Behind the Lobbying numbers

Posted at 12:48 AM on June 26, 2008 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

MPR has a story detailing the money spent on lobbying during the first half of 2008. Here are some interesting tidbits:

467 groups spent more than $1,000 (for a total of $7,779,872).

130 groups spent more than $10,000 (for a total of $6,730,392).

14 groups spent more than $100,000.

The most spent by an individual business was Enbridge Energy Association (which lobbied the Public Utilities Commission). $252,718.

The most spent by an individual governmental unit was the city of St. Paul - $51,482.

The most spent by a union was the Minnesota Nurses Association - $182,165.

Here are the 2008 Top Spenders:

1) Minnesota Chamber (not including local chambers) - $509,777

2) Minnesota Business Partnership - $333,579

3) Minnesota Transportation Alliance (a coalition of unions and construction firms) - $323,486

4) MyWireless (a coalition of cell phone companies to fight higher cell phone taxes and increased cell phone regulation) - $291,750

5) Enbridge Energy Association - $252,718

6) Minnesotans Against Fraud and Higher Insurance Costs (lobbied against Good Faith Legislation) - $241,112

7) Coalition of Minnesota Businesses (a coalition of the MN Chamber and the MN Business Partnership) - $223,595

8) Flint Hills - $192,085

9) Marijuana Policy Project (lobbied to legalize medical marijuana) - $187,524

10) Minnesota Nurses Association - $182,165

11) AARP - $169,156

12) Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities - $162,644

13) Insurance Federation of Minnesota - $149,551

14) Education Minnesota - $116,015

15) National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (lobbied for the Mall of America expansion) - $97,593

Of the Top Ten spenders, only Minnesotans Against Fraud and Higher Insurance Costs spent fewer dollars than they did in 2007 (they spent $995,821 in 2007).

Apparently all of those Education Minnesota TV ads were not considered lobbying by the group. That's a source of some consternation by others who disclose all PR related activity.

NOTE:
The Minnesota Orthopaedic Society reported spending $210, 069 but their lobbyist says the number is incorrect . She says they're filing an amended report that says they spent $2169.

Source: Minnesota Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board.

Comments (2)

What about campaign donations?

Posted by jqpublic | June 26, 2008 8:21 AM

Sorry it took so long to get this comment up -- my e-mail is on overload right now and I'm catching up. As to your question, campaign donations won't be made available until a few weeks before the Primary (august sometime)...

Posted by Tom Scheck | June 26, 2008 2:35 PM

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