Group files complaint against organization that missed deadline to report how much they spent to entertain lawmakers

DES MOINES – Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, an advocacy group that has pushed for campaign finance reforms, has filed a formal complaint against the Iowa Pharmacy Association for missing a deadline to report how much they spent on a reception for lawmakers.

The missing report came to light when Gov. Chet Culver said he had attended the Feb. 10 reception, which occurred in the hours before a state lawmaker was arrested on a drunken driving charge.

The pharmacy association filed its report last week with the Legislature, more than five months after the reception, although reports are due five business days after the event.

The pharmacy association reported spending $7,127 on the reception -- $4,688 on food and $2,438 on beverages -- for lawmakers and others.

Adam Mason, state policy organizing director for CCI, said groups are getting away with not reporting how much is spent on the events.

“The public, everyday folks all around the state, deserve to know who's trying to buy influence with our legislators,” Mason said.

Thomas Temple, executive vice president and CEO of the Iowa Pharmacy Association called the failure to meet the reporting deadline an oversight.

“When it was brought to our attention that we had not filed, we called the office and got the appropriate form and immediately filed,” Temple said.

Mason said his organization will ask for a full review of how many legislative receptions were held this past session and make sure all reports were filed.

House Chief Clerk Mark Brandsgard said Iowa law contains no specific penalty for lobbyists and their clients who fail to meet the reporting requirement. But lobbyists could face a complaint before the House and Senate ethics committees, which have the ability to suspend lobbying privileges if they deem it appropriate.

An independent state agency, the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, enforces the state's campaign finance laws and at one time regulated reporting on legislative receptions.

The reports are now filed with the chief clerk of the House and secretary of the Senate.

Mason compared the Legislature's oversight of reception reporting like “the fox guarding the hen house.”

Mason said that board should regulate reporting requirements for the receptions, and they'll ask for that duty to be turned back over to the board.

“It shouldn't take a scandal for folks to know when these things are going on,” Mason said.

The pharmacy association's reception occurred in the hours before state Rep. Kerry Burt ‘s Feb. 11 arrest on a charge of first-offense operating while intoxicated.

According to a police report, the Waterloo Democrat told police he had been drinking with Culver earlier that night.

Culver told reporters last week he had attended the pharmacy association's reception in a downtown Des Moines hotel before having dinner with Burt and others at the hotel restaurant and returning home by 9 p.m.