Joint Commission on Public Ethics Releases 2012 Annual Report

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics ("Commission") today released its 2012 Annual Report highlighting its achievements during its first full year of operations, including staffing and restructuring of the agency, implementing historic new lobbying disclosure requirements and resolving 27 enforcement actions.

The report also shows that $205 million was spent in 2012 on lobbying government in New York, the first decrease in total spending in more than a decade. The reduction is attributable in part to a significant cut in advertising by lobbyists' top clients in 2012 as compared to 2011. Nonetheless, total spending on professional lobbying services through retained or employed lobbyists continues to rise, accounting for $179 million in reported total compensation for 2012 as compared to nearly $171 million in 2011. The 2012 figure represents the most money spent on professional lobbying services in at least the last five years.

The Committee to Save New York was the top spender on lobbying in 2012, followed by the Exxon Mobil Corporation and Major League Soccer.

Also, in conjunction with the report, the Commission published on its website today the complete data filed by lobbyists and their clients for 2012. These files, available in spreadsheet and CVS format, will give the public unprecedented ease of access, and the ability to perform custom analyses thereby increasing transparency.

Highlights from the report, available on the web at jcope.ny.gov, include the following:

• The implementation of historic new disclosure requirements requiring certain lobbyists and their clients to publicly report business relationships they have with state officials, and to report sources of funding for certain lobbying activities.
• The total reported spent on lobbying activities in 2012 reached $205 million, a seven percent reduction from 2011 and the first reduction in more than a decade attributable in part to a 62 percent reduction in spending on lobbying advertising.
• The review of more than 40,000 lobbyist and client filings and contracts received in 2012.
• The review of more than 300 potential investigative matters and the resolution of 27 enforcement actions accounting for more than $52,000 in fines.
• The processing and filing of more than 25,000 financial disclosure statements filed by state officials and employees in the executive and legislative branches of government.
• Establishment of a statewide presence with the opening of new offices in New York City and Buffalo while achieving savings by consolidating its offices in Albany.