Ohio Citzen Action: Lobbyists rule campaigns through contributions

More than half of Ohio’s campaign money raised by legislators in 2010 came from lobbyist an Ohio Citizen Action study found.

But the most concerning numbers reported from “Lobbyists – Affluence & Influence”  are the 90 lobbying firms that contributed $138,235 to statewide and legislative candidates, the $776,287 contributed by contract lobbyists,  the $1,047,661 contributed by law firms specializing in government relations and the $383,854 contributed by contract lobbyists associated with law firms.

“What rules the day are not the gifts. What rules the day are campaign contributions,” Catherine Turcer, director of Citizen Action’s Money-In-Politics, told The Columbus Dispatch.

Turcer would like to see a ban on hiring lobbyists to raise money for campaigns and on lobbyists hosting fundraisers. Increased transparency in contributions is also needed.

Ohio only tracks the “wining and dining” outlays by lobbyists. Campaign contributions are not regulated, but simply disclosed, making it harder to identify donations from individual lobbyists. Finding who contributed what to campaigns requires entering in each lobbyist name and firm individually into Ohio’s secretary of state’s database, a process that took Ohio Citizen Action two months.

“We need more meaningful disclosure,” said Turcer, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. “We want a process that is open because we’re facing a tremendous budget crisis.”

Others disagree that Ohio lacks sufficient transparency of lobbyists’ contributions.

“I think what this study shows is that the system is working,” said Kelly McGivern, incoming president of the Ohio Lobbying Association. “If they can come up with a 30-page report there’s obviously a lot of information for citizens to look at.”

A third recommendation Turcer made to help reduce the influence lobbyists hold on legislation is to reinstate a “revolving door” prohibition barring former legislators from lobbying for a specific amount of time after leaving office.

According to the Hamilton Journal-News,  restricting lobbyists does not appear to be a top priority for the new legislature. “The focus of our caucus is really job creation and revitalizing the economy,” said Mike Dittoe, spokesman for House Speaker William Batchelder III, R-Medina.

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By the numbers: