By The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform
Public Bodies Spent Nearly $6.4 Million Lobbying State Government; CTA topped the list in spending, but private sector spending is a secret
Taxpayers paid lobbyists nearly $6.4 million to influence their own state government last year, but the money spent by cities, counties and other public bodies is just a fraction of the total spending on lobbying by the public and private sectors.
The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform’s (ICPR) annual survey of local governments and public agencies found 119 units of government contracted with 85 lobbyists or multi-member lobbying firms and paid them a total of $6,364,860.08 in FY 2009. The total is nearly the same as the FY 08 spending and is up 23.6 percent in comparison to the $5 million identified in the FY 07 survey.
The biggest spender was the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), which spent $385,345 to hire six lobbying firms. A total of more than $1 million was spent by the four Chicago area mass transit agencies – the CTA, the Regional Transportation Authority, Metra and Pace.
“It’s important for the public to know how much their governments are spending on contract lobbyists and what those lobbyists are doing to influence state government,” said Cynthia Canary, Director of ICPR. “Because those contracts and invoices are public documents, we do know who is getting paid and how much. In some cases, we also can learn a little about the issues they are trying to affect.
“The public also should know what the private sector is spending to lobby state government, but the state’s lobbyist laws keep that information hidden from public view,” Canary said. “Other states and the federal government require much more information be reported by the private sector, but Illinois lobby laws keep the public in the dark.”
The ICPR survey was conducted by requesting the contract information through the Freedom of Information Act, which was strengthened by reforms that took effect after the survey period of July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009. One out of 10 surveyed governments missed the deadline for providing documents.
The complete survey, including the identity of lobbyists and contract amounts for each of the governments, is available at www.ilcampaign.org.
The findings include:
* Lobbying fees paid by governments and public agencies ran from a low of $750 per month to the $18,500 monthly fee paid by the Chicago Transit Authority to a consortium of three lobbying firms under joint contract.
* The five units of government paying the most for lobbying services were the CTA, DuPage County, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (“McPier”), Metra and the City Colleges of Chicago. The five spent a total of $1.3 million on lobbyist contracts, which is 20.8 percent of the total costs identified in the survey.
* Three small Cook County suburbs reported spending far more on contract lobbyists than the City of Chicago. The Village of Bellwood spent $138,500 with four lobbyists or firms; the Village of Crestwood spent $120,000 with one firm; and the City of Countryside spent $90,000. The City of Chicago reported spending $84,000 with one lobbying firm, but city officials said they did not have a contract on file with a second firm that reported Chicago as one of its clients.
* Fifteen public community colleges and universities spent more than $1 million with lobbyists on contract. The City Colleges of Chicago spent the most, contracting with four lobbying firms for a total of $190,986.
“Compared to disclosure requirements for lobbying the federal government and many other states, the Illinois Lobbyist Registration Act is extremely weak,” said David Morrison, Deputy Director of ICPR. “There are few disclosure requirements in Illinois law, and enforcement is deficient at best. Even some local governments, including the City of Chicago, require more information from those registered to lobby city government.”
The full report is now posted at http://tinuyrl.com/Illinoislobbyists.
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Posted on May 21, 2010