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Ethics reform aims to loosen lobbyists' grip on the Legislature.


Wednesday, Jan. 31, 7:15 pm, Bull Ring Steakhouse

It's hump day.

Then again, every day is hump day when you're a New Mexico lobbyist tasked with influencing both legislators and legislation. When state lawmakers are in session, lobbyists are in heat, and the annual courtship ritual is warming up inside the Bull Ring.

A thin layer of snow covers the sidewalk outside the downtown restaurant. Many of the vehicles parked at the curb out front bear the red license plates given to state legislators, the numbers on the plates corresponding to their respective legislative districts.

Among them, "State Representative 51" (Gloria Vaughn, R-Otero), "State Senator 4" (Lidio Rainaldi, D-McKinley), "State Representative 66" (Keith Gardner, R-Chaves) ***image3***and "State Senator 7" (Clinton Harden, R-Chaves). Inside, there are many more.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Ben Altamirano, D-Catron, holds court in a middle booth. Senate Minority Floor Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Roosevelt, chats up a hostess in the lobby. State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons cuts into his steak while, across the room, State Auditor Hector Balderas talks to former Democratic attorney general candidate Geno Zamora.

None of them are the center of attention. That distinction falls on a stocky, gray-haired man in a brown tweed jacket and red tie. The man stands in the middle of the room and welcomes his guests over the din of clattering plates and clinking wine glasses.

His name is Bob Gallagher. He is president of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association during the other 305 days a year, but now, during the 60-day legislative session, he is first and foremost a lobbyist.

Gallagher delivers a short speech praising both the assembled dignitaries and the success of the New Mexico oil and gas industry. But actions speak louder than words, and when everyone returns to their prime rib and pinot grigio, Gallagher is set into motion.

He doesn't eat. He doesn't even sit. His sustenance is found in working the room, shaking every hand and patting every back as if he was greeting all the guests at his own wedding. And, in a way, he is.

This invitation-only legislative reception and dinner-sponsored by the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association-is just one of the dozens of special interest events that dot the official 2007 Legislative Social Calendar.

On the surface, it's just dinner. No strings attached. But these soirées are also perfect settings for lobbyists to subtly provide legislators with encouragement to either push or block legislation.

"Lobbyists have a huge, overwhelming presence," Sen. John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, says. "And a lot of the real decisions aren't made in the committee rooms, they're made at a lot of these social gatherings. It shouldn't be that way, but that's often how business is done here."

Business has been good in a state where lobbyists have almost unparalleled access to legislators and yet at the same time are unfettered by some of the most lenient lobbying restrictions in the ***image11***country.

"I don't want to pinpoint the lobbyists as the biggest problem we face," Matt Brix, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, says. "But I think having a system that is so permissive and inherently loose makes the potential to breed corruption that much greater."

Brix' nonprofit organization (motto: "Holding Power Accountable") serves as both a fierce advocate for government reform and a watchdog over how special interests influence legislation. Common Cause NM has issued a series of connect-the-dots reports linking lobbyist contributions to legislative votes.

Among those reports is a March 2006 study on the influence of the tobacco industry on state politics. According to the report, of the 112 legislators in New Mexico at the time, only 23 had not received contributions from the tobacco industry or its allied organizations.

In 2002, the report states, Rep. Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe (who had received more than $6,000 in contributions from tobacco interests), derailed a cigarette tax increase. Likewise, legislators who received contributions from tobacco interests (like Democrat Ted Luna: $10,600 and Republican Ted Hobbs: $9,400) also helped stall legislation unfavorable to the industry.

While such connections may be alarming to some, they also suggest to lobbyists that their efforts do not go unnoticed by legislators. But the chaos of lobbying during a legislative session is further embroiled by heightened competition. There are ***image4***more than 600 registered lobbyists advocating for more than 700 different businesses, organizations and government entities in New Mexico.

All lobbyists are entrusted with advocating for or against a particular cause or aim. But that's where the similarities end. Some, like veteran Santa Fe lobbyist Nancy King, are paid guns hired by large corporate interests. Others, like Brix, are essentially volunteers advocating on behalf of small nonprofit organizations. Both are lobbyists and both are saddled with the weight that title brings.

That burden has increased in light of public outrage over scandals involving the likes of Washington, DC, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pled guilty to felony charges of defrauding his clients and contributing to the "corruption of public officials."

"There have been some things-like the Abramoff scandal, for instance-that have helped give lobbyists a bad name," King says. "The word 'lobbyist' has a negative connotation, but it is not a negative profession. A lobbyist does nothing more than exercise first-amendment rights to petition the government and to advocate on behalf of an issue."

Underlying the visible ideological scuffles in the Legislature is an underground fight, waged by special interests, for the conscience of legislators. It isn't just Democrats versus Republicans over a cockfighting ban. It's the New Mexico Game Fowl Association versus Animal Protection Voters New Mexico. Nor is it just liberals versus conservatives battling over a statewide smoking ban. It's New Mexicans Concerned About Tobacco ***image12***versus the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company. And typically the organization with the most lobbying dollars (and lobbyists) wins.

Lobbyists are the foot soldiers in an exhibition of political theater with far higher stakes at risk than whether or not Michelle from Cincinnati gets voted off Survivor: Fiji. Throw in this session's budget surplus, estimated at upward of $700 million, and you have yourself a deal-making donnybrook.

"I think that because there is so much money in this session, it's a little bit tougher because everybody expects something," Gallagher says. "In other years, everybody wants something, and there's a big difference between 'wants' and 'expects.'"

But critics of New Mexico pay-to-play politics both want and expect the tide to turn against lobbyists this session. In the light of state political scandals and increasing public demand for accountability, a sea change-spearheaded by Gov. Bill Richardson and his ethics task force-is under way to reform the state's political process. If enacted, the reforms could have sweeping effects on how lobbyists function in New Mexico.

"Any time you're talking about changing the rules of the game, changing the system, it's not going to come without some friction," Brix says. "I think that the time for reform is now. There is simply no reason why we need to wait any longer. The clock is ticking."

But it won't happen without a fight.

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Thursday, Feb. 1, 5:42 pm, Rio Chama Steakhouse

For the last few years, Rio Chama has been a favorite haven for both lobbyists and legislators. A place where laws could be hammered out over martinis and legislation could be written on cocktail napkins. It also was the setting for a vitriolic assessment of state politics penned by Grubesic (and sent to local media outlets) during the 2006 session:

"When I walked in, I noticed how everyone was strategically placed," Grubesic wrote. "Lobbyists positioned near the entrance poised to pick off the politicians as they walked in…and the governor's minions protecting his corner table until he arrived to hold court and have the fops approach to kiss his ring."

The "Flabby King"-as Grubesic called Richardson-is now a slender, spit-polished presidential candidate with bigger fish to fry. And tonight, the Governor's Room-a private room located just off the Rio Chama foyer-is empty. But some things never change. The bar is filled with a happy hour crowd of legislators, lobbyists and ***image13***capitol staff loosening their ties and chortling over drinks. This is the kind of place where everybody knows your name. That is, if yours is a name worth knowing.

"The root of being a successful lobbyist is the ability to develop relationships," Brix says. "There are a variety of ways-good or bad, depending on your tactics-that a lobbyist can go about getting their issue heard, but it all starts with establishing relationships."

The most successful lobbyists have been cultivating those relationships for decades. Before joining New Mexico Oil & Gas, Gallagher was the city manager of Hobbs and also served on Richardson's staff when the governor was secretary of the US Energy Department.

"There's no doubt that having a good grasp on how government works from both sides can't do anything but help you as a lobbyist," Gallagher says. "In my case, since the time I graduated from [New Mexico State University] in 1977, I haven't done anything but politics, government or oil and gas."

Scott Scanland has worked as a paid Santa Fe lobbyist for 18 years. He currently represents 22 clients ranging from multinationals like Pfizer and Lionsgate to local entities such as Los Alamos Public Schools and the New Mexico Independent Auto Dealers ***image5***Association. But even a seasoned pro like Scanland can struggle to find face time in a 60-day session.

"The worst time to lobby is during a legislative session," Scanland says. "The best time to lobby is during the off season. If you're waiting until the session to go and try to broach a new idea when legislators have 500 other things on their mind, nine times out of 10 you'll just get lost."

Then again, even with preparation, it's easy to get lost in the system. King, a lawyer with the Santa Fe law firm Montgomery & Andrews, has been a lobbyist for nearly 30 years. Alongside colleague Gary Kilpatric, King handles a client list of 26 companies and organizations, including giants like ConocoPhillips, Allstate Insurance and Anheuser-Busch. But a lot has changed since the days when King could lobby at the Legislature, argue a case in court and be home for supper.

"When we first started, it was very much a part-time job," King says. "It was a very limited part-maybe 5 or 10 percent-of our law practice. Now it's full-time, year-round."

It's not unusual for King to log 18-hour days during the session. This session, for example, she's currently working on HB 512 and SB 876-which combined would give about $5 million to promote tourism in New Mexico-on behalf of her client the NM Lodging Association. A typical day starts at 4:30 am by reviewing legislative reports to see what bills could affect her clients. After deciphering which bills will be in which committee at any given time, King meets with clients, legislators, fellow lobbyists and representatives from the governor's office.

In the afternoon, King is in committee meetings. By then, she will already know how each legislator on a committee will likely vote on an issue and will already have made her pitch to those legislators riding the fence. When the committee meetings wrap up, many times King will head to a social function hosted by one of her clients before her work day finally ends.

The same goes for other lobbyists, especially those who work for organizations-like PNM, for instance-that employ a team of lobbyists to advocate on their behalf. But even with 18 people-the number of registered lobbyists for the American Association of Retired Persons-pushing an organization's interests, lobbyists have to jump at any opportunity to bend a legislator's ear.

"A lot of this is timing and being in the right place at the right time with the right bit of information," Scanland says. "One of the secrets is just being available. You have to be in the building and be ready to provide information on any given issue at any given time."

Or in any given place.

"I talked to a lobbyist at the urinal this afternoon," Sen. Mark Boitano, R-Bernalillo, says with a laugh. "There is lobbying going on everywhere. In the halls, in committee rooms, even in the bathroom."

Lobbyists don't always follow the expected script either. While it might be obvious that King would advocate (on behalf of Anheuser-Busch) against legislation that would bar convenience stores from selling alcohol, King's energy clients-as well as, Gallagher says, the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association-fully support renewable energy legislation.

"This is not your father's oil and gas industry," Gallagher says. "People's priorities have changed and the industry has changed with it. Which is why you'll see me testify before a committee in full support of the renewable energy package. In fact, you'll find that the oil and gas industry spends more money in research and development for other sources of energy than any other industry."

After all, Gallagher points out, legislators are more likely to consider a lobbyist's propositions when they're delivered in a balanced fashion.

"I think successful lobbyists are the ones who are willing to give legislators the facts and information on both sides of an issue," Gallagher says. "If you only tend to want to advocate for your point and ignore the other side, then I don't think you're doing your job."

It's a job that brings some heavy baggage when you represent industries-such as oil and gas-that are often vilified. But lobbyists like King bristle at the hypocrisy of those who criticize them for being the right hand of powerful special interests.

"Everybody is a special interest," King says. "Sometimes that's treated like it's a dirty word, but everyone in the capitol has a special interest, whether it's advocating for Budweiser or public schools. In that respect, we're all lobbyists."

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Friday, Feb. 2, 3:15 pm, Senate floor, the Roundhouse

***image6***Joe Carraro has the floor.

The Republican senator from Bernalillo County is making an impassioned speech against a litany of special interest exemptions that have been written into a bill proposing to raise the state minimum wage.

"We've all got our special interests we have to represent," Carraro says. "My special interest is the little guy. But this is a big guy, big business, big interest state, and they come down here and make us vote the way they do. The poor of this state are going to stay poor because they don't have lobbyists looking out for them."

Carraro, who ran unsuccessfully last June in the Republican primary for US Senate, cites economist Milton Friedman and activist Cesar Chavez while comparing state politics to Orwell's Animal Farm: "We're all equal, but some of us are more equal than others."

It would be an impressive oration if anyone was actually listening. But most of the senators have long since tuned Carraro out. Some fiddle with their laptops. Others talk on cell phones. Stuart Ingle, R-Roosevelt, chats with a colleague a few feet away from where Carraro is standing with the microphone. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, appears to be eating sunflower seeds. John Pinto, D-McKinley, appears to be fading in and out of consciousness.

Carraro finishes and his amendment against the exemptions is swiftly rejected. Not that he's surprised. Most legislators-and the lobbyists who lean on them-knew what their votes were going to be before they even entered Senate chambers.

"Lobbyists, particularly the ones that represent big business and big government, have the most influence out of anyone up here," Carraro says. "They certainly have more access than anyone else because they have the money to get access that the average person just does not have."

Not everyone has a problem with that accessibility. In fact, lobbyists and legislators alike enthusiastically endorse the fact as a primary tenet of why New Mexico's egalitarian ***image14***citizen Legislature distinguishes itself from other state houses across the country.

"There is never, ever a problem with accessibility to our legislators, which I think is a wonderful thing for New Mexico," Gallagher says. "It's not that way in a lot of states. So if someone suggests that they can't or don't have access to legislators in New Mexico, I would suggest they're not doing their job very well."

Lobbyists like Gallagher do their job very well. And it isn't just staunch Republican legislators south of Albuquerque that offer traditionally conservative industries like oil and gas an open ear and a helping hand.

"We find friends of the industry-if you want to call them that-on both sides of the aisle," Gallagher says. "We certainly have been very successful with the Legislature over the years and obviously the Legislature over the years has been dominated by Democrats, so I don't think that stereotype of being a Republican industry fits us."

That's not exactly stop-the-presses material considering the state's current budget surplus is due largely to oil and gas revenues. But legislators like Boitano say that accessibility is a unique win-win-win issue for lobbyists, lawmakers and citizens alike.

"I've had lobbyists come in from places like Massachusetts and New York and they're absolutely shocked that they can sit down with me, a state senator, and talk," Boitano says. "In those other ***image7***states, they're talking to people who represent people who represent people. I think that access is a benefit, because it also means that regular citizens have a lot more access when they're dealing with citizen legislators."

Accessibility is a key component for a Legislature that is unpaid (beyond per diem expenses) and subsequently comprised of people who are retired, wealthy or willing to sacrifice their professional lives for public service.

"When you're a citizen legislator, you need to hear the viewpoint of lobbyists," Boitano says. "We're not experts. Most of us don't have any staff. If there's an issue, I want to hear from both sides. That's a part of the system and I don't think there's anything wrong with that."

But it's not committee hearings or hallway conversations that worry those critical of the state political process. Their concern falls on gifts, campaign contributions and the legislative social functions-like the one hosted by New Mexico Oil & Gas at the Bull Ring-that fall outside the capabilities of your average citizen.

"That entire social calendar is completely designed to allow lobbyists and their clients to have access to legislators," Sen. Grubesic says. "But that access is paved with lobbyists' money. It's one of their best opportunities to get their clients in front of the legislators, so they're going to take full advantage of it."

But even critics of pay-to-play politics like Brix say that the positives of the citizen Legislature format far outweigh the negatives.

"It's not the system that's the problem, it's the personalities," Brix says. "I'm more concerned about the character of legislators. I think that's ***image8***as big of an issue as lobbyists influencing legislators. Of course they do. If they don't, then they're not doing their job. What matters is how a legislator is influenced."

The downside to having an unpaid citizen Legislature, however, is that lawmakers are often more susceptible to being placed in situations where their independence and impartiality can be called into question.

***image9***"The point is not so much what's done at something like a lobbyist dinner that is as important as the perception of what is being done," Carraro says. "Most legislators, I think, are independent enough not to be influenced by something like that. But it's the public perception that we're consorting with the enemy to get a free dinner that we need to think about."

But many legislators, like Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Bernalillo, balk at the suggestion that they can be bought off with something as simple as a meal.

"I can feel very comfortable going out to a dinner sponsored by a lobbyist and then the next day vote against everything that lobbyist is supporting," Chasey says. "You have to have that kind of backbone. It's not like they're putting my child through college. A dinner? I mean, really. It just seems absurd that you'd sell your soul for something like that."

Stranger things have happened. Carraro says that he too initially considered social functions offered by special interests to be an innocuous perk of putting in 50-hour weeks at the Roundhouse without pay. That is, until he stopped getting invitations.

"I used to think those dinners didn't really mean anything," Carraro says. "I'd go to dinner and everything would be fine. But then I'd stand up on the [Senate] floor and speak out against a bill that was bad for my constituents and, all of a sudden, I'm not being invited out to dinner anymore."

That subtle slice of retribution pie can also manifest itself come election time when obstinate legislators find previously ***image15***generous campaign donors either unwilling to contribute again or eager to pour money into an opponent's campaign.

All lobbyists registered with the Secretary of State are required to disclose all campaign contributions and gifts given to legislators as part of the New Mexico Lobbyist Regulation Act. (Current lobbyist expenditures were unavailable at press time. The SOS office is in the process of updating its lobbyist reporting system and expects to have expenditure reports available online within a matter of days). In the recent past, such gifts have included everything from tickets and airfare to a Denver Broncos game for Rep. Ben Lujan, D-SF, provided by a natural gas interest to $352 worth of "nonalcoholic energy drink" provided to Rep. Eric Youngberg, R-Bernalillo, from a beer distributor.

"We have a scenario without any upward limit on gifts and with fairly weak disclosure requirements," Brix says. "If you and I have an interest before the Legislature and we don't employ a lobbyist or are not a lobbyist ourselves, there's no disclosure on the gifts we're making to legislators." Nor is there any law that requires lobbyists to disclose which bills they are lobbying for or against.

Still, there isn't anything inherently corrupt about lobbyists giving gifts to legislators or lawmakers accepting them. Nevertheless, the potential for influence-peddling in New Mexico is undeniable.

"Are lobbyists influential? Absolutely. That's their job," Boitano says. "Are lobbyists buying votes through donations and other types of gifts? I would hope not, but I think to some degree that is happening."

According to Brix, the assumption that legislators are frequently influenced by lobbyist money can be just as damaging to citizens' confidence in public officials as actual corruption.

"It's important that we address actual corruption, but I think the perception of corruption oftentimes has just as damaging of an effect," Brix says. "If the public becomes more and more convinced that something corrupt is going on, it really creates a crisis of confidence in our entire system."

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Wednesday, Feb. 7, 7:01 pm, Room 309, the Roundhouse

There is a potential crisis brewing in the House Judiciary Committee. Not of confidence. Not of security. No, the crisis relates to the fact that the committee's supply ***image16***of red licorice is getting dangerously low.

It's been nearly five hours, 20 bills and a small army of speakers since Rep. Al Park, D-Bernalillo, called the committee meeting into session. Park handled the first 11 bills or so with an auctioneer's efficiency:

"House Bill 350, I have a motion for a do pass, do pass, Representative Swisstack with a second, do pass, no objections and [banging his gavel] do pass."

If only the Legislature was this efficient all the time. But no, the last four-plus hours have been filled with painstaking diligence and mind-numbing minutia over legal language and parliamentary procedure.

It quickly becomes apparent that the Judiciary Committee could debate for an hour over a joint resolution to declare that the sky is blue, only before tabling the measure because the resolution's language is "too vague."

This isn't exactly glamorous. It's hard, diligent work. After spending five long, unpaid hours in a ***image10***House Judiciary Committee meeting, you'd probably accept a free dinner too.

Lobbyists are present during the debates, but it's not an overwhelming presence. Scott Scanland and Gary Kilpatric hang off to the side while the bulk of people making their voices heard are legislators, average citizens and other public officials.

Finally, Park moves to consider House Bill 822. The bill-sponsored by Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Doña Ana-would set up a 10-member independent ethics commission with the power to investigate the dealings of legislators, state officials, government contractors and lobbyists. After an hour of debate, the bill is unanimously passed.

Garcia's bill is just one part of a slew of legislation aimed to institute ethical reforms over a wide swath of the state's political process. It is one of six pieces of legislation that House Democrats introduced simultaneously on Feb. 1. Rep. Chasey is sponsoring HB 819 (the "Gift Act"), which would place a limit on the monetary amount of gifts given to legislators.

"They're all important pieces of the same puzzle," Chasey says. "I hope that people feel more comfortable after these are enacted into law. It will make everything clearer in terms of who has authority in certain areas and who does not, and I think it will be good for all of us to have these things really spelled out."

The ethics reform legislative package is largely culled from recommendations issued by the ethics task force Gov. Richardson convened last summer. Brix, a member of the task force, says that while lobbyists were not singled out by the recommendations, the legislation (if passed) would resonate deeply in the lobbying industry.

"If some of the legislation that has been introduced passes, it will have a direct impact on the influences that lobbyists can have over public officials," Brix says. "A lobbyist's biggest tool sometimes is the ability to make a large campaign contribution or to give somebody a gift."

King says the ethics reforms would have a limited impact on her ability to advocate for clients and potentially influence legislation.

"I like to think that we're already pretty ethical people," King says. "We make campaign contributions and we entertain legislators, but we disclose it all. Anybody that wants to know what we spend and who we spend it on can just look at our reports, so I don't see that it would be a whole lot different if [ethics reform legislation] is passed."

King says that, contrary to common perception, it's still the people of New Mexico who hold the most sway over state politicians.

"It's been our experience that the best lobbyists are the legislator's constituents," King says. "If we go in on some issue and say we either love this bill or hate this bill, it happens a lot where they'll say, 'I've gotten five calls from my district and it's really important to them, so I can't go along with you.'"

Ethics reform bills are expected to be introduced in the Senate by the Feb. 15 deadline. Boitano has already introduced legislation that would keep former legislators from becoming ***image17***lobbyists for at least a year after leaving the Roundhouse. Such reforms, Brix says, could go a long way toward restoring public faith in the political process.

"I think you can stamp out both the perception and the reality of corruption with these reforms," Brix says. "New Mexico is one of only five states that does not limit campaign contributions. We're one of very few states that doesn't have a limit on gifts. We're one of only 10 states that doesn't have an independent ethics commission and there is a growing trend for public finance of campaigns. But the direction in which these reforms are going will have an impact on the tools that a lobbyist can use to gain access."

But even if the Legislature passes ethics reform, New Mexico will still lag behind other states like Colorado, which recently banned all gifts from "professional lobbyists" to a wide range of public officials and placed a $50 gift cap on nonlobbyists. Wisconsin and Iowa both have more stringent financial disclosure requirements and also require lobbyists to state their positions on bills before state legislators.

But not everyone is convinced that sweeping legislation will even be enacted. There was tough talk of ethics reform-in the wake of the state treasurer scandal-during the 2006 session, but little substantial legislation was passed to rectify the situation. Carraro, like a lot of legislators and reform advocates, remains hopeful, but skeptical that any real changes will be enacted to limit outside influences.

"Cleary, there needs to be ethics reform," Carraro says. "But the state of New Mexico and the people of New Mexico tend to tolerate corruption. They tend to tolerate influence-peddling. And even if there is an obvious need for reform, I think the mood of the Legislature is such that there won't be significant changes made until the people demand it."

Until then, the influence will remain. Both Chasey and Carraro have been told to be careful as both are sponsoring tobacco-related bills-one to limit the amount of nicotine in cigarettes (Carraro) and one to raise the cigarette tax (Chasey)-and both expect a dogfight with lobbyists for the tobacco industry. The influence of lobbyists, Chasey says, is undeniable.

"There are some very powerful lobbies here," Chasey says. "I don't mean to say that we are beholden to them, it's just that they're so…present. There are so many of them and they can really be relentless about some things. They're not necessarily devious, they're just doing their job, but they still have a very powerful presence."