In Wednesday's Capitol Report, Chris Steller reported in Capitol construction work has lobbyists in a pinch:
Lobbyists can look forward to coping with continuing construction-related complications in their day-to-day work when the Minnesota Legislature convenes next year.
The major restoration project underway at the Capitol — along with construction of a new Senate Office Building— has shaken up lobbyists’ routines for buttonholing lawmakers and tracking down bills.
With the Capitol building now completely closed, lobbyists are preparing for more adjustments.
“It will be an even more unique legislative session in 2016,” promises Sarah J. Psick, board president at the Minnesota Governmental Relations Council (MGRC) and director of government relations at McGrann Shea Carnival Straughn & Lamb. . . .
. . . Mankato booked its Day on the Hill for the Senate’s new building, scheduled to open early next year, according to Vic Thorstenson, project manager. He said the new building boasts “lots more” public seating and open areas than the Capitol, with pleasant locations for Day-on-the-Hill events. “It will be very accommodating,” he said. “People can congregate in large areas and disperse to canvass very quickly.”
Perhaps the Government Relations professionals can find a friend and pit stop at Senator Scott Newman's office, even in he doesn't move into the new building. He seems pretty sympathetic to them in this letter soliciting campaign contributions from lobbyists:
Newman Solicits From Government Relations Professionals
We're quessing he sent that letter--which was prepared and paid by his campaign committee--to the directory of the Minnesota Governmental Relations Council, which sells mailing labels for its 500-some members:
MGRC has about 500 members. If you'd like to reach our membership with a job opening, event or other campaign information, you can purchase a set of mailing labels from our office. The cost is $75 for current MGRC members and $150 for nonmembers.
Or perhaps a hapless volunteer simply cut and pasted the mailing list out of the directory.
Pay to play suspicions in Newman's past
As we said, we're not so sure how common this sort of letter is, but if we were a senator who'd been involved in an pay-to-play ethics investigation, we'd probably avoid sending out a letter like this one.
Readers may recall that back in 2011, Bluestem Prairie broke the story Email to MNA: Sen. Scott Newman won't meet with groups that endorsed Hal Kimball. An email from Senator Newman's then-legislative assistant asserted that since the Minnesota Nurses Association had "donated to/supported" Kimball in 2010, that her boss wouldn't meet with MNA members who lived in his district.
We asked the question the next day: Did Scott Newman tread on senate ethics rules with his reverse pay-to-play email?, as did three state senators shortly thereafter. In the probable cause hearing for that complaint, Senator Newman claimed to not know much about his aide (a claim we examined here) and no additional inquiry was made.
The normal and casual way of lobbyist fundraising
It's our understanding that the more ordinary conduit for lobbyists is for the government relations professionals to throw the lawmakers a party (commonly known as a "fundraiser"), invite your friends, then charge admission at the door. Here's a recent event sponsored by members of what's genteelly known around St. Paul as the "Ag Mafia," with Majority Leader Bakk doing a turn as the guest star.
Elisabeth Emerson, one of the lobbyists for Swift County's plan to re-open the private prison in Appleton, is also there, although we understand that Clara City DFLer Lyle Koenen, our state senator, was firmly behind the idea even before she gave him some money to run for re-election.
While this party was for the benefit of Koenen and Senator Kent Eken, DFL-Twin Valley, we're told this bunch is throwing a lot of parties for DFL senators, including those in the metro. Good cheer will be exchanged by all, in addition to the checks, and perhaps the Jerichs finally will be able to convince those metro-centric types that we small folk in rural areas should have our right taken away to confront large feedlots in court over the nuisances they create.
Money talks and bullsh--manure is only the smell of money. Here's the way fundraising from lobbyists is usually done:
Lobbyist Fundraiser for Senators Kent Eken & Lyle Koenen
Photo: We're still looking for this place in Minnesota. It's a big state. Note: Bluestem moved its world headquarters from Hutchinson (Newman's district) to sunny Maynard (Koenen's district) in 2013. We can truly say we've enjoyed the best of both worlds.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or use the paypal button below:
Email subscribers can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen at gmail.com as recipient. Donations are not tax deductible.
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