Receptions and Lobbyists

One thing I'd heard about Juneau was that there were receptions every night.  After all, I'd been to the Kohring Trial where people talked about him living off of receptions, even taking food home.  But I still wasn't prepared for the reality. Sitting in the office as a staffer, I saw a regular flow of people, from day one, coming by the office to drop off an invitation or information. People from the State Library offered us a folder full of brochures with all the information available for legislators. Non-profit groups left packets. Everyone seems to want to make the legislature aware of their issue.

Staff are generally invited to receptions as well.

One of the biggest receptions is put on by the City of Juneau in Centennial Hall.  It's in a huge room and I think the whole city is invited to this one.  I ran into people from the visitors industry, from the University, and, of course, lots of legislators and their staff and spouses.

The AFL-CIO representing a wide array of unions had its reception at the Baranof Hotel. Democrats and Republicans alike were there grazing the Hors D'oeuvres and taking advantage of the open bar. I talked to one of the union reps about the purpose of spending all this money. I was told, this is a chance for them to talk to politicians who aren't necessarily their supporters.  It's a time  to get into informal conversations, perhaps a little looser because of the booze.  It's a chance for people to get to know each other across party lines.  

Clearly that was happening for me. I bumped into people I knew who introduced me to people I didn't know. Such as Vince Beltrami, the executive president of the Alaska AFL-CIO and the nominal host of the event.




And I got to talk to House Minority leader Beth Kerttula and her husband as well as a lot of other people I probably wouldn't have met without this social gathering.  This was true at other events as well where I got to talk to staffers in much more depth than I'd had a chance during work hours.

And then there was the lunch reception at the Conoco-Phillips office.  The president of Conoco-Phillips Alaska was supposed to be there, but his plane got diverted to Sitka because of poor weather in Juneau. But I got to talk to several of the legislators and staffers. 

Even non-profits put on fancy receptions. Juneau's highly regarded Perseverance Theater invited legislators and their staff to a reception followed by a performance of Eurydice, their current production. (I'll try to post on that soon too.) This was underwritten by ATT Alaska if I understood it right. So, it was a double lobbying reception - for both Perseverance Theater and for ATT whose Alaska President (I think that's who he was) was there.

And lest your image of lobbyists is either sleazy wheeler/dealers or well dressed, liberal spending legislative seducers, I have to say the halls of the Capitol are filled with lobbyists of all sorts. This was the youngest set of lobbyists I saw. They were leaving materials in legislators' offices in support of schools.

I'm not making judgments at this point.  I'm just taking things in and trying to report what I see.  I was a staffer for just about a week and I only went to a few of the many events offered and I didn't think to take pictures at them all. 

Is this basically a good thing that gets people together, builds connections, enables people of different perspectives to talk across the ideological divide, and allows legislators and their staffers to get some quick food in the rush of their work?  Or is this a way people who can afford to put on a bash for the legislature get to impress the people who make the laws at a level beyond what those with smaller bank accounts can do? 

If these social events are important to the legislative process because they stimulate communication, perhaps the State should sponsor them and everyone would have a chance to get in and talk to their elected officials.  (I would say though, that no one at any of these events checked whether I belonged there.  Maybe if I weren't an older white male I wouldn't have been as unchallenged.) 

But why not let private parties who are willing,  pay for these events?  There could be a legislative reception fund that pays for twice-weely receptions. The donors names could be publicly listed.  (The Juneau Douglas City Museum has free admission and each month, a different sponsor's name is posted.)   Somehow I don't think the present party hosts would be that excited about this idea.  And maybe it isn't necessary.  I know I didn't feel personally swayed about anything because someone was feeding me.  I sort of felt, "Well, if they want to do it, I can go see, get some food, and that's that."  But is it that innocent?  Is there some subtle obligation to return the favor hanging out there?   I just don't know.

I suspect I'll touch on this topic again in the next couple of months.