PSoTD

The campaign for Lee Heffner, candidate for Pennsylvania 37th House District, was good enough to respond to my request for an email interview on lobbyist registration. Below are the responses.

Question 1: What should be the goals of any lobbying laws or reform in Pennsylvania?

Lee Heffner: To facilitate elections that are about the market place of ideas and elected officials who are true public servants.

Question 2: What entity or entities should be responsible for administering these laws?

Lee Heffner: I'm open to all policies that would improve the election process in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Question 3: Are there any other states that could or should serve as a model for lobbying regulation?

Lee Heffner: Rhode Island has made significant strides in this area. GovTracker has provided their citizens with information about lobbyists and their Secretary of State, Matt Brown, has instituted some aggressive reforms.

Question 4: What kind of public reporting requirements should be required for lobbying? How much information should a citizen be able to find publicly about the activities of a lobbyist, and how should that information be made available?

Lee Heffner: Lobbyists should report their expenditures and the information should be available on the internet in addition to hard copy.

Question 5: Should lobbyists be required to pay, through registration fees, for all costs involved in providing such registration/regulation/public reporting?

Lee Heffner: I would have to investigate all the possible circumstances but for certainly for career lobbyists.

Question 6: How important is lobbyist regulation/registration to you as an issue? Is this something you would see as a top priority for the General Assembly in your first session?

Lee Heffner: My campaign is about new leadership you can trust in Harrisburg and so I take this issue very seriously. Pennsylvanians share values of honesty and trust. Unfortunately, we've lost trust in our legislators' honesty. Transparency of lobbyist activities is an important component to restoring trust and weeding out the culture of corruption in Harrisburg.

Mark Purcell, candidate for State Representative in Pennsylvania House District 20, was kind enough to respond to my questions about lobbyist registration policy in Pennsylvania. Below are his responses:

Question 1: What should be the goals of any lobbying laws or reform in Pennsylvania?

Mark Purcell: Total disclosure of all gifts and money spent on, or given to lawmakers in Pennsylvania.

Question 2: What entity or entities should be responsible for administering these laws?

Mark Purcell: State Department.

Question 3: Are there any other states that could or should serve as a model for lobbying regulation?

Mark Purcell: California.

Question 4: What kind of public reporting requirements should be required for lobbying? How much information should a citizen be able to find publicly about the activities of a lobbyist, and how should that information be made available?

Mark Purcell: Reporting requirements should give full disclosures like, name of entity, person, or firm working for, or representing entity. All information should be available for citizens to view. I can't think of any legitimate reason not to disclose all info. The information might be disclosed in a form submitted by the lobbyist.

Question 5: Should lobbyists be required to pay, through registration fees, for all costs involved in providing such registration/regulation/public reporting?

Mark Purcell: Yes.

Question 6: How important is lobbyist regulation/registration to you as an issue? Is this something you would see as a top priority for the General Assembly in your first session?

Mark Purcell: It is one of my top priorities along with other reforms like, term limits, and reducing the size of the General Assembly.

Bonnie Dodge is running for the Pennsylvania State Senate District 18, currently held by Lisa Boscola. She graciously agreed to answer some questions about possible lobbying reform in the state of Pennsylvania:

Question 1: What should be the goals of any lobbying laws or reform in Pennsylvania?

Bonnie Dodge: Lobbying reform should identify and control spending by lobbyists, especially elected officials. By doing this, we could expose the activities of lobbyists and the correlation of lobbyist contributions and votes by legislators favoring those lobbyists demands.I have refused to accept any lobbyist, PAC, or special interest money in my campaign and will NOT even make appointments to see lobbyists in my offices when elected. If you look at the incumbent in my race, Lisa Boscola, you will see that the gambling interests, builders and related contracts, unions and other specific interests which put money into her campaigns are also granted appropriate votes. She never votes for medical tort reform unless the bills is destined to fail. She cannot possible vote for open space because she is part of the cabal which is building, building, building on every available parcel of land.

If you download the list of lobbyists currently registered with the PA State Ethics Comission, you will find the list to be 295 pages, and many of the lobbyists represent ten or more companies. Our state is the ONLY one which does not have a law of this type.

Question 2: What entity or entities should be responsible for administering these laws?

Bonnie Dodge: There should be an independent body, but not another bureaucratic level to government. That would be self-defeating!

Question 3: Are there any other states that could or should serve as a model for lobbying regulation?

Bonnie Dodge: I'm in contact with several other legislators in other states researching this at this time.

Question 4: What kind of public reporting requirements should be required for lobbying? How much information should a citizen be able to find publicly about the activities of a lobbyist, and how should that information be made available?

Bonnie Dodge: Lobbyists should have to report any and all donations within 48 hours. The information should fall under the right-to-know laws. It should be available upon request without cost to the taxpayer. What is now available can be retreived on the internet and I'm for that because it's easy to get.

Question 5: Should lobbyists be required to pay, through registration fees, for all costs involved in providing such registration/regulation/public reporting?

Bonnie Dodge: YES. The money they bake is exorbitant! It's essentially pure profit for the lobbyists, so why should the taxpayer pay anything?