Memphis City Council votes against reforms to bring lobbying into the light

The Memphis City Council gets lobbied all the time. On Tuesday, it decided the public doesn't need to know who is lobbying the city's legislative body or what organizations are paying to fund those efforts.

After months of delay, the City Council voted against adopting an ordinance that would require those lobbying the council to register with the city and name their clients. Those forms would have gone on the city's website, like the councilmembers' financial disclosures already do. The vote was 6-6 with one abstention, leading it to fail. 

The vote went down as such: 

For: J. Ford Canale, Chase Carlisle, Frank Colvett, Edmund Ford, Sr., Worth Morgan and Jeff Warren. 

Against: Michalyn Easter-Thomas, Cheyenne Johnson, Rhonda Logan, Jamita Swearengen, Martavius Jones and Patrice Robinson. J.B. Smiley, Jr. abstained. 

In a committee hearing Tuesday, the Council debated the measure briefly. Only one of the six members who voted against the measure expressed why he was opposed to it. Councilman Martavius Jones called the ordinance "unnecessary" and said members understood who they were speaking to when discussing issues. 

Jones said the measure would not make Council more transparent and there is nothing stopping councilmembers from saying 'no' to meetings with lobbyists. 

"I disagree with the supposition that somehow this money is influencing us. It's not," Jones said before the vote. "I'm unbossed and unbought..."

Those who supported the ordinance said it represented good government. 

"This is an ordinance about shining a light on money in politics. ... Transparency is healthy for democracy, but it is not always comfortable," councilman Worth Morgan said. "This is a vote that should be remembered by the media and the public." 

The ordinance, sponsored by councilman Chase Carlisle, would have required a $50 fee for lobbyists once a year and would've been similar to requirements for lobbyists who work in Nashville with both the Tennessee General Assembly and the Metro Nashville Council. It returned to Council for a vote after being held and tweaked since May. However, the delay didn't seem to give the measure the support it needed to pass. 

During normal, pre-pandemic, times, lobbying is obvious to the naked eye at Memphis City Council meetings. The council meets on Tuesdays, starting in the morning with committee meetings that continue throughout the day.

Councilmembers frequently leave those hearings and take meetings behind closed doors with various interest groups, some of whom are employing local lobbyists. Those lobbyists often wait in the hallway outside the committee room, waiting to pull a council member or city official into a conversation. 

Lobbying stood out during two votes on Memphis, Light, Gas and Water rate hikes in late 2019 and early 2020. Multiple interest groups met with councilmembers ahead of those votes, advocating against the rate hikes because they felt it would make MLGW less likely to leave the Tennessee Valley Authority and buy electricity elsewhere. 

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That decision, a multi-billion dollar choice, has attracted multiple lobbyists on all sides. In October, heavy lobbying against a contract that would've bid out Memphis' power supply derailed the vote and left the future of that decision in limbo. 

Carlisle, the measure's sponsor, noted the MLGW TVA decision as an example of when lobbying has played a role in public business. He said that lobbying around that issue and others caused him to introduce the ordinance in the first place. 

"Whether it has influenced the decision-making matrix for an individual or an outright vote, I believe that lobbying, either through information, or outright influencing has influenced decisions on this body," Carlisle said. "You see it. People are being given information on both sides. I want to be fair here. It's happening on both sides....It is a significant amount of information and a significant amount of contact.

Carlisle expressed disappointment at the vote, noting the possibility that those with influence could be paid by an interest group, not disclose it and successfully lobby a member of council who is unaware of the connection. 

"While it may not happen often in that regard. The fact that it is possible is still not good politics. It's not good government," he said. 

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.