DeLeo: Yeah! Right!

DeLeo: Lobbyist Donations Have No Effect on Votes

Mass. House Speaker Robert DeLeo Credit: Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe

• May 12, 2014 6:24 PM

BOSTON (AP) — House Speaker Robert DeLeo says his decision to accept tens of thousands of dollars in donations from registered lobbyists in 2013 had no effect on his votes.

 

DeLeo reacted Monday to an Associated Press review of lobbying reports filed with the state. It found that DeLeo was among the top beneficiaries of lobbyist donations on Beacon Hill.

 

DeLeo took in more than $47,000 from hundreds of lobbyists in 2013. That’s about 10 percent of all the donations the Winthrop Democrat received last year, which was not an election year for state lawmakers.

 

DeLeo said that in his 22 years at the Statehouse, no amount of money from lobbyists or anyone else has swayed any of his votes or positions.

 

DeLeo said the lobbyists are sometimes on opposite sides of an issue.

 

 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/05/12/deleo-lobbyist-donations-have-effect-votes/3Qu2wxeHweocym92BZkfJI/story.html