What follows will be no news to those who follow the lobbyist reporting records – nothing especially new or unusual. But those who don’t follow such matters may not realize to extent to which state legislatures – the Idaho edition, in this case – get lobbied by interests from out of state.
Most organizations that send lobbyists are, of course, in-state; many of them are in-state associations and the like. But the roster from out of state is striking, even in states like Idaho where you might not expect a major presence. Almost two-thirds of the other states (33 of them) are listed as being the base for organizations hiring Idaho lobbyists. An abbreviated rundown follows:
Arkansas. Wal-Mart, of course.
Arizona. Four organizations (Development Planning & Financing Group, Johnson & Johnson, M3 Eagle and Rocky Mountain Propane Association) bring on lobbyists in Boise (mainly hiring local talent).
California. 15 organizations reporting a California base show up here, mostly hiring Idaho contract lobbyists. These range from some firms with obvious Idaho connections, like Hewlett-Packard, to (UPS, Merck, State Farm, Phillip Morris) with more national interests.
Colorado. Two organizations: Think AT&T.
Connecticut. Didn’t see this one coming, did you? The connection here is Bayer Pharmaceutical.
District of Columbia. Mainly a group of national organizations (among them the Motion Picture Association of America!), keeping watch at the legislative level. But also a substantial Idaho tie or two, such as FMC corporation.
Delaware. Its the corporate filing thing, but Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals and Bank of America have their hired help in Boise.
Florida. Swisher International and the Geo Group both have Boise contract lobbyists at the annex.
Georgia. You’ve seen the AFLAC commercials; they get some lobbying done at Boise, too. Anderson Title Services and UCB both list George as home base, and file lobbying activity in Boise.
Iowa. This one – Mid-American Nuclear Energy – is probably already done, but it apparently was active enough in lobbying when considering its nuclear plant possibilities to merit a lobbyist filing.
Illinois. Abbott Laboratories, Motorola and Takeda Pharmaceuticals (if you’re getting the sense that the pharma industry is heavily lobbied up even at the Idaho statehouse, you’re right) are among the eight Illinois organizations with reach into Boise.
Indiana. Eli Lilly & Company, yet another pharma, is represented.
Kansas. Ever heard of the Watco Companies? Neither had we. Note: “headquartered in Pittsburg, KS, is an international transportation company offering a variety of rail, container-shipping” and similar work. Represented in Idaho, as it happens, by Boisean John Watts.
Kentucky. General Electric and Unisys are active.
Massachusetts. It’s a concept, all right – a company from Massachusetts lobbying in Idaho. This one is Liberty Mutual Insurance.
Maryland. The bigger operation with a listed base here, Areva Inc., is actually tied to a European organization interested in building a nuclear facility in eastern Idaho. But listed as Maryland.
Maine. Yes, Maine: GHS Data Management.
Michigan. A firm called Thomson Medstat.
Minnesota. Here we have Eli Lilly pharma again, along with 3M and others.
Missouri. Apart from Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis, there’s also Correctional Medical Services, Inc., which works in the area its name indicates. There’s some interesting material about this industry available online.
Montana. Exergy Development and Pfizer (pharma) are listed with bases to the north.
North Carolina. Reynolds American – that’s right, think tobacco (“the parent of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; Conwood Company, LLC.; Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, Inc.; and R.J. Reynolds Global Products, Inc.”).
Nebraska. Union Pacific Railroad is based at Omaha, though it does of course have a large local Idaho presence.
New Jersey. The College Savings Bank, the Community Education Centers and others.
Nevada. The Employers Compensation Insurance Company and – and this is a little odd – the Idaho Manufactured Housing Association.
New York. Yes, New York comes to Idaho to lobby, too. Here we have Deutsche Bank Trust Company, Adjusters International and – here’s where you know the chains of corporate ownership can become twisted – Southeast Idaho Energy.
Oregon. As a neighbor, this shouldn’t be surprising, especially since there are organizational overlaps. Les Schwab Tires and CenturyTel are among the organizations active.
Pennsylvania. Merck (again), Apangea Learning Inc. and the Coventry Group are represented.
Tennessee. Some major operations with real interests in Idaho are based in Tennessee: Hospital Corporation of America, Corrections Corporation of America, Prison Health Services, Forba Dental Management Corporation. All are lobbying in Boise.
Texas. Lone Star isn’t left out, with Burlington Northern Rail (which does have a significant Idaho presence), EDS (Ross Perot’s brain child) and Inland Public Properties Development active.
Utah. Some of these are listed as Utah but are actually divisions of other organizations. Still, the eight utah filing organizations include Advantag workers Comp., Black Bear Resort, Idaho Rental Car Association, Rocky Mountain Power and Staker & Parsons Companies.
Virginia. The Alliance for Marriage Foundation and the National Rifle Association are based in the Old Dominion and lobbies in Idaho. So does ACS State Healthcare, Alternate Energy Holdings, Direct TV, Harley Davidson, Lexis Nexis and Caterpillar Corporation.
Washington. Again, there’s some neighborly overlap here; Potlatch and Avista are based in Spokane but have large Idaho operations. Additionally, there’s TNT Firworks, Tesoro Refining, Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest and others.
