Lobbying

I understand people’s concern about the influence that well-paid and high profile lobbyists have. We need to maintain an open government of the people and by the people that reflects our values. To accomplish this, the Secretary of State’s office plays a vital role in tracking and maintaining records on who is lobbying on behalf of companies and other well-funded interests.

I am committed to the fight for auditing lobbyist reports and enforcement of our disclosure rules. These efforts are the cornerstone to tracking who is communicating with our legislators and spending money to influence the outcome of legislation. In our country where the Supreme Court has declared that money is a form of speech, disclosing who is spending money is the only way to build accountability.

My belief is that we can do more to make it easy for everyday Rhode Islanders to engage in the legislative process by engaging directly with their elected representatives. For non-professional lobbyists, such as staff at non-profit agencies or volunteers from local community groups, we can ease the registration and reporting requirements to encourage greater participation.