If you’ve ever wondered how much money gets spent on Beacon Hill’s legion of lobbyists during every two-year legislative session, it helps to think big.
How big?
Think “chasing the money-lenders from the Temple” big.
The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, Massachusetts Teachers Association, and the Massachusetts Municipal Association collectively dropped $1.55 million on lobbying in 2023, according to a newly released report by Legislata, a data analysis firm.
Other big spenders in the report included Mass General Brigham, which shelled out $366,000 last year, according to the analysis.
Utility provider National Grid spent $331,000, while the Sports Betting Alliance, which represents the massively lucrative online sports betting industry, spent $330,000, the analysis showed.
All told, more than 1,400 groups spent money to try to influence legislation on Beacon Hill in 2023 and the first half of 2024.
There also were more than 1,500 registered lobbyists in this session.
That boils down to nearly eight lobbyists for every state lawmaker, according to the report.
The analysis showed that lobbyists, in turn, donated to key lawmakers and leaders.
The big beneficiaries included Gov. Maura Healey, ($37,825) and such senior legislative leaders as state Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk ($42,050); House Ways & Means Committee Chairperson Aaron Michlewitz, D-3rd Suffolk (37,850), and Senate Ways & Means Committee Chairperson Michael Rodriques, D-1st Bristol/Plymouth (($29,750).
And if you think that feeds into public cynicism about who has access to the levers of power — and who doesn’t — you’re right.
“Historically, Americans always have believed that insiders do their business against the public good,” UMass Amherst political science professor Ray La Raja told MassLive. “You can say the same thing about the State House.”
But it still might not be enough to make a difference.
A little more than half (51%) of Bay State voters said they approved of the Legislature’s job performance, compared to nearly a third (33%) who said they disapproved, according to a May UMass poll.
Those solid numbers reflect the reality that most voters care way more about making sure the proverbial sausage gets made − rather than how it’s made, one veteran observer said.
“Whenever voters are brought into a process issue, their eyes glaze over and they don’t care enough to make it part of the calculus in voting for their state representative,” Jerold Duquette, a political science professor at Central Connecticut State University, who specializes in Bay State politics, said.
If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that money still can’t buy you happiness — or a bill that lands on Healey’s desk.
Even with all that spending, key bills impacting both the biotech industry and municipalities didn’t make it over the finish line when lawmakers wrapped formal sessions in July.
That outcome was first reported by Politico’s Massachusetts Playbook.
That’s a reminder that, for all the clout lobbyists wield, the Massachusetts Legislature remains one of the most top-down legislative bodies in the nation, Duquette observed.
“Because they are professional politicians, there is a small seat at the table for the interests of the average person,” he said.
Judging by a reelection rate that hovers around 65%, and a nearly challenger-proof political culture, most voters are on board with that too.
“The way to keep power is to keep the average person happy enough that they won’t complain,” Duquette said. “And the average person ends up being okay with it.”
