For lobbyists, it’s tough enough to satisfy all the issues and goals of one client. But what about balancing the objectives of one client that in turn is the voice of roughly 10,000 businesses in the state?
That’s the charge of Bonnie Stewart and the other in-house lobbyists for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. Stewart said the job isn’t as difficult as it may initially appear however.
“It isn’t really that hard because the basic issues are the same for every company,” she said. “It’s always about the cost of doing business, getting a skilled workforce, making sure that workforce has a place to live and can commute to work and maintaining the infrastructure.”
Because of those basic business principles, Stewart said issues like transportation, taxes and health care are continually at the forefront and the focus for CBIA’s in-house team. For the upcoming session, the CBIA has 13 in-house employees registered as lobbyists.
Though there may be some matters that only involve a certain segment of CBIA’s members, the most trying aspect of the lobbying is not between its thousands of members. It is attempting to convince legislators to make decisions and vote in a manner that is conducive to business.
“One of the big problems we’ve been facing more lately is the fact that very few of the legislators have any knowledge of business,” said Stewart. “They don’t understand the real negative impact they could potentially have on our ability to retain business in Connecticut and attract new companies.”
With Connecticut’s General Assembly as a part-time legislature, most legislators have lives beyond their political ones.
“The goal was to have people in the legislature with real-life experience to make good, informed decisions,” said Stewart. “The legislators come from all different areas doing different types of things but one of the problems is that many don’t come from the private sector. They don’t understand sometimes what they’re doing with business.”
That situation has led CBIA to switch up its lobbying tactics. Stewart said the organization is going to refocus its efforts on educating legislators on the basic business principles and ideas that companies agree on. This can be in the form of one-on-one meeting with legislators, seminars or group meetings with CBIA officials.
“We used to get into much more issue-orientated discussions on specific issues, but we’ve moved on to discussing the basics of business,” she said. “It’s important they understand what’s working and what’s not working now before looking at new legislation.”
For the upcoming session, there are several issues that Stewart anticipates being on the docket that come as no surprise to her, such as labor costs and health care. There is one developing issue that the CBIA is preparing to strongly support that may appear odd at first: education.
Specifically, Stewart said the CBIA is in full support of the state’s recent proposal to increase the threshold for graduating high school.
“People forget that for the business community to thrive, there needs to be strong education and we’re starting to talk about it,” she said.
The CBIA has always been involved with local high schools and colleges, but a decision to strengthen curriculum requirements is considered vital to the workforce’s next generation.
“In 2005, nearly 20,000 students that graduated high school in Connecticut and went to college here had to take remedial courses,” said Stewart. “We can’t have that and it’s problematic. These are big issues and we need more support for pushing our high school students.”
Monday, December 17, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
State Ethics Earns Praise
The Office of State Ethics has bore the brunt of criticism on several occasions in this space during the past year. So it is only fair to duly note when it has done something worth praising.
The complaints lobbed at the office have mostly centered around one crucial topic: data.
Last summer, the charge against the office was that the data available for public perusal online hadn’t been updated in years.
When the data was updated, the problem from those seeking information was the 300- or 700-page PDF documents that bogged down searches and was generally a pain.
Those large files led to the most recent complaints from lobbyists that information was incorrect, with typos and mistakes that weren’t updated for months or years.
Consider these complaints heard and in one fell swoop, all those problems may have been erased for good.
New Online Feature
On the Web page for lobbyist data, there are a multitude of choices and reports to choose from, though most are the aforementioned PDF data. But on the bottom of the page is a relatively new feature that could bring any desired information to your computer screen in seconds.
Under lobbyist filings, the Office of State Ethics is now posting forms from businesses, organizations and lobbyists as they were submitted.
“It is supposed to be there for the public to see and it’s public information,” said Iris D’Oleo-Edwin, paralegal for the Office of State Ethics. “We wanted people to come to the Web site and be able to see it easily.”
The key word in D’Oleo-Edwin’s quote is “easily” because she said the office was keenly aware of its shortfalls when it came to posting data.
“We had a lot of people requesting information and they had a right to see that information,” she said.
Thanks to technology, the posting of data has become easier. State statutes now require lobbyists and their clients to file their information electronically. Because of this, the information is easily transferable to the Web site.
“The goal is to have the site be live with information,” said D’Oleo-Edwin. “I’m not an IT expert, but as soon as we receive the registration and forms, it should go right up on the database and on the Web site.”
The timeliness of posting data is good news for lobbyists, as a common grudge has been that incorrect information, especially concerning clients whose relationships have ended, remains public well after the fact.
Even on the current 702-page list of lobbyist. The last update was on Aug. 30, three months ago at this point. The lack of updates was attributed to the time-consuming process required to edit such a large document each time there was a change.
“With this system, we won’t have to put the information together to update,” said D’Oleo-Edwin. “It will be better because the records will go up immediately.”
She didn’t say if the PDF documents will stay, go or be modified, but it is clear the Office of State Ethics is doing what it can to help.
“We’ve always given that information out when it was requested because it’s public,” she said. “Now, they won’t have to request it, it will just be there.”
The forms posted will include client registrations, annual compensation, expenditures and total financial reports.
And there is one more tweak that makes the process of searching for information less of a pain. The reports are posted individually and can be brought up by company name, so no more trolling through 700 pages.
As a new addition, there are only a few reports up currently but more will be posted soon and it will be interesting to see how this initiative plays out.
The complaints lobbed at the office have mostly centered around one crucial topic: data.
Last summer, the charge against the office was that the data available for public perusal online hadn’t been updated in years.
When the data was updated, the problem from those seeking information was the 300- or 700-page PDF documents that bogged down searches and was generally a pain.
Those large files led to the most recent complaints from lobbyists that information was incorrect, with typos and mistakes that weren’t updated for months or years.
Consider these complaints heard and in one fell swoop, all those problems may have been erased for good.
New Online Feature
On the Web page for lobbyist data, there are a multitude of choices and reports to choose from, though most are the aforementioned PDF data. But on the bottom of the page is a relatively new feature that could bring any desired information to your computer screen in seconds.
Under lobbyist filings, the Office of State Ethics is now posting forms from businesses, organizations and lobbyists as they were submitted.
“It is supposed to be there for the public to see and it’s public information,” said Iris D’Oleo-Edwin, paralegal for the Office of State Ethics. “We wanted people to come to the Web site and be able to see it easily.”
The key word in D’Oleo-Edwin’s quote is “easily” because she said the office was keenly aware of its shortfalls when it came to posting data.
“We had a lot of people requesting information and they had a right to see that information,” she said.
Thanks to technology, the posting of data has become easier. State statutes now require lobbyists and their clients to file their information electronically. Because of this, the information is easily transferable to the Web site.
“The goal is to have the site be live with information,” said D’Oleo-Edwin. “I’m not an IT expert, but as soon as we receive the registration and forms, it should go right up on the database and on the Web site.”
The timeliness of posting data is good news for lobbyists, as a common grudge has been that incorrect information, especially concerning clients whose relationships have ended, remains public well after the fact.
Even on the current 702-page list of lobbyist. The last update was on Aug. 30, three months ago at this point. The lack of updates was attributed to the time-consuming process required to edit such a large document each time there was a change.
“With this system, we won’t have to put the information together to update,” said D’Oleo-Edwin. “It will be better because the records will go up immediately.”
She didn’t say if the PDF documents will stay, go or be modified, but it is clear the Office of State Ethics is doing what it can to help.
“We’ve always given that information out when it was requested because it’s public,” she said. “Now, they won’t have to request it, it will just be there.”
The forms posted will include client registrations, annual compensation, expenditures and total financial reports.
And there is one more tweak that makes the process of searching for information less of a pain. The reports are posted individually and can be brought up by company name, so no more trolling through 700 pages.
As a new addition, there are only a few reports up currently but more will be posted soon and it will be interesting to see how this initiative plays out.
Monday, December 3, 2007
New Office of State Ethics executive director
For the first time in months, the Office of State Ethics will have a permanent executive director, effective Dec. 17.
The Citizens Ethics Advisory Board has appointed Carol Carson, a member of senior management with the Massachusetts Ethics Commission, to lead Connecticut's Office of State Ethics. Carson is a past president of the Council on Government Ethics Laws, the international government ethics organization. Following a brief time as a reporter, Carson has served the Massachusetts Ethics Commission since 1992. In the past five years, Carson has been prominently involved as a spokesman for the commission and a liaison to the state legislature and professional organizations.
Carson will replace the previous permanent executive director, Benjamin Bycel, who resigned in July. Bycel's tenure was tumultuous, with complaints from staff members, criticism for violating state motor vehicle laws and questions about a failure to update data on the office's Web site.
In a statement, Citizens Ethics Advisory Board President Robert Worgaftik said the board was "delighted" to have an executive director who has been known for "her excellent communication skills and history of achievements in regulating governmental ethics." Since early October, Beverly Hodgson had been acting as the office's temporary executive director.
The Citizens Ethics Advisory Board has appointed Carol Carson, a member of senior management with the Massachusetts Ethics Commission, to lead Connecticut's Office of State Ethics. Carson is a past president of the Council on Government Ethics Laws, the international government ethics organization. Following a brief time as a reporter, Carson has served the Massachusetts Ethics Commission since 1992. In the past five years, Carson has been prominently involved as a spokesman for the commission and a liaison to the state legislature and professional organizations.
Carson will replace the previous permanent executive director, Benjamin Bycel, who resigned in July. Bycel's tenure was tumultuous, with complaints from staff members, criticism for violating state motor vehicle laws and questions about a failure to update data on the office's Web site.
In a statement, Citizens Ethics Advisory Board President Robert Worgaftik said the board was "delighted" to have an executive director who has been known for "her excellent communication skills and history of achievements in regulating governmental ethics." Since early October, Beverly Hodgson had been acting as the office's temporary executive director.
Scalping Storm Brews Over Hannah Montana Debacle
Who would have thought that a concert by Disney star Hannah Montana would draw the attention of the attorney general?
On Oct. 1, it officially became legal to scalp tickets in the state after the Connecticut General Assembly voted to repeal a former statute prohibiting the act. Yet, just weeks after Connecticut allowed scalping to take place, a concert aimed at teens and tweens mucked up everything.
Hannah Montana, the fictional character on a Disney show played by actress/singer Miley Cyrus, will perform Dec. 19 at the Hartford Civic Center. It’s a date circled by many young girls wishing to see their favorite star.
But prices for the tickets on ticket resellers, such as StubHub, skyrocketed into the hundreds and thousands of dollars, a price that caused an uproar among the parents and officials in the cities hosting the concert, and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is among those unhappy with the situation.
“The ticket scalping law was repealed and it greatly restricts our authority to protect consumers,” Blumenthal said. “We’re going to push for the reenactment of the ticket scalping law.”
The attorney general has never been in favor of allowing ticket resellers to jack up ticket prices, evident when he pushed StubHub to install a pop-up window that informed Connecticut residents that scalping was a crime.
But the argument from the ticket resellers is simply that scalping has created jobs in the state and allows state-based companies to compete on equal footing with resellers located elsewhere.
If there is an expert on Connecticut ticket reselling, it is Don Vaccaro, CEO of Vernon-based TicketNetwork.
The company and its lobbyist firm Murtha Cullina pushed hard for the scalping law to be repealed and would push just as hard to make sure the law remains repealed.
Even when the law was in effect, out-of-state resellers could take part in scalping as long as it didn’t take place in Connecticut. Obviously, with its headquarters in Vernon, TicketNetwork was shut out of its own market.
“It would be an anti-business stance to reinstate the law,” said Vaccaro. “It would hurt our ability to do business, yet out-of-state companies would still have access to our markets.”
During testimony earlier this year on the topic, Ticketmaster, the original seller for many events, said it had zero employees in the state. TicketNetwork employs about 150 in the state, and StubHub employs about 100.
“[Reenacting the law] would penalize Connecticut companies and employees,” said Vaccaro. “It is so out of tune with new market economics that I can’t imagine it would happen.”
There is also the matter of an investigation by Blumenthal’s office into possible anti-trust violations or collusion attempts to artificially inflate prices.
“If there’s collusion between any sellers or ticket scalpers, we could take actions for fines or penalties,” Blumenthal said. “We are continuing to review the situation.”
Vaccaro said the high prices for tickets are a result of high demand and a limited number of tickets available.
“There were only about 4,000 tickets to the show that were actually released to the public. The rest were set aside for fan clubs by Disney,” he said. “The attorney general’s office knows this and the I believe the investigation should be focused on the primary ticket sellers.”
On Oct. 1, it officially became legal to scalp tickets in the state after the Connecticut General Assembly voted to repeal a former statute prohibiting the act. Yet, just weeks after Connecticut allowed scalping to take place, a concert aimed at teens and tweens mucked up everything.
Hannah Montana, the fictional character on a Disney show played by actress/singer Miley Cyrus, will perform Dec. 19 at the Hartford Civic Center. It’s a date circled by many young girls wishing to see their favorite star.
But prices for the tickets on ticket resellers, such as StubHub, skyrocketed into the hundreds and thousands of dollars, a price that caused an uproar among the parents and officials in the cities hosting the concert, and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is among those unhappy with the situation.
“The ticket scalping law was repealed and it greatly restricts our authority to protect consumers,” Blumenthal said. “We’re going to push for the reenactment of the ticket scalping law.”
The attorney general has never been in favor of allowing ticket resellers to jack up ticket prices, evident when he pushed StubHub to install a pop-up window that informed Connecticut residents that scalping was a crime.
But the argument from the ticket resellers is simply that scalping has created jobs in the state and allows state-based companies to compete on equal footing with resellers located elsewhere.
If there is an expert on Connecticut ticket reselling, it is Don Vaccaro, CEO of Vernon-based TicketNetwork.
The company and its lobbyist firm Murtha Cullina pushed hard for the scalping law to be repealed and would push just as hard to make sure the law remains repealed.
Even when the law was in effect, out-of-state resellers could take part in scalping as long as it didn’t take place in Connecticut. Obviously, with its headquarters in Vernon, TicketNetwork was shut out of its own market.
“It would be an anti-business stance to reinstate the law,” said Vaccaro. “It would hurt our ability to do business, yet out-of-state companies would still have access to our markets.”
During testimony earlier this year on the topic, Ticketmaster, the original seller for many events, said it had zero employees in the state. TicketNetwork employs about 150 in the state, and StubHub employs about 100.
“[Reenacting the law] would penalize Connecticut companies and employees,” said Vaccaro. “It is so out of tune with new market economics that I can’t imagine it would happen.”
There is also the matter of an investigation by Blumenthal’s office into possible anti-trust violations or collusion attempts to artificially inflate prices.
“If there’s collusion between any sellers or ticket scalpers, we could take actions for fines or penalties,” Blumenthal said. “We are continuing to review the situation.”
Vaccaro said the high prices for tickets are a result of high demand and a limited number of tickets available.
“There were only about 4,000 tickets to the show that were actually released to the public. The rest were set aside for fan clubs by Disney,” he said. “The attorney general’s office knows this and the I believe the investigation should be focused on the primary ticket sellers.”
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