BusinessReport.com

Toughening ethics laws is good for Louisiana’s economic development, says the governor. But don’t tell that to the owners and waiters at Baton Rouge’s pricier restaurants, who warn darkly of layoffs, even closures, should the Legislature pass a $50 limit on meals lobbyists can buy for legislators.

Senators grumbled some but raised barely a public objection when Senate Bill 8 sailed through that body without dissent. Lawmakers turned away entreaties from—who else?—the restaurant lobby that the cap be raised to a more palatable level, say $100. They also failed to bite at lobbyists’ offer to disclose from dollar one what they spend entertaining legislators, but with no cap. The bill is likely to get the same uncritical treatment on the House floor, where the appetites of new members are even less refined.

Indeed, legislators have more to worry about than what’s for dinner, as evidenced by the hours they have spent debating and heavily amending bills directly affecting themselves: one requiring disclosure of their income, assets and debts and another banning their and their families’ participation in state contracts. In face of that, lobbyists stand by mute, their credit cards dangling impotently.

For the creatively devious, the bill could be interpreted to allow two lobbyists to split a legislator’s $100 tab, though the Ethics Board could easily rule otherwise. The bill’s language does rule out a public official kicking in $10 to make a $60 dinner legal.

So if the restaurant scene shifts from Ruth’s Chris to Outback, will political morality improve with it? Not necessarily in the eyes of the good government groups that rank the states’ ethics laws and which the governor and his team are out to impress. The Center for Public Integrity awards points for total disclosure of entertainment spending on officials, which Gov. Bobby Jindal did not propose, but gives no points for the spending cap he demands.

The dining limitation, however, will score points with constituents, cheerily advises Senate President Joel Chaisson, the bill’s author. That seems to be the case, as talk-show comments and letters to the editor show little sympathy for either side of the table.

Lawmakers won’t go hungry, however, even without dipping into their per diem. The large legislative receptions thrown by trade associations will easily fit under the cap per invited official. And popular restaurants are bound to come up with $49.95 legislative specials.

The proposed law would even give an advantage to certain lobbyists and business groups that entertain legislators at houses and offices near the Capitol. There they can wine and dine their political guests in private, with costs controlled and beyond the prying eyes of ethics spies or—retch—the press.

This intimate method of lobbying has proved so successful that it has been employed at the swankest address in the neighborhood, the Governor’s Mansion. Before and regularly during this special session, the governor has had 30 to 35 legislators at a time over to eat lunch and talk ethics legislation. Past governors have lunched with legislators, but lawmakers don’t remember it being as frequent or systematic as at Chez Jindal.

The governor’s press secretary says the luncheons with lawmakers will continue during this and future legislative sessions because “he values their input and believes it is important to the people of Louisiana that their elected officials work together.”

According to one representative, at a mansion luncheon before the session was called, valued input took the form of legislators being asked to raise their hands if they favored including certain topics in the ethics agenda.

As long as the governor’s luncheon guests never comprise a majority of either chamber, the open meetings law is not being violated, though some lawmakers find it fudged in spirit. The same for the notion of separation of powers.

If that’s how the governor wants to do his business, fine, but let me suggest, in the spirit of transparency and accountability, that he disclose what he spends entertaining and influencing which members of this separate branch of government.

He’s not going to do that, of course, and his lunch bunch wouldn’t last long if he did. That’s because one thing that would upset citizens more than having freeloading legislators fed by special interests is learning that taxpayers are picking up the tab.