Lobbying is big business in state

OLYMPIA -- The state's builders spent more than $100,000 lobbying lawmakers this year to help stave off a bill that would have given homeowners more ability to sue if their new house had defects.

The Seattle Sonics didn't fare as well during the 2007 legislative session. The basketball team spent nearly $200,000 in its failed attempt to win public money for a $500 million arena in Renton.

The spending was all part of the big money that interest groups tossed around in Olympia as they tried to bend lawmakers' ears and pass or kill bills that would affect them.

Lobbyists have plied politicians with nearly $2 million of wining, dining and contributions so far this year. They also fattened their own wallets with $21.8 million in pay and expense money for their efforts to influence state policies and spending.

The cash has poured in from business groups, local municipalities and real estate and development companies. The insurance companies, unions and the health care industry -- groups that could be immediately affected by the Legislature's decisions -- anted up, too.

Only five states have lobbyist spending exceeding Washington's, according to the Center for Public Integrity, a government watchdog group that has compiled overall lobby spending totals for all 50 states.

In Washington, the reported spending for the first five months is again on track to exceed the $43 million spent last year, according to state public disclosure records.

The Center for Public Integrity has tracked a steady increase in lobbyist activity on capital campuses across the country.

"These are your unelected officials in a way, because they are so influential across the country in developing, passing or killing bills," said Leah Rush, state projects director at the center.

As they now pass roughly 40,000 bills each year, legislatures have become a magnet for at least $1 billion of lobbyists' time, energy and gifts.

"It's a growing tend," Rush said. "Companies are increasingly aware of the power that the legislators hold and the amount of legislation going on at the state level."

The top spending categories in Washington were much the same as they were in past years, with the real estate and development sector moving up to third-highest spender, compared with eighth-highest last year.

Sam Pace, a Realtor and legislative steering committee member for the Washington Association of Realtors, said that was no accident.

"Here's the deal. We've got education, health care and the Puget Sound Initiative as top-of-mind, front-of-radar-screen issues of the Legislature," he said. "We needed to get the housing affordability crisis higher on the legislators' radar screen."

Pace said that because housing prices have skyrocketed, only about 2 percent of the homes on the market in King County are affordable to families who are making the median income or less.

"In January there were a total of nine city homes that were available in Seattle that were affordable to a family making the median wage or less," Pace said.

The association spent $1.3 million on an ad campaign to raise public awareness as well as its own profile in Olympia.

Pace said it worked.

"We made real progress in helping to elevate the level of debate and the understanding that housing is an issue and there's something we can do something about for working families," he said.

In many other cases the money and energy also paid off.

The Building Industry of Washington, for example, spent more than $100,000 on lobbying during the legislative session and staved off the so-called homeowners bill of rights, a measure sponsored by Sen. Brian Weinstein, D-Mercer Island.

Weinstein, a former trial lawyer, touted the bill as one of the most important consumer protection measures of the session. The builders saw it as an odious new liability that would drive many contractors out of business. Their top priority was to kill the bill, and they did.

The insurance companies, which collectively spent $883,000 on lobbying, didn't fare as well. Another measure that came out of Weinstein's Consumer Protection Committee allows policyholders to sue if a carrier fails to pay a legitimate claim. And unlike the home-warranty bill, the insurance reform measure passed.

Other notable losers include the bromide industry, which lobbied heavily and unsuccessfully to block a new ban on its fire retardant known as PBDE.

An examination of public disclosure records of lobbyists' entertainment spending shows what the owners of any of the half-dozen or so upscale Olympia-area restaurants bank on every year -- plenty of fine wine pours during the legislative session.

But most of the big-ticket items in entertaining this year went to big events. For example Rick Bender, president of the state Labor Council, shelled out in one month more than $20,000 on entertainment, according to disclosure filings -- but the majority went for one big legislative reception.

Besides salaries and expenses, the lobbying money went to campaign contributions. By law, lobbyists can't make contributions to an individual politician during the legislative session, but they can -- and do -- contribute to the parties and related campaigns.

Washington Mutual spent $55,300 in campaign contribution and entertainment, including a $25,000 cash infusion for the Not Another Elevated Viaduct campaign this spring.

The investment paid off for the banking titan. But the groups that opposed either proposal for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct were winners -- Seattle voters rejected both the proposed tunnel option and rebuilding the elevated structure.

During the legislative session, lawmakers rely on lobbyists to provide feedback from the companies and industry groups that new laws could affect and also to provide data to support their position.

"Can I get you any more information?" is a common refrain from lobbyists chatting with lawmakers.

That trend also raises some questions and concerns.

"Lawmakers have become reliant on these lobbyists for sheer information and facts," said Rush of the Center for Public Integrity.

"So who do you trust? Who's there to give you information and who can't get in the door to tell you the other side. The lobbyists can pave the way for a lot of things because of the lack of resources at the state level."