Lobbyists' spending this year is continuing at a record-shattering pace, according to financial disclosures filed with the state Ethics Commission.
After blowing away all January-April spending records with a total of $527,797 of spending on legislators and other elected officials, lobbyists set a May-August record with $75,059 of expenditures.
That's nearly double what they spent during the May-August reporting period in 2014, which is all the more remarkable considering the current Legislature took most of the summer off, holding just three days of interim meetings during the period.
By comparison, the 2014 Legislature held 12 days of interim meetings and one day in special session during that period, and that included out-of-town interims in Bridgeport, where lobbyists spent more than $30,000 hosting dinners and receptions.
Much of the uptick appears to be in campaign contributions. Not too long ago, it was almost unheard of for lobbyists to be making contributions to legislators in the summer of an off-year.
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Biggest spender this reporting period was former House Finance Committee counsel and current Coca-Cola lobbyist Alison Patient, who reported $4,408 of spending to host Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, and his family May 23-25 when Cole served as an honorary starter for the Coca-Cola 600 stock car race in Charlotte.
Patient reported providing lodging, meals and beverages, local travel arrangements, and a $20 gift of a Cola-Cola 600 shirt that guests were asked to wear during events to designate their VIP status. for Cole, his wife Brownie, daughters Taylor and Elizabeth, and sons Jason and Lee and their spouses.
Costs worked out to $551 per person, including $206 for lodging, $235 for meals and beverages, and $90 for ground transportation in the Charlotte area. The Coles provided their own transportation to and from Charlotte, Patient reported.
Interestingly, Patient reported no costs for admission to the race for the Cole family, noting, "The lieutenant governor and his family are afforded admission through the contractual arrangement for sponsorship with the Coca-Cola Co."
That's a nice lawyerly loophole around the Ethics Act's prohibition on public officials accepting tickets to sporting events valued at more than $25. A corporation that has a contractual agreement to lease a stadium skybox could use the same argument to allow elected officials free admission to said skybox on game day.
(Under the Ethics Act, Cole could have accepted a higher-priced ticket to the race, since the ticket would have been incidental to his performance of official or ceremonial duties at the event.)
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As noted, legislators didn't spend much time in Charleston this summer, but June interims led to the priciest dinner reported.
Phil Reale, who lobbies for a variety of entities, including the West Virginia Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association, took Cole; Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson; Senate Government Organization Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley; and state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration Commissioner Ron Moats to dinner, to discuss beer regulations.
Total tab: $675.65, or $135.13 each. The restaurant was not disclosed.
Reale also reported spending $288, or $16.61 per person, to have lunch catered to the Public Employees Insurance Agency offices, on behalf of client Humana.
More disclosures tomorrow ...
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Finally, there was mostly universal applause for Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's appointment of Delegate Bob Ashley, R-Roane, to fill the 3rd Senatorial District vacancy created when Sen. David Nohe, R-Wood, was appointed to the state Parole Board.
Ashley has a reputation as a conscientious, thoughtful and decorous legislator, and as a 16-term delegate, certainly was the most experienced nominee.
However, that sets up an interesting scenario in that Sen. Donna Boley, R-Pleasants, currently the longest-serving senator with 30 years' continuous service, may well face a challenger or challengers from Wood County in 2016.
Because the state constitution permits only one senator from a county in multi-county senatorial districts, Boley has never had to run against competitors from much-larger Wood County in the district.
(In 2012, current Delegate Frank Deem, R-Wood, challenged the constitutional requirement in court, contending it disenfranchises voters in Wood County, who make up 80 percent of the population of the district, but at best can have only one senator, while Pleasants County, with 7 percent of the district's population, has had a senator since 1985.)
Because of that constitutional requirement, Boley has run unopposed in her past three primary and general election races, and last had a challenger in the 2000 general election, when she defeated Louis Flade of St. Marys by a vote count of 28,396 to 11,786.
So far, only one person has filed pre-candidacy papers to run in the 3rd Senatorial District: Republican Sam Winans, a well-known Parkersburg businessman.
Chance for a Democratic pickup in November 2016? Wood County has been red for a good while, but its also known for its unpredictability, being the only county to vote out both a Senate president (Keith Burdette) and a Finance chairman (George Farley), and the county has been known to elect progressive Democrats in the recent past, including Burdette, now state Commerce secretary, and J.D. Beane, now a circuit judge.
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazette.com or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.