The Big Apple’s Big Spenders Page 1 of 4 Overview "Money talks," and New York City is certainly no exception. Fourteen lobby interests in the city spent more than $100,000 each in 1999, hiring well-connected firms and directly lobbying city government on a wide of issues. Altogether, these "Big Apple Big Spenders" spent a grand total $2,435,815. (See Chart One.) This report seeks to News Release answer the question of FACTS AT A GLANCE just who is lobbying Lobby Report Top City Lobby Interests for Calendar "City Hall" and to what Blumenfeld Development Group, Ltd. $265,916 Chart 1 ends. NYPIRG identifies The Top 79 who is paying the most Forest City Ratner Companies $236,744 for lobbying and what American Insurance Association $225,000 Chart 2 Total for these three $727,660 What They Lobbied On issues these Big are lobbying on. And for Number of Lobby Interest Chart 3 the first time ever, we Spending $100,000 or More 14 What Lobbyists Total for these 14 They Hired have ranked each and $2,435,815 every of the 492 (includes top three above) Number of Top 14 who Lobbied Chart 4 developers, associations, on Land Use/Real Estate Issues 10 A Complete Ranking unions, businesses, non- of all 492 Lobby Total for these 10 $1,580,090 Interests profits & special Number of Lobby Interest 79 that pay for lobbying Spending $50,000 or More Searchable Database government (at least For Internet Explorer Total for these 79 $6,684,152 Browsers those who file with the (includes top 14 above) Office of the City Clerk.) Number of Lobby Interests who Alphabetical List Paid for Lobbying in 1999 492 of all 492 Lobby With the release of this Interests report, any New Yorker Total spent by all 492 lobby interests $12,709,432 with access to the Internet Average spent by each lobby interest $25,832 will be able to see for themselves just who is lobbying in the city and how much they’re NYPIRG 9 Murray Street by visiting www.nypirg.org. New York, NY 10007 (212) 3496460 We’ve organized the report into four charts. The first lists the city’s top Office of the City 79 clients employing lobbyists, — those who spent more than $50,000 Clerk lobbying city agencies and officials last year. Chart Two lists what issues Room 265 Municipal Building top 14 "Big Spenders" (those spending more than $100,000) spent their 1 Chambers Street money on. Chart Three lists the lobby firms the Big Spenders employed. New York, NY 10007 (212) 669 - 8171. Chart Four is an extensive ranking of all 492 lobby clients for 1999 and much they spent. We think this information is of vital importance to civic and community groups across the city and the general public. New Yorkers now have one http://www.nypirg.org/spenders/default.html 01/10/2003 The Big Apple’s Big Spenders Page 2 of 4 more tool to better understand the politics and forces which affect a wide variety of public policy decisions. While the Office of the City Clerk publishes a valuable list of all the city’s lobbyists and a comprehensive client list, our report aggregates and ranks the lobby costs each client paid each lobbyist they retained and details what the highest spenders lobbied Just Who is Lobbying And What Are They Lobbying On? Most people associate lobbying with pending legislation and budgetary decisions. Indeed, legislative issues like smoking, ATM surcharges, and building sprinklers made it on to our list of issues of concern to the city’s highest spending lobby interests. However, our review shows that it is real estate & land use concerns which dominate the agenda of these big Ten of the top 14 spent at least a portion, if not all, of their $1,580,090 of lobbying expenses on proposed development & construction projects, matters and other land use issues. City records make it difficult to determine what every dollar was spent But a careful review of lobbyist disclosure forms reveals a good deal. and issues lobbied ranged from the Commercial Rent Tax, sound stages Kaufman Astoria Studios, housing developments in Brighton Beach and JFK Airport rail link. That may come as no surprise in a real estate town New York, but certainly can’t give much comfort to civic and local community groups trying to evaluate and affect development proposals across the city. Among our key observations: l Leading the list of "Big Spenders" is the Blumenfeld Development Group, with a $265,916 tab for 1999. The disclosure forms filed by the three firms hired as their lobbyists describe a variety of development projects. These include the megastore/retail project on 116 to 119 Street in East Harlem and the development of the Bulova Watch site in Queens. (See Chart Two for a detailed breakdown.) l There are a number of names on our list familiar to most New Yorkers, ranging from Home Depot, which weighed in with to Bell Atlantic with $85,000 to Philip Morris with $76,272 to Council 37 with $61,524 to Time Warner Cable with $55,838. l There are also a wide number of special interests who spend big and are unknown to many. The Metropolitan Taxi Cab Board of (lobbying on proposed regulations regarding accessibility for the disabled) spent $84,000, and the Community Preservation Corporation (proponents of weakening the city’s lead paint regulations) spent $75,700. Browning Ferris Industries, (winners of city contract on recycling last year) spent $50,000. NYPIRG spent $5,634 last year, lobbying on a wide range of issues including lead paint regulations, legislation to increase voter registration opportunities, charter revision, pesticides, ATM surcharges, finance reform and the JFK rail link (see below.) http://www.nypirg.org/spenders/default.html 01/10/2003 The Big Apple’s Big Spenders Page 3 of 4 l One issue which attracted a significant amount of lobbying activity was the JFK rail link being constructed over the Van Wyck Expressway. The Air Transport Association of America (opponents the Port Authority’s JFK rail link) spent a whopping $166,050 opposing the project. At least three more heavyweights spent part of their lobbying dollars on the issue. Weighing in were The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (95,000), Raytheon and the General Contractor Association of New York (62,500.) However, because each had more than one project listed for their expenses, it’s not possible to know exactly how much was spent on the rail link. l Among those spending $2,000 or less were the Whitney Museum ($1,900), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ($1,526), Memorial Slaon-Kettering Cancer Center (858) the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company ($784.) Trends Since 1994, reported lobbying activity in the city has risen from $8,477,180 to last year’s $12,709,432 - a 33% increase. Who have been biggest and most consistent spenders over that period? Here are the that have ranked as one of the top 10 lobby interests at least twice since 1994. TOP TEN LOBBYIST AT LEAST 94 95 96 97 98 99 TWICE* Forest City Ratner Companies Y Y Y Y Y Y Anheuser Busch Companies Y Y Y Y Y Greater New York Hospital Association Y Y Y Y Y American Insurance Association Y Y Y Y McDonalds Y Y Y Hotel Association of New York Y Y ** ** Neighborhood Small Business Association Y ** Y Blumenfeld Development Group, Ltd. Y Y Home Depot Y Y Kaufman Astoria Studios Y Y HONORABLE MENTIONS National Association of Securities Dealers ** Y Muss Development Y ** * Each Y represents at least $100,000 in lobbying expenses for that year. ** Indicates an expenditure of at least $100,000, though not in the top ten for that year. http://www.nypirg.org/spenders/default.html 01/10/2003 The Big Apple’s Big Spenders Page 4 of 4 Methodology The information in "Big Apple Big Spenders" is compiled from the quarterly disclosure reports submitted to the New York City Office of the City Clerk by all registered city lobbyists and the Clerk’s, "1999 Lobbyist Annual Report." While the annual report publishes a list of how much the city’s lobby firms collect for their services, and who their clients are, our report provides ranked and more detailed information on who is paying lobbyists and what they are paying for. Please note that the Clerk's report lists the total lobbying expenditures for 1999 at $12,709,431. Our analysis the individual totals taken from the body of the report add up to $12,699,471. In the interest of accuracy, we have used the Clerk's figure. The information for this report’s charts was taken directly from the quarterly reports filed by lobbyists with the City Clerk. This accounts for phrasing style and occasional spelling discrepancy. The figures for this report are rounded off to the nearest dollar. Please note that because: 1) data is not accessible via electronic format; 2) some lobbying interests are listed in the City Clerk report with slightly different names (i.e. Air Transport Association of America & Air Transport Association); and 3) subsidiaries of the same corporation are not required to be listed as such, this report may overstate, understate or have overlooked some entries. We have attempted to double check each questionable listing’s original report file at the City Clerk’s office to ensure accuracy. Luckily, New Yorkers will be getting additional detailed information about the activities of city lobbyists next year.