Highlights and [bracketed comments] added

With less than two weeks left in the Texas legislative session, lawmakers and Capitol aides are eating in a lot these days, often on the tab of the hundreds of lobbyists trying to pass and kill legislation on behalf of paying clients.

Records show that lobbyists have spent more money this session — $1.49 million — on sustenance than anything else they gave to state officials, such as entertainment or gifts. The practice is a time-honored — and perfectly legal — staple of the legislative session. Legislators and lobbyists say it isn't about votes; it's about building relationships.

[HOT: Lobbying builds trusted relationships that help influence public policy. The problem comes when elected officials are overly influenced by industries affected by their regulatory decisions or when bills defining regulatory policy are written by those industry lobbyists. OVERLY is the key word since small business owners and individual citizens don't have the same access to government and the same opportunity to build trust. Another key word is FAIRNESS. Consumer watchdog organizations and grass roots intiatives help but often lack the funding for effective lobbying. HOT is proud of the impact is has had so far to effect laws that hold builders accountable to homeowners and thanks all of its supporters. Our success has come with NO campaign contributions, NO entertainment or gifts, and NO fancy dinners. Still, we wonder why Federal employees must play by stricter ethics rules than Texas legislators. They aren't allowed to accept gifts or dinners. Even when attending an educational seminar that includes free meals, they are required to pay.]

This session, Austin lawyer-lobbyist Angelo Zottarelli agreed to a novel approach to foster those relationships. From January into May, he threw twice-weekly family-style dinners for select groups of legislators in his office on West 14th Street a few blocks northwest of the Capitol.

Nearly half the House's 150 members, including House Speaker Joe Straus, dropped by his office, according to participants, who described Zottarelli's catered Wednesday-Thursday dinners in the wooden Greek Revival-style building as welcome opportunities to eat, drink and relax without risking interruptions or being overheard.

"We serve Italian because I am," Zottarelli said. "We serve it family style because I hope we are."

The dinners ended when legislators began working into the night in the Capitol, though members come over some evenings to sit in rocking chairs on the second-story open-air porch and chat while sipping a drink or smoking a cigar.

The instigators were Reps. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, and Joseph Pickett, D-El Paso. Solomons said members were looking for "a place to go to just talk and eat." They disputed speculation that the dinners were intended to fan interest in Solomons as a speaker candidate — arguably an easy charge to circulate because Solomons was an early contender for the House leadership job that Straus, R-San Antonio, won in early January.

"People who come up with those stories like to play mental games with legislators," said Solomons, who chairs the House Committee on State Affairs. Pickett heads the Committee on Transportation.

It's not unheard of for lobbyists to host legislators at events outside of restaurants. Groups such as the Texas AFL-CIO host occasional parties open to every legislator. Lobbyist Stan Schlueter has had a tradition of hosting happy hours for legislators Monday evenings in the Westgate Building, across Colorado Street from the Capitol. And this year, lobbyists Dean and Andrea McWilliams hosted more than a dozen legislators at separate dinners in their home on Windsor Road west of the Capitol.

For Zottarelli's dinners, Pickett said, he tried to invite eclectic combinations of legislators, a mix of Democrats and Republicans, men, women and a few members who supported former Speaker Tom Craddick. As many as 10 people can fit around the 8-by-4-foot pine table that Zottarelli drapes with a tablecloth.

Zottarelli, who has spent more than $15,000 on food and beverages since January, ranks among the top 10 lobbyists in such expenditures this session, according to a database kept by the Texas Ethics Commission.

The one-time adviser to then-Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby has a dozen clients, including Energy Future Holdings Corp., the City of Austin, Bexar County, the Texas Association of Community Colleges and the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, but he says the dinners had nothing to do with whom he represents before legislators.

"This has nothing to do with any clients," he said. "I've been involved in state government and friends with some of these people for over 30 years. I have a deep respect for what they do. I am honored and proud they'd consider my place a safe haven."

Tom "Smitty" Smith, state director of Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group, said he didn't see anything untoward about the dinners. He said the dinners seem unusual in that legislators were choosing other legislators to invite as opposed to lobbyists singling out diners.

Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, said she went to one dinner thinking she might discuss transportation legislation with Pickett and another legislator, but the trio turned instead to personal matters and Capitol memories.

"It was a beautiful setting, and it was a very relaxed night, and the food, you know, was very good. And then we had the opportunity just to talk about the ways things used to be here many years ago, and that is always delightful," Harper-Brown said. "You have a chance to really relax and get to know one another. And that's the most important thing: It's getting to know one another."

Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, who said he attended one dinner, said: "The collegiality is established in those after-hours dinners with your fellow members. ... It's probably a pretty smart thing for the lobbyist to offer members."

Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, said he's attended the dinners.

"Members like the casual setting as opposed to restaurants, where you can't hear and it takes forever to be served," he said.

Delivery service

Especially in the hectic closing weeks of the session, members and their staffs are more likely to eat a lobby-funded meal in their offices, lawmakers said.

On Tuesday, Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-San Benito, and his staffers were treated to taco lunches from lobbyist Joe A. Garcia, who has 11 clients.

"It's part of the current system," said Lucio, who retreated into his office with his plate. He said he does not discuss business during the short lunches. "I know I've never had a lobbyist say, 'Well, I bought y'all lunch, so can I get some time with you to discuss a certain bill?' "

Among lobbyists who hold events near the Capitol, Babe Schwartz in February catered a party he's held for several sessions in his condominium on the 21st floor of the Westgate Building. By his account, at least 100 lawmakers came to the party, which was funded by a group focused on windstorm insurance. In rooms with views of the Capitol and the hills west of Austin, they supped on crawfish étouffée, crab balls, crab artichoke dip, Cajun shrimp, Cajun oysters and cold boiled shrimp.

"It gives me a chance to socialize with the most important people in the legislative process," Schwartz said. He said he hasn't heard legislative business come up; he advises his client, the Galveston Windstorm Action Committee Inc., not to raise such issues.

"You do not impose yourself on a member who's trying to enjoy himself," he said.

Generally, lobby-funded food and drinks are well received in the session's crush, especially by aides who don't necessarily have time or money to go out, said Michael Higgins, a lobbyist for more than 20 years.

"The people work for the members, and toward the end of the month, they're poor," Higgins said. "It's a way to get to know the people you work with. Even if a member votes against your bill, it's not a bad idea to break bread with them."

Who has spent what

·         From January through April, David Guenthner of the Texas Public Policy Foundation led all lobbyists in expenditures on food and drink, according to reports tallied online by the Ethics Commission. His $34,000 reflected the costs of a two-day forum at a downtown hotel open to lawmakers and aides, Guenthner said. The event featured chicken parmesan, pork tenderloin and a lunchtime debate on immigration policy.

·         Mary Tipps, executive director of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, ranked second, spending nearly $29,000 on events honoring female legislators and staffers and on the group's annual legislative luncheon.

·         Sherry Sylvester of Texans for Lawsuit Reform noted that the group's frequent nemesis, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, often provides lunch to legislators in its building next to the Capitol.

·         Willie Chapman, a spokesman for the trial lawyers association, said it had spent about $15,000 through April on lunches offered to legislators, staff members and guests in a fifth-floor conference room in its building across Colorado from the Capitol.

·         Susan Baumbach Ross, who represents the American Heart Association and Kelson Energy and who ranked third in spending on food and drinks, said she buys meals and drinks to get legislators' ears — not necessarily to assure a vote on any issue. "Hanging out and having dinner, going to your house, playing golf, going out to dinner: All those things add up," Ross said.

What the state rules say

·         There are no limits on amount of food and drink purchased by lobbyists.

·         Lobbyists must file monthly reports on total amounts spent on food, drink, gifts and entertainment.

·         Reports must detail which legislator got food/drink and who prepared it (such as a specific restaurant) only if lobbyist spends more  than $100.80 per person on one day.

·         The lobbyists are required to attend each provided meal.

  By W. Gardner Selby (wgselby@statesman.com, 512-445-3644) and Danny Yadron, AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 05/20/2009
Source: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/05/20/0520lobbymeals.html

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