Over a decade ago, I went to visit someone who worked in Madison. He worked in a building in which state officials were working, and the scene in the lobby on my arrival was one I haven’t since forgotten. Around one of the elevators, a group of men were pushing to get inside, and go up to someone’s office. They were nearly a comedy sketch, pushing into the small space of the open elevator. I waited and took another elevator.
Over lunch, I asked about what I had seen: Who were they? I don’t know, was the reply, maybe some lobbyists going to a meeting.
I thought then, and still think now, that they seemed closer to pigs at a trough than anything else.
I didn’t know, however, that any of them — if they were lobbyists — might also have been criminals. In Wisconsin, one can be a supplicant of government favors and largess and a criminal. I know that’s true because there’s a story in the Journal Sentinel about state lobbyists with criminal convictions. See, Lobbyists Keep Working Despite Convictions: At least 8 with felonies or misdemeanors push their clients’ agendas in Madison.
Jason Stein writes that
A review by the Journal Sentinel also turned up three additional lobbyists who signed deferred prosecution agreements that led to their charges being dismissed later.
At a time when special interest groups are spending record amounts for lobbyists to push their agendas – $36.2 million last year alone – Wisconsin has almost no rules or laws restricting criminals from lobbying. No lobbyist has had his or her license revoked or suspended for any reason for at least 20 years.
The crimes found in the newspaper’s review ranged from illegal campaign contributions to a hit-and-run case in which the lobbyist fled from the scene and then would not come to the door when police tracked him down. The tally includes an ex-lawmaker and former legislative aide who left their state jobs and became lobbyists after being caught up in the caucus scandal.
Wisconsin collects billions in taxes, the legislature passes countless laws, and state agencies issue even more regulations, affecting millions of people. Power and influence over so many turns private interests into petitioners, some greedy for state favors, some defensive over the favors that rival interests receive. A smaller government will be less attractive to the porcine class that queues in the corridors of power.
Here’s the methodology the Journal Sentinel used:
To do its review, the Journal Sentinel compared a database of lobbyists registered with the state against a database of Wisconsin court records since 1992. It did not include any crimes that may have taken place out of state.
The lobbyists database didn’t include the middle initial or date of birth of the lobbyists, so the Journal Sentinel contacted lobbyists directly to confirm matches.
The review found lobbyists convicted of the following felonies: theft of more than $2,500 in a business setting and illegal campaign contributions. It found lobbyists with these misdemeanor convictions: illegal use of state resources to campaign; illegal coordination of activities between a political candidate and a supposedly independent group; hit-and-run; theft of property worth less than $1,000; and second-time drunken driving.
The review also found a conviction for first-time drunken driving – a municipal violation in Wisconsin but a crime in other states.
Ben Poston and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff to this report.