TN lobbyists now spending more $ to lobby government than public spends to operate it

NASHVILLE — The private interests hiring Tennessee lobbyists are spending more money to influence the state legislature than the public spends to operate it, a News Sentinel analysis indicates.

In the five years since state law was changed to require limited reporting of compensation paid to lobbyists and some other expenditures for lobbying, the total of disclosed expenditures is between $88.9 million and $232.1 million.

The state's leading spender on lobbying is AT&T, which has spent between $5,650,000 and $6,440,000 over the five-year period. That's just ahead of the runner-up, Tennessee Cable Television Association.

A substantial chunk of the telecommunications giant's lobbyist spending came in pushing a bill that allowed AT&T to enter the cable television business, with the cable TV association opposing that effort. The bill passed in 2008 and AT&T had 29 registered lobbyists in that year, compared to 19 for the 2011 legislative session. This year's big lobbying fight for AT&T was the successful push for passage of a bill reducing the fees it pays small, local telephone companies for access to their lines.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jul/23/companies-spend-big-bucks-to-lobby-legislators/