Hockey tickets- $600
Fox tickets- $200
A meal at a fancy restaurant, complete with beverage- $200.
Knowing a lobbyist from AT&T- priceless.
According to Missouri Ethics Commission disclosure documents, Rep. Michael Spreng, D-Florissant has received $1,020 in gifts from AT&T lobbyist Craig Felzien during the first four months of 2007.
Felzien is not the only lobbyist to have a soft spot for Spreng, who authored only two pieces of legislation during the recently-completed session, and serves on only three committees, according to the House website.
In addition to Felzien's generosity, Spreng received $998.96 worth of meals from Samuel Licklider, representing the Missouri Association of Realtors, and $603.39 for travel on April 16 from Sam Barbee, lobbyist for the Missouri Automobile Dealers Association.
After four months, Spreng is knocking on the $3,000 mark in lobbyists' gifts, having racked up $2,953.83 so far.
With that kind of record, Spreng is number one on the Turner Report Hall of Shame list.
An examination of Ethics Commission documents shows that 19 of the state's 163 representatives have received more than $1,000 in gifts, with approximately a half-dozen approaching that mark.
The Hall of Shame, or the top 10 lobbyists in terms of gifts, are equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. Adding in the dishonorable mentions, those ranked 11th to 20th, the total is 11 Republicans and nine Democrats.
Others making the Hall of Shame are:
2. Steve Hunter, R-Joplin, $268.44; 3. Rodney Hubbard, D-St. Louis, $1,821.53; 4. Shannon Cooper, R-Clinton, $1,625.52; 5. Juanita Head Walton, D-Florissant, $1,575.30; 6. Esther Haywood, D-St. Louis, $1,518.08; 7. Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, $1,496.14; 8. Theodore Hoskins, D-Berkeley, $1,351.04; 9. Joe Smith, R-St. Charles, $1,330.17; 10. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles, $1,285.33.
Receiving dishonorable mention are: 11.Paul LeVota, D-Independence,$1,205.75; 12. Mike Talboy, D-Kansas City, $1,204.37; 13. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, $1,198.89; 14. John L. Bowman Sr. D-St. Louis, $1,157.47; 15. Mike Sutherland, R-Warrenton, $1,147.53; 16. Steven Tilley, R-Perryville, $1,118.50; 17. Michael Corcoran, D. St. Ann, $1,078.58; 18. Kenny Jones, R-California, $1,045.42; 19. Steve Hobbs, R-Mexico, $1,044.58; and 20. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, $983.67.
(Top row, from left, Spreng, Hunter, Hubbard, Cooper; second row, Walton, Haywood, Icet, Hoskins; third row, Smith, Bearden)
9 comments:
Your count on Democrats and Republicans is not right. Hubbard and Hoskins are Republicans.
While they were given parking places in the front with the Republicans, sided with many Republicans on educational voucher issues,and unlike most members of their party, they were named as chairman and co-chairman of important committees, they are still listed as Democrats.
Why is one representative (a Republican, of course) listed in this prestigeous Hall of Shame with $268 while ten others, with at least four times as much as he, only get Honorable mention? Is this just to tip the balance to show how pure and clean Democrats are?
I tallied the amounts by party..interesting. I may have missed a buck or two but it looks like the Demos win again....15,419 to 10,781....
Thank you Randy for keeping up on all this and passing along your biased and "misinformation."
If you have read this blog before, and you obviously have, you know that was a typo on Steve Hunter's total.
The actual total, which I will correct on the site after I post this, was $2,268.44.
You are looking for bias in places where it doesn't exist. If you read the article carefully, which you apparently did not, you would have noticed that most of the copy and most of the criticism in the post was directed at Rep. Spreng, who is a Democrat.
We have a problem throughout our system, and as long as we have people like you who would prefer to throw brickbats at one party instead of realizing this is a problem that is affecting our entire government, we will remain stuck with a system that kowtows to lobbyists and special interests.
They all look like a bunch of dwebs to me and I could care less how much they beg, borrow or steal. Hell not one of them, Republican or Democrat is interested in anything more than how much they can make by selling their vote.
There is no good way to track who really belongs in such a "Hall of Shame." Only lobbyists have to disclose expenditures. The lobbyists' clients do not. So, if I'm a lobbyist representing a company, I set up dinner for the legislator, the client and myself. The client picks up the tab and a report for the expenditure is never filed. Smart lobbyists always have a client around to pay the bill. There should be legislation to require disclosure of any entertainment provided during the legislative session when the bill tops $100.
I agree that an exercise like this is highly artificial. One of the reasons I do it is to continue to bring attention to the untold amount of influence special interests have with our legislators. I still see no reason why lobbyists should be able to spend even one cent on gifts for legislators.
Hubbard and Hoskins are D. I hope you were joking.
In regards to clients paying for meals/gifts and not reporting such...that is a gross interpretation of the law. If a client attends/hosts/pays for a meal when a legislator is present and legislative issues are discussed or mentioned, it is a reportable gift and the so-called "client" is a lobbyist as defined by Missouri law. It reportable to the Missouri Ethics Commission and is in the reports Randy uses to accurately portray the gift hogs in the legislature.
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