Smith, J sen

http://www.prwatch.org/print/12160

Keystone Academy: Where Legislators Learn the Etiquette of Serving Special Interests

by Nick Surgey [1] — July 1, 2013 - 9:18am

Topics: Front Groups [2], Energy [3], Environment [4]

Projects: ALEC Exposed [5]

In October 2012, nine U.S. state legislators went on an industry paid trip to explore the Alberta tar sands. Publicly described as an "ALEC Academy," documents obtained by CMD show the legislators were accompanied on a chartered flight by a gaggle of oil-industry lobbyists, were served lunch by Shell Oil, dinner by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, and that the expenses of the trip were paid for by TransCanada and other corporations and groups with a direct financial interest in the Alberta tar sands and the proposed Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline.

2012 Among the nine legislators on the tour was the new ALEC national chairman, Representative John Piscopo from Connecticut, and Senator Jim Smith from Nebraska who has sponsored legislation in his state to speed up the building of the Nebraska segment of KXL. Email records obtained by CMD show that after the trip, legislators were asked by ALEC to send "thank you notes" to the lobbyists for their generosity in Alberta.

Far better than a mere "thank you," Rep. John Adams from Ohio returned from the trip and sponsored a bill given to him by a TransCanada lobbyist calling for the approval of KXL. As previously reported by CMD [7], similar legislation, reflecting both an ALEC "model" bill and language taken from a TransCanada set of talking points, has been introduced in seven states in 2013.

The tar sands of Alberta are estimated to be the third largest reserve of crude oil on the planet. But the process of turning the tar-like bitumen into a refined product that can be used as fuel is extremely energy intensive and highly polluting. The former NASA scientist James Hansen, warned that the extraction and use of Canadian tar sands would mean "game over" for the climate. TransCanada is the operator of the proposed KXL pipeline, which would carry the tar sands to Texas for processing and likely for exports to markets abroad.

In Private Jets and "Petroleum Club" Dinners, U.S Politicians Get the Dirt on Canadian Tar Sands

Officially, ALEC organized the Alberta tour as an "ALEC Academy." In ALEC's description of corporate sponsorship opportunities [8], this type of event is described as being "an intensive, two--day program for legislators that focus on a specific area of policy." It comes with an $80,000 fee to sponsor [8]. Unofficially however, and made clear to legislators on the trip in emails from ALEC obtained by CMD, the expenses were paid for by lobbyists from the oil-industry and by the government of Alberta. In an email sent to Ohio representative John Adams ahead of the trip, ALEC staffer Karla Jones reassured participants that all transportation, accommodation costs and meals would be paid for.

According to a copy of the trip itinerary [9] obtained via a public records request, legislators flew into Alberta on Tuesday October 16, 2012, and were met by TransCanada lobbyists who took them on a tour of their facilities in Calgary.

TransCanada, which is a member of ALEC, sponsored ALEC's Spring Task Force Summit in Oklahoma City in May 2013, alongside other corporations with tar sands interests including BP, Devon Energy and Koch Industries. TransCanada's Vice President Corey Goulet presented to legislators at the conference during a session called "Embracing American Energy Opportunities. [10]"

Dinner on the first night was at the up-market Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in downtown Calgary, paid for by American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). The dinner included a presentation to the captive audience of lawmakers from AFPM about Low-Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS), a mechanism designed to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. As CMD has reported recently [11], LCFS is considered a real threat to the tar sands industry, because it might restrict the U.S. market for fuels derived from the tar sands. AFPM, which has funded one of the other groups on the tour -- the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) -- to work to oppose LCFS legislation, would successfully sponsor an ALEC "model" bill on this issue just weeks after the trip, called "Restrictions on Participation in Low-Carbon Fuel Standards Programs [12]."

On Wednesday morning, after breakfast at the hotel, legislators were taken to the airport where a private charted plane was waiting to fly them around a number of different tar sands operations. Accompanying the legislators and ALEC staffer Karla Jones, were lobbyists from AFPM, TransCanada, Devon Energy, CEA, Shell Oil, and the Government of Alberta. The flight was chartered by the Alberta Government, at a cost of $22,000, with the costs split evenly between them and another unknown entity.

During the day, legislators toured facilities owned by Shell -- which also provided lunch -- and Devon Energy, where they viewed the massive "Jackfish" tar sands projects. At these facilities, Devon utilizes Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), an energy intensive process that injects steam into the dirty bitumen to access otherwise inaccessible deposits too deep for mining. This process is expected to open up further areas of Alberta for tar sands extraction, including by Koch Industries subsidiary Koch Exploration Canada [13] which has a pending permit request [14]in Alberta to utilize SAGD.

Dinner on Wednesday night was served at the Petroleum Club, sponsored by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. On the Thursday morning, just before their return flight, legislators did have a brief meeting with a representative from the Pembina Institute, an Alberta environmental group that calls for responsible exploitation of the tar sands. According to the ALEC trip itinerary [9], this was to "provide the opposing point of view."

Although Pembina does represent a different view from those that want completely unrestrained extraction of the tar sands, the group is not representative of those that oppose tar sands extraction. There are plenty of organizations that could have provided alternative viewpoints, particularly First Nation tribal leaders who are campaigning vigorously on this issue, but perhaps unsurprisingly they were not included. Even Pembina's -- somewhat limited -- opposing voice was not wanted during the tour of the oil sands facilities, and they were not invited to the lobbyist-sponsored dinners.

ALEC as Emily Post

A month after the trip, the Director of International and Federal Relations at ALEC, Karla Jones, sent participants an email helpfully reminding them of what each industry lobbyist had paid for on the tour. CMD obtained a copy of that communication via a public records request, which included a spreadsheet containing the names, telephone numbers and mailing addresses of each of the lobbyists on the trip. The ALEC email [15] also prompted legislators to send each of the sponsoring corporations a "thank you note."

The phenomenon of ALEC legislators sending such letters to lobbyists is something CMD haspreviously reported on [16]. Ohio Rep. Adams, for example, sent at least a dozen letters to corporate lobbyists in 2010, thanking them for writing checks to the ALEC scholarship fund, which paid his and his colleagues way to an ALEC conference.

"Because of your help and others like you, the trip to ALEC was made possible for our legislators," Adams wrote to AT&T lobbyist Bob Blazer.

"Rather than sending thank you notes to their corporate lobbyist sponsors, these legislators should instead consider an apology to their constituents," Stephen Spaulding, Staff Counsel for the good government group Common Cause told CMD. "I doubt lobbyists want thank you notes in return for bankrolling legislators' international vacations -- they would rather a bright, shiny souvenir in the form of corporate-drafted legislation."

Better Than a Thank You Note, Payback in Ohio

After the trip to Alberta, Rep. Adams, the Assistant Majority Floor Leader and Ohio ALEC state chair, led the calls in Ohio for the approval of the KXL pipeline, sponsoring a bill (HCR 9) [17] and talking publicly [18] about the proposed pipeline. "It is of the upmost importance that we strongly urge the U.S. government to take the necessary steps towards operation of the Keystone Pipeline," Adams wrote in March 2013 while promoting his bill. Rep. Rosenberger, the other Ohio legislator on the ALEC trip to Alberta, accordingly co-sponsored the Adams bill.

According to documents CMD obtained from public record requests in Ohio, a draft bill was sent to Adams on January 23, from Steve Dimon of 21 Consulting LLC, who represents TransCanada. The bill was sent as an attachment to the Dimon email.

The email message itself simply read, "Thank you so much! [19]"

Dimon stayed in touch with Adams' office over the proceeding months, providing his staff with further materials [20] about Keystone XL, including a set of talking points stamped with the TransCanada logo.

By February 14, Adams had an updated draft that had been reviewed by the Ohio legislative service commission, the non-partisan body that assists legislators with drafting legislation. Adams staffer Ryan Crawford sent this language to Rob Eshenbaugh [21], a lobbyist with Ohio Petroleum Council, the state affiliate of the American Petroleum Institute. "Please let me know if I can be of further assistance," Crawford wrote to the lobbyist. Eshenbaugh responded with some requested changes [22], which Crawford then incorporated into the bill.

All this occurred prior to Adams sharing the bill with his fellow legislators, which didn't happen until February 20. Adams finally introduced his bill in the Ohio Assembly on March 9 [17], without any public statement about his involvement with the ALEC Academy or that the source of the bill was a tar sands lobbyist.

The route of the proposed KXL pipeline takes it through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. This is a long way from Ohio, but the debate over the KXL project has become a national issue. The ALEC Academy, and subsequent lobbying from the oil-industry, demonstrates that TransCanada sees value in developing a list of states supportive of the project to influence the federal debate over KXL approval.

The precise details of the ALEC tour, including the trip being part-sponsored by TransCanada, are not mentioned in Adams' financial disclosures, which only reports his expenses as being from ALEC and the Alberta Government. Adams is not breaking the law here. This is because of the way ALEC works to fund legislator travel. Its scholarship system allows corporations to "sponsor" legislator's expenses, which are then simply disclosed as being a payment from "ALEC" and not from the sponsoring corporations or groups. CMD documented the ALEC scholarship fund in a 2012 report released jointly with Common Cause: "How the American Legislative Exchange Council Uses Corporate-Funded "Scholarships" to Send Lawmakers on Trips with Corporate Lobbyists [23]."

Graduates of the Keystone Academy appear to be learning a lot about how ALEC works behind the scenes to promote special interest legislation while keeping the public entirely in the dark.

Jim Smith (born Feb. 9, 1959 in Pensacola, Florida) is a Nebraska state senator from Papillion, Nebraska, United States, in the Nebraska Legislature. Smith is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, serving as Nebraska state leader.^[1]

Early life

Jim Smith graduated from University of West Florida in 1984 with B.A. in accounting and from Creighton University in 1996 with an MBA. He is a manager in the Omaha Public Power District and owner of “Norm’s Door Serive”. He is currently a member of several Chamber of Commerces, including the Greater Omaha, Ralston-Area, and Sarpy County.

State legislature

Smith was elected in 2010 to represent the 14th Nebraska legislative district. He currently sits on Business and Labor, Natural Resources, and the Urban Affairs committees. Smith is also the state chairman for ALEC, or the American Legislative Exchange Council, and defended it in 2012 when 4 of his colleagues left it noting that it had become “extreme in its politics”.^[2]

References

^ http://www.alec.org/about-alec/state-chairmen/
^ http://www.omaha.com/article/20120430/NEWS01/704309939

"Nebraska Unicameral Legislature". Sen. Jim Smith. Retrieved May 16, 2012.

CMD Calls for Nebraska Ethics Investigation Over ALEC Keystone “Academy” Junket

by Nick Surgey [1] — July 3, 2013 - 8:44am

Topics: Front Groups [2], Energy [3], Environment [4]

Projects: ALEC Exposed [5]

[ Share this](http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prwatch.org%2Fnews%2F2013%2F07%2F12164%2Fcmd-calls-nebraska-ethics-investigation-over-alec-keystone-%25E2%2580%259Cacademy%25E2%2580%259D-junket&linkname=CMD%20Calls%20for%20Nebraska%20Ethics%20Investigation%20Over%20ALEC%20Keystone%20%E2%80%9CAcademy%E2%80%9D%20Junket) [6]

Nebrasks State Senator Jim Smith

-- by Nick Surgey andBrendan Fischer

The Center for Media and Democracy filed a complaint [7]yesterday with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission alleging that Nebraska Senator Jim Smith, a major proponent of the Keystone XL pipeline, failed to disclose significant travel expenses paid for by the Government of Alberta, Canada during Smith's participation in an "Oil Sands Academy" organized by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The trip was sponsored by the operator of the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada, which may raise additional concerns under the ethics and lobbying code.

Smith and nine other ALEC legislators participated in the “academy” sponsored by TransCanada in Alberta, Canada last October, where they were shepherded around oil extraction facilities and rubbed shoulders with oil industry lobbyists. The Government of Alberta even chartered a flight during the tour to fly the participants to tar sand operations, which reportedly cost around $1,500 per legislator.

But a review of Smith’s 2012 statement of financial interests [8] shows no record of the ALEC tour.

Smith Disclosed Nothing About the ALEC "Academy" in Ethics Filings

Under Nebraska law, Sen. Smith should have disclosed any gifts he received in 2012, including any gifts of travel, but he failed to report the Alberta government funded charter plane flights, or anything else he may have received on the trip. There is little evidence that Sen. Smith told his constituents anything at all about his participation in the "Oil Sands Academy."

But Sen. Smith has been exceptionally vocal when it comes to his support for the Keystone XL pipeline. Smith sponsored a 2012 Nebraska law that would – if it survives a continuing legal challenge – bypass the U.S. State Department and allow TransCanada to start building the Nebraska part of the pipeline right away, regardless of any future decision by the State Department. Smith is also the ALEC State Chair for Nebraska.

Documents obtained by CMD show that the total cost for chartering the flights to the tar sands came to $22,000 – or $1,466 per person – with part of this cost being paid for by the Alberta government, and the rest by another unnamed party. CMD alleges in its complaint that Sen. Smith should have disclosed the receipt of these gifts.

According to the Financial Times, [9] the Government of Alberta has recently hired a "who's who of lobbyists and communications professionals with links to the Obama administration – and to John Kerry in particular" to promote Keystone XL, and recently took out a half page ad in the New York Times calling for its approval. In addition to paying tens of thousands of dollars to shepherd Sen. Smith and other state legislators around the Canadian tar sands, the government of Alberta sent two of its own representatives on the ALEC tour.

"Nebraskans have a right to know if their legislators are being lobbied by foreign countries and foreign corporations," Jack Gould of Common Cause Nebraska told CMD. "When an issue as important as the XL pipeline is being studied, all lobbying activity should be visible."

Pipeline Operator TransCanada Sponsored ALEC "Academy"

As CMD reported [10], the ALEC "Oil Sands Academy" was a three-day endeavor that included tours of TransCanada’s facilities in Calgary, corporate-sponsored meals, and presentations from lobbyists. When ALEC invited legislators on the trip, it offered to pay for their lodging at the Westin Calgary, which reportedly cost $648.92 for two nights, and their airfare from the United States to Canada, which can cost hundreds of dollars more.

Documents obtained by CMD show Sen. Smith staying in the "ALEC room block,” but Sen. Smith told CMD that he funded his own lodging expenses and air travel to Canada.

The "sponsors" of the ALEC Academy included TransCanada and the oil-industry funded American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), which has lobbied for the pipeline’s approval by the U.S. State Department. ALEC Academy sponsorship costs $80,000; these sponsorship fees would presumably help fund legislators’ travel and lodging expenses.

It is not known whether Sen. Smith indirectly received any benefits as a result of TransCanada’s financial sponsorship of the trip. As a corporation that lobbies in Nebraska – in fact, as the corporation that has spent the most on lobbying in Nebraska over the past two years – it is prohibited from providing gifts to legislators that exceed $50 in any one month. CMD has asked the ethics board to investigate whether Sen. Smith accepted any impermissible gifts on the trip.

Senator Smith Gets by with a Little Help from TransCanada

Although it is not clear if Sen. Smith accepted anything from TransCanada on the ALEC oil sands tour, he has needed their help in the past. In February 2012, during hearings on Sen. Smith’s pro-Keystone XL bill, LB 1161, a TransCanada lobbyist came along to provide more than moral support.

"Sen. Smith could not answer fellow state senators’ questions about LB 1161," Bold Nebraska’s Executive Director Jane Kleeb told CMD, who suspects that TransCanada wrote the bill and Smith was merely doing their bidding. "Everyone in the hearing room knew exactly why Sen. Smith kept on referring the majority of questions he could not answer to TransCanada's lawyers."