Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Posh southwestern Pa. party spotlights how lawmakers and lobbyists mingle out of the public eye

On a chilly December evening, as the sun slipped below the hills around Canonsburg, House Republicans from southwestern Pennsylvania gathered for a lavish, private holiday party.

Surrounded by the Tuscan-inspired decor of the restaurant Bella Sera — Italian for “beautiful evening” — they snacked on pan-seared crab cakes, grilled lamb and bacon-wrapped scallops. After the hors d’oeuvres, they milled around entree stations laden with stuffed banana peppers, sesame-glazed chicken and flank steak with chimichurri.

It was the second annual gathering of the self-titled Southwest Society, and the unofficial group of GOP legislators — along with lobbyists, local leaders and a few prominent politicians from elsewhere in the state — downed thousands of dollars of food and drink.

But who picked up the hefty tab at the end of the night remains a mystery. …

The lack of disclosure breeds cynicism among the public and erodes faith in democracy, ethics experts say.

“There’s so little trust that there has to be an environment of complete and utter transparency,” said Khalif Ali, executive director of Common Cause PA, a nonprofit government watchdog group. …

The gifts and meals often flow through lobbyists, and lobbyists represent several clients at once. Say a lobbyist buys $1,000 in meals and drinks for a legislator over the course of a year. If that lobbyist represents five clients, he can split those costs evenly among them. So instead of $1,000 from one source, which would have to be reported, the legislator gets $200 from five sources, none of which has to be made public.

That loophole has allowed millions of dollars to flow from special interests to lawmakers, undisclosed, according to figures from the Pennsylvania Department of State.

“What we’re seeing with these situations — because of the campaign finance laws, donor disclosure, the wide-open structure of lobbying disclosure — there are a number of ways to circumvent the laws,” Mr. Ali said.