Sara Totonchi once spent $1.10 on a hot
dog from the state Capitol snack bar to feed a harried and hungry
state House member.
"When I called the Ethics Commission to
ask if I should report it, the woman on the phone laughed at me," said
Totonchi, a lobbyist and public policy director for the Southern
Center for Human Rights in Atlanta.
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Maggie Garrett (center), a lobbyist for
the ACLU, gives Sahil Khatod (left) and Alex Robins,
both 16, lobbying pointers as they wait for senators outside the
chamber on Feb. 27.
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| Sara Totonchi (right), a lobbyist for
the Southern Center for Human Rights, helps Ginger Watson
of Villa Rica outside the Senate chamber on Feb. 27. Totonchi
earns $39,000 a year and has never claimed an expense on a
lobbyist disclosure form. |
Totonchi's history of never claiming an
expense on a lobbyist disclosure form remains intact. The hot dog
remains Totonchi's only expenditure on a state lawmaker, she said.
A lobbyist is often envisioned as a
slick salesman cutting backroom deals and sprinkling money on
lawmakers like pixie dust. The reputation may be exaggerated, but last
year lobbyists spent $1.1 million on everything from steak dinners to
NASCAR tickets for Georgia lawmakers.
But a lesser-known cadre of lobbyists
also works the state Capitol, earning far less than their six-figure
corporate counterparts.
These lobbyists represent nonprofit and
grass-roots groups that often lean to the political left, making their
task seemingly a tough one in a Republican-dominated Legislature.
They often don't come with ambitious
agendas — much of their time is spent trying to keep what they view as
bad legislation from passing. They have fought pro-gun laws, voter ID
restrictions and the death penalty measures, issues popular with many
Georgians and the legislators who represent them.
Victories are viewed in relative terms.
"A lot of our wins are making horrible things slightly less horrible,"
said Totonchi [pronounced Tuh-TOHN-chee].
Her organization, the Southern Center,
represents poor people in the criminal justice system, including some
facing the death penalty. The group helped get a statewide public
defender system approved in 2003.
Last year, Totonchi
fought a bill restricting where convicted sex offenders could live or
work in Georgia. The bill passed, but Totonchi and others were able to
get legislators to include a "Romeo and Juliet" provision in the bill
that changed consensual sex among teenagers from a felony to a
misdemeanor.
This year, she's working against a bill
that would allow 10 jurors, instead of a unanimous 12, to recommend a
death sentence. The bill originally called for only nine jurors, but
Totonchi and others lobbied to increase the number.
Totonchi, who earns $39,000 a year, has
no BlackBerry and uses her own laptop and cellphone with no
reimbursement from her employer.
Maggie Garrett, a lobbyist and lawyer
for the ACLU of Georgia, doesn't spend money on lawmakers, either. A
1999 law graduate, Garrett earns around $40,000 a year. She
acknowledges she could make far more money, but she believes in what
she does and loves the adrenaline rush of a legislative session.
Lobbying for the ACLU can make her
unpopular: She's been bawled out in Capitol hallways and hears
snickers when she tells lawmakers the ACLU is nonpartisan.
"I actually had a legislator say to me,
'So your only argument is that it violates the Constitution?' "
Garrett said.
In spite of such encounters, Garrett
said she's worked with several Republicans on legislation and believes
she's earned respect for providing important information on the
potential impact of proposals.
Garrett said one of her organization's
biggest victories was helping to defeat a constitutional amendment
that would have allowed the government to fund faith-based
organizations to provide some social services. Supporters said the
measure would have made it easier to provide needed services to
Georgians, but Garrett hailed its failure in 2005 as a win for
religious freedom.
Garrett and other lobbyists in her
situation don't spend a lot of time at receptions, dinners or on the
golf course courting legislators. But they are often seen hustling
through Capitol hallways, button-holing lawmakers when they can.
Alice Johnson, a registered lobbyist
with Georgians For Gun Safety, spent $149 on flowers for two female
legislators who helped her group and a House clerk's office employee
who hustled on their behalf. That's the extent of her spending this
year.
"We don't have to be cutting deals with
people that we otherwise would not support," she said.
John Thomas, a corporate lobbyist at
the Capitol for 26 years who until last year represented the National
Rifle Association, has gone up against Johnson on firearms issues. He
doesn't recall losing any major skirmishes but says Johnson made an
impact by providing "credible information" to lawmakers.
"I think she got us to examine more
closely the issues and maybe made it more palatable," he said. "She
had a definite positive effect on perfecting better legislation.
Everybody's got to have input, since the law affects us all."
Thomas, who spent $1,886 on meals for
legislators and a few $10 NRA knives during last year's session and
$596 so far this session, according to disclosure reports, said the
value of spending money on lawmakers is overestimated.
Thomas said he believes good lobbyists
are able to mobilize constituents regardless of their budgets.
"They do it with perseverance," said
Thomas. "And they get their members and like-minded folks to
communicate with the elected officials. The most powerful lobby is,
and should be, the voters."
State Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa
Rica) probably represents the antithesis of these lobbyists' work at
the Capitol. Bearden is a member of the NRA and Sons of Confederate
Veterans, and a staunch believer in the death penalty.
Yet Bearden said he respects what they
do and has even worked with some of them on legislation.
"They've all got a job to do," said
Bearden. "I'm elected by my constituents, and I've got a job to do.
Sometimes our paths may not always be leading down the same road. But
they do a great job lobbying for the groups they represent."
