according to the Ethics Commission’s data.

Building relationships

Go out in Topeka or Lawrence any night of the session and you might run into lobbyists treating a group of lawmakers to a meal.

One night in February, John Federico, a lobbyist who represents Microsoft and General Motors, walked into the Six Mile Tavern in Lawrence, a bar and grill where KU basketball coach Bill Self sometimes hangs out.

Behind him were six lawmakers: Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita; Sen. Michael O’Donnell, R-Wichita; Sen. Mike Petersen, R-Wichita; Sen. Jacob LaTurner, R-Pittsburg; Sen. Kay Wolf, R-Overland Park; and Sen. Julia Lynn, R-Olathe, who chairs the Commerce Committee.

They were surprised to see three members of the Capitol press corps there by coincidence. The lawmakers ordered wine and prime rib at a cost of $66 each.

“You saw us that night with Federico. We were having a great time,” O’Donnell said eight months later. He said the dinners can provide catharsis for lawmakers after a stressful day at the Capitol.

Federico has spent $19,747 on hospitality for lawmakers this year – the second most of individual lobbyists. He says he never talks about legislation when he’s out with lawmakers.

“It’s all about relationship-building, and sometimes that’s not possible within the confines of the Statehouse,” said Federico, a lobbyist for 21 years. “I don’t know how other firms do it … but when we provide hospitality, when we buy a lunch or we buy a dinner, it is absolutely not to discuss issues. It is not to win votes. It is 100 percent to get to know the people we work with and for them to get to know us.”

“Being familiar and friendly with them, I think, saves you time when you go to their office. You don’t have to introduce yourself,” Federico said. “You’ve already done that and they know that you can be trusted as a reliable source of information.”

Late in the session Federico, who is also a lobbyist for the General Cigar Co., hosts an annual event called “Cigars, Cars & Bars.” Lawmakers gather in a garage that houses classic cars to smoke cigars and drink wine and beer that has been provided by lobbyists for the liquor industry. Federico said he imposes a ban against speaking about business at the event.

Shaw said such events hosted by lobbyists help them when it comes time for lawmakers to pass or defeat bills. If a lawmaker is on the fence or indifferent about an issue, “they’re going to go with their buddy,” she said.

Not ‘getting rich’

O’Donnell said if you can’t eat a lobbyist’s steak, drink his wine and then vote against his bill the next day, you shouldn’t be a lawmaker. He points to the fight between the bankers and Uber as an example. He was a part of a minority of lawmakers to oppose the stricter regulations for Uber, which the bankers were pushing for.

“I was lobbied hard,” O’Donnell said. “I went to dinner with the bankers during that time and they talked to me about it and why I needed to vote the way they wanted me to.”

Lawmakers receive a daily stipend during the session to cover food and lodging. It was $129 last session and will bump up to $140 in the next session. They get to keep whatever they don’t spend.

O’Donnell defended the practice of dining on lobbyists’ dimes in Topeka.

“We’re just a citizen legislature and we’re all trying to do the best thing that we can for the state and we’re not getting rich,” he said, adding that his salary as a lawmaker was about $18,000 a year, which he called a pay cut from his previous position as a member of the Wichita City Council.

“So if lobbyists want to take me to dinner, yeah, I’ll go to dinner with people and still vote against them the next day,” he said.

This story was originally published October 3, 2015 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Lobbyists spend $500,000 on food, drink for Kansas lawmakers."