Missouri auditor faults lawmakers for lobbyist gifts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri Auditor Susan Montee criticized lawmakers for potential conflicts of interest Monday for soliciting lobbyists to pay for meals, parties and retirement receptions.

Montee said in separate but similar audits of the House and Senate that some expenses were not reported by lobbyists to the state Ethics Commission. She said lawmakers should "reconsider the practice of soliciting donations from lobbyists" and should notify them of ethics requirements.

"When they are soliciting funds on behalf of the Senate as a body from lobbyists who have interests in front of the Senate, it makes it very difficult to say no," Montee said at a Capitol news conference.

In written responses, the House and Senate generally defended their interactions with lobbyists and noted that state law puts the responsibility on lobbyists to report their expenses.

The audits said the Senate received $76,070 from more than 100 lobbyists from December 2003 to June 2008 and placed the money in a special account outside of the regular state treasury. The Senate spent $60,945 on such things as food and beverages during evening sessions, Christmas parties, gift cards for Senate staff and country club retirement receptions for term-limited senators.

Auditors sampled 15 lobbyist donations to the Senate between April and August 2008 and found nine were not properly reported by lobbyists on monthly expenditure reports filed with the Ethics Commission.

Montee said there is no law allowing the Senate to create a special lobbyists' fund.

Senate Administrator Jim Howerton said there also is no law prohibiting it. The lobbyist fund saves the state money and makes it easier for the public to track donations, he said. By pooling lobbyist money, no single interest group can buy a meal for a specific committee or the full chamber, he said.

Rather than creating a conflict of interest, "This was done for just the opposite reason -- to keep it from looking like it was influencing" Senate actions, Howerton said.

The Senate agreed with an auditor's recommendation to provide notice about Ethics Commission requirements to future donors.

But the House said in its written response that it would be "an inappropriate violation of the segregation of duties" for it to tell lobbyists to report expenses.

Instead of receiving money from lobbyists, the House asks lobbyists to pay vendors directly for meals, parties and retirement receptions, the audit said. Consequently, no dollar amount was available for the lobbyist expenditures on behalf of the House, and auditors were unable to determine if lobbyists properly reported those expenses to the Ethics Commission.

"The law says lobbyists are allowed to provide meals and gifts for legislators, so that's in compliance with the law as long as it's properly disclosed," said Kristen Blanchard, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Ron Richard. "If it's not (disclosed), that's something the Ethics Commission needs to deal with."

The audit also cited the House for failing to keep documentation financially justifying its decision to lay off state employees and hire a private contractor to run its print and copy office in 2005.

The audit also said the House requires a shorter work week and provides more generous leave policies than the Senate or most of the state. Blanchard countered that many House employees are not eligible to take compensatory time off for working overtime.

------

On the Net:

Auditor: http://www.auditor.mo.gov