Follow the money, if you find it

I'll be the first to admit that one has to travel some distance to find a legislature that can be as full of shenanigans at times as ours in KY. I'm not trying to imply that anyone in VA's General Assembly could come close to, let along beat, some of the wild chases our folks have led the media, the auditors, etc. on. But I thought this article had some interesting tie-ins between VA legislators, lobbyists and VUI-spin meisters.

JEFF E. SCHAPIRO TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST
Published: February 15, 2009

Sen. Walter Stosch has got a secret. At least it looks that way. Same with Sens. Mark Obenshain, Tommy Norment, Ken Stolle, Ryan McDougle and Del. Bud Phillips.

Stosch, a Henrico Republican, is an accountant. His firm represents businesses and individuals before state agencies. On his conflict-of-interest report, he is supposed to identify those clients and what he's paid.

No way, says Stosch, citing "confidentiality requirements." Indeed, disclosure rules include wiggle room.

So much for transparency in government. Virginia is a self-police state. Unless lawmakers decide otherwise, Stosch and the others -- and the private interests that bring legislators in contact with public agencies they control -- can profit in the shadows.

It wasn't a decade ago that Republicans, then reformers but now on the run, howled about spotty disclosures by Democrats fatted on work for insurers, restaurants and mortgage companies they regulated.

Client confidentiality is a catch-all, particularly for lawyer-legislators. That's why Obenshain, a Harrisonburg Republican, doesn't mention the energy company his firm represents. Go to the SCC; you'll learn it's Highland New Wind Development.

Stolle and Norment, R's from Virginia Beach and James City, respectively, practice together. They say only their partners toil for a slew of interests before an alphabet soup of agencies. Democrat Phillips' clients before two agencies? It's not clear.

McDougle, the Hanover Republican, has lawyered for lobbyists, billing less than $10,000. No names, though. Attorney-client privilege, of course.

Asked to elaborate, the husband of lobbyist Bea McDougle hands over a copy of the Virginia State Bar 2007-2008 Professional Guidelines, saying, "Here's your answer." And then he just walks away.

Even murkier: disclosures on gifts and entertainment. Legislators are required to report anything worth $50 or more. You can't conceal hunting trips, foreign junkets, sports tickets.

Dinners, often at overdone eateries, are another matter. By dividing the cost among multiple clients, a lobbyist can drive the cost per lawmaker below the reporting threshold. The interest group still must disclose. It's just tougher to smoke out.

Senate Democratic boss Dick Saslaw included in his report letters from Ober-lobbyist Reggie Jones explaining this creative math, which would not be permitted under a House-passed bill by Del. Sam Nixon of Chesterfield that's come to a halt in the Senate.

It's difficult to imagine a legislator can be bought for a meal. But the hide-the-ball approach reinforces the image of lobbyists as enablers who, in clambering for competitive advantage, provide cover for lawmakers to potentially engage in behavior that, as bluesman Bobby Bland would croon, is "somewhere between right and wrong."

Then there's the evolving definition of a gift.

Julie Rautio, one of Bea McDougle's partners, organized a freebie media-relations workshop last month for Republican leaders. Think of it as Hooked on Phonics for the press-challenged, offered by a flack who's spun and spins for interests figuratively and literally radioactive: George Allen, Vance Wilkins, payday lenders and a proposed uranium mine. (Emphasis mine...SB)

Nixon and another attended. He plans to list the session as a gift in his next conflict-of-interest statement, in which disclosures are little more than sound bites anyway.

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/columnists_news/article/JEFF15_20090214-220907/206900/