Joint Commission on Public Ethics Releases 2014 Annual Report Showing New Records for Spending on Lobbying

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics ("Commission") today released its 2014 Annual Report highlighting its work for the year, including the regulation of a record $226 million spent on state and local lobbying.

The top-spending lobbying entity in 2014, Families for Excellent Schools, reported spending $9.6 million on advertising and event-related expenses. The next highest spending lobbying entity was the New York State United Teachers which reported $3.2 million in lobbying expenditures. Education-related lobbying, including charter schools, teacher tenure and evaluations, and the education tax credit, made up the majority ($15.6 million) of the nearly $25 million spent by the top 10 lobbying entities in 2014. Other top spenders for the year included the Greater NY Hospital Association, No More Casinos Coalition, Inc. (a gambling industry-funded coalition against a potential Native-American casino in Monroe County), the Public Campaign Action Fund, the Public Employees Federation, the Trial Lawyers Association, Inc., and AARP.

The report also shows that a record $194.2 million was spent in 2014 on compensation for in-house and retained lobbyists across the state, while spending on advertising for lobbying campaigns hit a three-year high of nearly $16 million.

Also, the Commission published on its website today the complete source data filed by lobbyists and their clients for 2014. 

In addition to lobbying activity in 2014, the report covers the Commission’s investigations and enforcement efforts, including the review of more than 200 potential investigative matters, the resolution of 31 enforcement actions, and the introduction of the new hotline and website for reporting misconduct. The report also summarizes the Commission’s training initiatives, including the new mandatory online Ethics for Lobbyists course.

The 2014 annual report follows the release of a report issued in early February which includes a thorough review of the Commission’s past three years of activities as well as the Commission’s proposed reforms to State ethics and lobbying laws, as well as to the Commission’s own operations, meant to increase transparency, enhance the accountability of public officials and those seeking to influence government decisions, and build public confidence in State government.