More than $700,000 in campaign contributions helped sink the "Bottle Bill"
Hartford - More than $700,000 in campaign contributions helped the beverage lobby derail an expansion of Connecticut's five-cent bottle deposit law, according to a report by Connecticut Common Cause. The report, which focused on the demise of the 2005 legislative session's "Bottle Bill," quantified campaign contributions from the beverage lobby and demonstrated how political dollars can corrupt the legislative process. The 2005 Bottle Bill was an attempt to expand Connecticut's beverage container deposit law to include bottled water. The bill passed, 31 to 3, the State Senate in April but was never called for a debate or vote in the State House of Representatives.
"The Bottle Bill is a case study of how lobbyists have successfully commandeered state government," said Andy Sauer, executive director of Connecticut Common Cause. "There seems to be no explanation why legislation that overwhelmingly passed the Senate could not be heard in the House other than the opponents' desire to see it killed. By their ability to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to campaigns, lobbyists, who are not elected by the people, have put themselves in a position to influence decisions regarding the people of Connecticut."
Campaign contributions from opponents to the Bottle Bill were widely spread, ranging from contributions to former Gov. John G. Rowland's 2002 re-election bid to little-known challengers in House races. The contributions came from a variety of sources including some of the state's largest lobbying firms - Sullivan and LeShane, Gaffney Bennett and Associates and Capitol Strategies Group, among others. The beverage lobby is a perennial opponent to legislative efforts to expand the state's beverage deposit law and, in fact, supports repealing the deposit law.
Among the reports finding, Connecticut Common Cause found that:
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The largest recipient of campaign contributions from the beverage lobby was former Gov. John G. Rowland, who received $74,975.
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The largest contributor to political races was Gaffney Bennett and Associates, which contributed a total of $242,294 through individual contributions and its political action committee, Better Action for Connecticut.
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Campaign contributions were almost evenly divided between the parties, with 50.87 percent of contributions going to Republicans and 49.13 percent going to Democrats.
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Political action committees established on behalf of legislators ("leadership PACs") were among the top recipients of campaign contributions from Bottle Bill opponents, collectively collecting 27 percent of all individual contributions.
"The study points to the desperate need for comprehensive campaign finance reform," said Betty McLaughlin of the Connecticut Audubon Society, who lobbied for the passage of the Bottle Bill. "Opponents couldn't make a legitimate case to not enact the Bottle Bill, so they called on the favors owed by all those they gave money to."
Connecticut Common Cause, which has been advocating for comprehensive campaign finance reform for more than 30 years, renewed its call for a special session.
"The beverage lobby is only one influential faction in the Capitol, and the Bottle Bill is only one example of the corruption of the legislative process," Sauer said. "A legislative working group has proposed putting an end to the influence of special interest lobbyists by banning their political contributions and implementing the public financing of elections. We ask state leaders to convene a special session to take the money out of politics. Connecticut can no longer delay in adopting these much-needed reforms."
Common Cause's report is the first in a series that examines the corrosive influence of contributions to political campaigns and highlights the need for campaign finance reform. Connecticut Common Cause is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to good government issues such as ethics, democracy and campaign finance reform.
To download the report on the "Bottle Bill," click here.
For more information, visit www.commoncause-ct.org.