An Arizona lawmaker is seeking to further penalize lobbyists who deliberately give false information to legislators.
S1121 provides that a lobbyist convicted of the act would be barred from practicing the profession for three years.
He or she would also be guilty of class 1 misdemeanor, the bill said.
“My specific concern is the lack of ‘due diligence’ performed by lobbyists in their acceptance of clients,” the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Debbie McCune Davis, D-14, said in a letter faxed to Arizona Capitol Times.
“I have witnessed lobbyists representing clients with a history of poor and predatory business practices. When asked about the poor business practices and enforcement actions taken against these businesses, the response has been ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I’m not aware of that’,” she said.
She did not cite specific cases in her letter.
The letter said that with term limits, more and more new members are joining the Legislature and that the experiences of veteran legislators “no longer provide a safety net to alert new members to the actions of narrowly focused lobbyists.”
McCune Davis explained that a law already exists saying lobbyists should not provide false information.
“What I have done with my proposal is to put a penalty in place… I looked at several state statues, so that’s where the idea came from,” she said in a telephone interview.
She said her intention is to “create an expectation that lobbyists will be knowledgeable about their clients.”
Lobbyists responds
Responding to the proposal, one lobbyist said he is not sure if such a law is necessary.
“I’m going to tell you (that) if a lobbyist is known to be telling things that he (knows) are not true, he doesn’t stay a lobbyist very long,” said Barry Aarons.
“Do I think that a law is necessary? I’m not sure that it is. But I can tell you that I certainly wouldn’t oppose anything that says we should be telling the truth,” he said.
But Aarons added he also would not go out of his way to endorse such a bill.
Alberto Gutier, another lobbyist, said the lobbying community should not be penalized for the mistakes of one lobbyist.
“We represent the views of our clients, and our clients expect us to be honest and straightforward with our legislators and provide them with the best information possible. It is up to the legislators to accept or not accept that information,” Gutier said.
Bill details
McCune Davis’ bill seeks to classify the act of deliberately giving false information by lobbyists as a class 1 misdemeanor.
“A lobbyist… shall not provide information to any public official as to any material fact pertaining to any legislative or administrative action knowing or having reason to know that the information is false,” her bill says.
“A lobbyist, designated public lobbyist or authorized public lobbyist who is convicted of violating any provision of this article, is prohibited from acting as a lobbyist, designated public lobbyist or authorized public lobbyist for a period of three years after the date of the conviction,” it says.
Gutier said a lobbyist has to make sure that any information he receives is accurate.
“The most important thing that a lobbyist has to do is to inform the legislator and the client of the unintended consequences of an action,” he said.
Finding out and presenting the unintended consequences of an action is just “as valuable as putting forward what the client wants,” he said.
If consequences are overlooked, the law might need fixing later on, he added.
In her letter, McCune Davis said her bill is meant to “restate current law — and identify an appropriate consequence when the law is broken.”
“The bill is modeled after legislation in other states,” the letter states. “It creates financial consequence for failure to comply with the law and encourage high standards for the practice of lobbying in Arizona.”
There have been efforts to curtail what is perceived to be the immense influence of lobbyists over the legislative process.
Under Arizona’s law, a former legislator is barred from lobbying within one year after he or she has left the state Senate or House.
In 2005, Michigan’s House passed a bill barring state lawmakers from becoming lobbyists one year after leaving office.
The bill’s sponsor said the state should not allow persons making public policy one week and then influencing policy the next week.
Americans have also shown growing concern over lobbying scandals. A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll last November said Americans were paying close attention to the Jack Abramoff scandal in Washington D.C.
Abramoff is a Republican lobbyist convicted after pleading guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe officials.