Messenger examines legislation geared toward eliminating lobbyists' gifts

With hearings set to begin Wednesday for legislation offered by Ethics Committee Chairman Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, which would eliminate gifts from lobbyists to legislators, St. Louis Post-Dispatch political columnist Tony Messenger examined the practice in his latest offering:

As the dinner bell rang and the doors opened in Hearing Room 7 in the basement of the Capitol last Tuesday, steam rose from a side table as a dinner spread of panini sandwiches and side salads was laid out for lawmakers.

As it nearly always is, the meal was paid for by an organization backing the bill under discussion — an economic development bill that is one of this year's legislative priorities. Lobbyist Jim Moody, representing the Kansas City Civic Council, arranged for the food. The Civic Council, which supports the bill that would create a new life sciences business development fund, paid for it.

None of that was mentioned, of course, when Moody testified on behalf of his client in favor of the bill, which is expected to pass easily and received very little scrutiny in its first hearing.

Nobody is questioning Moody's ethics. The former state budget director has a fine reputation. So, too, does lobbyist Kelly Gillespie, one of the primary forces behind the bill who over the past couple of years has spent thousands of dollars flying lawmakers to life sciences conventions educating them about the issue.

Both Gillespie and the lawmakers who attend his conventions and educational tours say they are hard-working experiences with full agendas, not entertainment junkets.

It's no surprise, though, that the members of the committee, many of whom had been on a Gillespie-funded trip, are big fans of his legislation.

They tossed softball questions to the line of business leaders and lobbyists whose orchestrated testimony built up to the point where state Rep. Michael Brown, D-Kansas City, said he was having "heart palpitations" because he was so excited over this legislation.