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Why Are $20 Lunches Bad, But $100,000 Checks Okay? Submitted by .Sean on December 16, 2009 - 12:30pm Implicit in the debate about whether legislators should end their practice of accepting meals and gifts from lobbyists are the assumptions that (1) it gives lobbyists unfair access to legislators (2) lawmakers could be tempted to return the favor with an official action of some kind. I think these are fair concerns, and would vote to limit lobbyist gifts and meals if I could. At the same time, I don't understand the logic behind limiting such relatively small bits of support while ignoring enormous shows of support that come in the form of campaign checks. Majority Leader Steve Tilley – who's pushing a lobbyist gift ban at no real cost to himself, and hoping this whole discussion distracts attention from his own questionable actions – says he was inspired to stop taking free meals after talking with his dad and deciding that taking lobbyist meals "sure looks bad." If enjoying a lobbyist-purchased hamburger "sure looks bad" – then what does a $100,000 check from Rex Sinquefield or $100,000 check from a Tom Burcham-controlled PAC look like? Or what does it look like when a legislator co-owns an airplane and business with Rex Sinquefield's lobbyist, with undisclosed profit- and resource-sharing agreements? Tilley's refusal to support reasonable limits on campaign contributions is probably related to how many large campaign contributions he receives. In just the past year, he's accepted more than a few. Contributor Date Amount Rex Sinquefield Westphalia MO Show Me Institute 2/6/2009 $100,000 Missouri Leadership Committee Farmington MO 1/21/2009 $100,000 Howard Wood Bonne Terre MO 63628 Cequel III 2/6/2009 $50,000 Life Sciences Fund Of The Greater Kansas City Chamber Of Commerce Kansas City MO 6/25/2009 $50,000 David & Debra Humphreys Joplin MO Tomko Roofing Products Inc 4/15/2009 $25,000 Lee Mechanical Contractors Park Hills MO 2/19/2009 $15,000 Six States Rental, Inc New Haven MO 2/25/2009 $15,000 Rightchoice Managed Care Inc Cincinnati Oh 6/22/2009 $12,500 Missouri Leadership Committee Farmington MO 1/19/2009 $10,000 Brad Bedell Sikeston MO Maverick Consulting 6/10/2009 $10,000 U-City Forest Manor LLC St Louis MO 8/11/2009 $10,000 St. Joe Manor LLC Bonne Terre MO 8/11/2009 $10,000 Community Manor Farmington MO 8/11/2009 $10,000 Creve Coeur Manor LLC St Louis MO 8/11/2009 $10,000 Hillview Healthcare LLC Vienna IL 8/11/2009 $10,000 V.P. Braxton Farmington MO 2/6/2009 $7,500 Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Kansas City PAC Kansas City MO 6/10/2009 $7,500 Crowne Pointe Golf Club Farmington, MO 6/24/2009 $6,100 Anheuser Busch Cos St Louis MO 6/29/2009 $6,000 Crown Pointe Golf Club Farmington MO 6/24/2009 $5,200 Pyramid Home Health Services Cape Girardeau MO 2/6/2009 $5,000 Ticketmaster, LLC Los Angeles CA 2/6/2009 $5,000 Us Tool & Grinding Desloge MO 2/6/2009 $5,000 Integrity Home Care Springfield MO 3/30/2009 $5,000 MO Optometric Pac Jefferson City MO 6/5/2009 $5,000 Drury Development Corp St Louis MO 4/2/2009 $5,000 MO Hospital Association PAC Jefferson City MO 6/2/2009 $5,000 AT&T MO Employee Pac St Louis MO 6/22/2009 $5,000 MOIndependent Bankers Assoc PAC Liberty MO 6/29/2009 $5,000 Cornerstone Health Care Inc Rogers AR 6/30/2009 $5,000 Pyramid Home Health Services Cape Girardeau MO 7/17/2009 $5,000 Eoi Employee PAC St Louis MO 9/2/2009 $5,000 Pyramid Home Health Services Cape Girardeau MO 9/4/2009 $5,000 Mo Optometric PAC Jefferson City MO 9/16/2009 $5,000 QC Holdings Inc Overland Park Ks 9/18/2009 $5,000 Tilley then, in turn, distributes this money in a manner than increases his own power. Sometimes he writes $100,000 checks to the House Republican Campaign Committee (he actually did that twice this year), and sometimes he transfer the money to his preferred candidates and colleagues. If we're going to talk about limiting meals and trinkets from special interests -- why not campaign donations too?
