New York state lobbyists set a new record for earnings in 2013, pulling in $190 million in total compensation, according to a new report from the state ethics commission.
The Joint Commission on Public Ethics report, released April 3, said total compensation for lobbyists was up from $179 million in 2012.
Topping the list of earners was Wilson Elser Moskowitz & Dicker L.L.P., a Manhattan-based law firm with an office in White Plains. The firm, which raked in $10.8 million from 161 clients, has been the top earner in Albany lobbying for 17 years, according to the New York Law Journal.
The second-highest-earning firm was Kasirer Consulting, which was paid $6.4 million from 101 clients. Greenberg Traurig L.L.P. pulled in $6.1 million from 126 clients. Park Strategies L.L.C., which received $5.9 million from 116 clients, was ranked fourth. Park, the firm of former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D”™Amato, is a growing player in Albany, increasing its business 61.9 percent from 2012 and climbing up from the No. 8 spot.
Special interests paid a total of $210 million lobbying state and local governments in New York in 2013, according to the report. It was the third-highest total recorded, according to the ethics commission, with 2011 being a high-water mark with $220 million recorded in lobbying spending.
The clients spending the most to influence Albany and local lawmakers included tobacco companies, teachers unions and health care groups. Altria Client Services Inc. and its affiliates spent $3 million in 2013, the most of any group, according to the report. Altria is the former Philip Morris Companies Inc.
Ranking second and third behind the tobacco giant in 2013 were two teachers unions, The United Federation of Teachers and New York State United Teachers, which spent $2.5 million and $2.2 million, respectively, in lobbying costs last year as educational issues like Common Core standards were heavily debated.
Overall, state lobbying has been shooting upward in the last two decades. In 1992, $32 million was recorded as spent, and special interests didn”™t surpass $100 million in costs until 2003.
Total lobbying was down in 2013 mostly due to a decrease in advertising spending of 59 percent, to $4.8 million. The largest spender in lobbying advertising in recent years, the Committee to Save New York Inc., was a group that backed Gov. Andrew Cuomo and touted his initiatives in a series of commercials. That group disbanded and was not part of any filings for 2013.
The commission said it processed 40,000 filings during the year for more than 6,300 lobbying firms representing nearly 4,000 clients. The group formed in late 2011, replacing a former ethics board after a series of high-profile corruption and ethics scandals in state government. The joint commission is the first to have authority over both the governor”™s office and the state Legislature, but the group”™s ability to clean up Albany has been questioned while legislative ethics reforms mostly stalled in the Senate and Assembly chambers during this year”™s budget negotiations.
Letizia Tagliafierro, who was named the commission”™s executive director last year, said in a letter to elected leaders in the state that accompanied the report that the group would be continuing its outreach efforts in 2014. It said it had issued $450,000 in violations in 2013.
“While the vast majority of public officials are dedicated and honest, the public”™s faith in our government has been damaged by those who have breached the public trust,” Tagliafierro said. “The public has a right to hold their public officials to a higher standard, and public officials must be vigilant in complying with their ethical obligations and the special responsibilities that accompany public service.”
A joint report released in March by the New York City Bar Association and government accountability group Common Cause New York said the joint commission could be improved, particularly in its ability to investigate ethics violations. The commission, with 14 members, is the largest of its kind in the country, yet it only takes two dissenting commissioners to stop a potential investigation.
