Lobbyists work together to get changes to ethics bill
More than 200 lobbyists gathered at the Nashville downtown Sheraton at the start of the Legislature’s special session on ethics to map out a plan to remove some of the bill’s restrictions for their profession without appearing to lobby for their own self-interest.
“It’s not a very comfortable atmosphere,” said Deb Woolley, president of the state chamber of commerce, which employs two lobbyists to represent the business interests of 2,000 companies statewide. “The public doesn’t trust lobbyists right now.”
The lobbyists’ solutions from their Jan. 10 meeting appear to have been successful, so far.
Their tactics have included drafting their own amendments to soften the blow and getting legislators to introduce those amendments.
They’ve also asked their clients — often well-known campaign contributors — to make private calls to lawmakers to ask for changes.
As the ethics bill, drafted by a bipartisan committee in the wake of the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz investigation, has passed through Senate and House committees, lawmakers have largely loosened the restrictions on lobbyists.
Rep. Ulysses Jones, D-Memphis, chairman of the House State and Local Government Committee, successfully introduced and pushed through several amendments that benefited lobbyists.
One of those amendments changed a proposal to ban lobbyists from donating to lawmakers’ campaigns or hosting fundraisers for them. The amendment instead calls for fundraisers to be held anywhere other than the lobbyists’ home or office.
An amendment by House Majority Leader Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, scraps the provision that would require lobbyists to disclose bills in which they have an interest — a law for lobbyists in many other states.
Critics say the amended bill is a shambles of its old self.
“(Lobbyists) have a vested interest in this bill,” said Rep. Dewayne Bunch, R-Cleveland, who called for tougher restrictions on lobbyists and lawmakers. “They are very concerned on the direction this is going to go to.”