People on thedailypage.com forum are upset with me for raising the lobbying issue.
They seem more upset about my posting on lobbying on the paid sick leave issue than the lobbying on the inclusionary zoning issue.
I’m not sure what it is about this issue that gets people so nuts. All I did was wonder aloud about all the money being put into lobbying by the Chamber of Commerce. This is a significant change from what we have seen before. I didn’t even get into the bigger issue that I found that would also drive them nuts – – there are over 200 registered lobbyists (It’s a moving target cuz there’s several registrations not on-line that are sitting in the clerks office) and less than 100 filed their forms. (I sure hope they do so soon!!!)
What struck me about the money was that the Chamber of Commerce had the highest amount for any one lobbying group that didn’t have a specific project before the City. (Joseph Freed, who did the Hilldale project, was the one registrant that spent more than the Chamber of Commerce at $94,929) While the Chamber of Commerce spent $44,758 the following groups only spent the following – their total combined is less than the Chamber!:
Common Sense Coalition $8,000
Downtown Madison Inc $2,416
REALTORS $11,673
Smart Growth Madison Inc $5585
Madison Area Builders Association $3120
Apartment Association $553
Even our most frequent flyers with all their clients combined (based on what I found in the basket – some appear missing) did not individually surpass the Chamber of Commerce
Ron Trachtenberg – 12 different clients – $32,750
Bill White – 3 clients – $20,442
Michael Christopher – 3 clients – $16,080
Even the bigger developers (based on what I found in the basket) didn’t spend that much – combined!
Veridian – $22,592
Alexander Company – $7930
Gorman & Co – $3845
The Chamber made up nearly 15% of the cost of lobbying of the $311,413 I found reported. That’s significant. That is a change. We have not seen this kind of money put into lobbying by one group before. They made a record number of contacts with alders. And I suspect, that also had a record impact on the Council . . . but I’ll let you decide – cuz that’s what caused all the controversy with my friends on thedailypage.com forum!
