US: Tobacco Giant Altria Spends Most on Lobbying

Source from:  The Courier-Journal  09/17/2014

Tobacco giant Altria, parent of Philip Morris USA and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, continues to spend more money than any corporation or association in trying influence the Kentucky General Assembly.

Reports filed this week with the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission show that through Aug. 31 this year, Altria spent $239,590 in lobbying Kentucky lawmakers.

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce is second on the list, reporting spending of $226,638 during the same eight-month period.

About 660 corporations, associations and other groups are registered to lobby the General Assembly. Each must report periodically to the Legislative Ethics Commission on how much they spend on lobbying.

Together, the 660 groups have reported spending more than $12.1 million lobbying Kentucky lawmakers between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31. (And that's with a few late reports from the recent period not yet counted.)

The vast majority of this money is spent as compensation to Frankfort lobbyists employed by the groups.

Monday was the deadline for the groups to report their lobbying costs for the period between May 1 and Aug. 31. The General Assembly was not in session during those four months, but lobbying continued at interim legislative meetings and at summer out-of-state legislative conventions.

Altria, based in Richmond, Va., successfully lobbied on a small list of bills in the legislative session earlier this year. It successfully worked against raising the cigarette tax and against new taxes on electronic cigarettes. And lawmakers passed the tobacco industry-supported version of the bill to ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors.

But Altria's spokesman has said the company did not lobby against the so-called "smoke-free" bill. That bill would have banned smoking in indoor public places like bars and restaurants. That bill stalled when not given a vote on the House floor.

Most, but not quite all, of the lobbying groups had filed reports for the recent period as of late Monday. Here's a list of the top lobby spenders - between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 - from what was available Tuesday morning from the Legislative Ethics Commission website Tuesday morning. I hope to update this list later this week after all reports have been filed.

Altria Client Services, Richmond, Va., tobacco $239,590

Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Frankfort, business issues $226,638

Ky. Hospital Assn., Louisville, hospitals $146,701

AT&T, Louisville, telecommunication de-regulation $122,444

Ky. Medical Assn., Louisville, doctors $119,677

Ky. Justice Assn., Louisville, trial lawyers $107,094

Ky. League of Cities, Lexington, cities $ 98,115

Norton Healthcare, Louisville, hospitals $ 90,212

Wellpoint, Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Louisville, insurance $ 84,875

Churchill Downs, Louisville, horse racing and gambling $ 82,190

United Parcel Service, Louisville, package delivery $ 81,187

Pew Charitable Trusts, Washington, DC, non-profit $ 80,005

Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, Cal., technology $ 80,000

Molina Healthcare, Sacramento, Cal., health care $ 80,000

Century Aluminum, Hawesville, aluminum plant $ 79,000

Ky. Bankers Assn., Louisville, banks $ 76,757

Boardwalk Pipeline, Houston, Bluegrass Pipeline construction $ 75,500 Enditem