$458,000.
That’s what businesses and professional and trade organizations spent on nearly 70 receptions for lawmakers during the recently adjourned session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The good news is that spending is public record, so it cannot be kept out of the public eye.
The bad news is, that’s nearly half a million dollars spent with the hard-to-miss goal of influencing legislation.
No, the fact that a lawmaker attends a lavish reception put on by, say, AT&T is not proof of some kind of quid pro quo: An array of heavy hors d’oeuvres in exchange for the “right” vote on a telecommunications bill seems farfetched.