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By Jim Tharpe


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

4:24 p.m. Friday, February 19, 2010

Whoever said there is no such thing as a free lunch never stepped inside the Georgia Capitol when the state Legislature comes to town.

Not only lunch, but breakfast, brunch, dinner and an endless array of artery-clogging snackage are heaped on lawmakers’ plates every day -- and night -- during the annual 40-day session.

The gold-domed statehouse becomes an endless, free buffet line of belt-popping proportions. Everyone from convenience store operators to major corporations to psychologists to greenhouse operators to leather-jacketed bikers gets in on the act, doling out tons of grub for the chance to get a little face time with lawmakers.

“I gained 10 pounds the first year I came up here,” state Rep. Jay Roberts (R-Ocilla) said last week as he returned from a luncheon hosted by American Bikers Active Toward Education (ABATE). “You eventually have to cut back, or you’ll end up weighing 400 pounds.”

Said state Rep. Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna): “You have to be careful or you’ll put on the Freshman 15.”

Food has long been a way of doing business at the Capitol. It is as much a part of its peculiar culture as the morning prayer and the pledge of allegiance in the legislative chambers or the busloads of raucous schoolkids on their annual pilgrimage to see how state law is made.

Government watchdogs grimace at the seasonal gluttony, but they generally agree the Capitol food tsunami pales next to bigger ethical issues such as lobbyist-funded trips for lawmakers.

“It’s a cultural thing,” said Bill Bozarth, director of Common Cause Georgia. “Any one thing is small and pretty harmless. But overall it creates an atmosphere that excludes the average person. It is part of the culture that we should be willing to look at and improve.”

Others view things differently.

“The only scandal is what all this junk is doing to people’s arteries over here,” lobbyist Brad Alexander said.

Shrimp, barbecue pork (sometimes whole hogs), quail and even fried alligator are dished up at the cavernous Freight Depot a block or so from the Capitol at dozens of banquets, beginning with the Wild Hog Supper the night before lawmakers convene.

Depot events usually are funded by large organizations or even cities and counties. The annual “Savannah Chatham Seafood Feast” costs thousands of dollars and has become so popular that guards are posted at the door to check tickets.

The Depot events are bolstered by dozens of more modest meals -- sometimes three or four a day -- in the Capitol itself, which so far this year have featured everything from Varsity hot dogs (courtesy of a psychology association) to sandwiches handed out by waitresses dressed in orange jumpsuits from Atlanta-based Hooters at a Leadership Cobb luncheon to veggie wraps provided by Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as part of Aviation Day.

The state’s peanut growers make sure every lawmaker’s office has a steady supply of foiled-wrapped goobers. Delta Air Lines supplies them with cases of those overly sweet Biscoff cookies like those served on flights. Coca-Cola, meanwhile, hauls in cases of soft drinks and bottled water. Perishable items produced in the state do not even have to be reported on lobbyist disclosure forms under state ethics provisions.

Roberts, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, didn’t eat anything at the ABATE luncheon. He shook hands with a few Harley-riding bikers, explaining that he had already attended two luncheons before making his way to the Depot.

The bikers weren’t the only ones hosting lawmakers that day at the Depot -- some Capitol veterans call the circa 1869 facility “the trough” because of its frequent feasts. The Georgia Appraisers Coalition was holding another luncheon at the smaller Blue Room inside the Depot. And a few hours earlier, the Georgia Transit Association held a Depot breakfast for up to 300 people -- lawmakers, lobbyists and the consultants.

The day before the bikers and appraisers and transportation folks took over the Depot, the Georgia Farm Bureau hosted a lunch for 800 people who dined on baked chicken, country-fried steak and mashed potatoes. Dozens of lawmakers attended, mingling with Farm Bureau representatives and farmers from their districts.

Jim Tudor, a lobbyist for the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores, doesn’t wait for special events. He doles out breakfast every morning to lawmakers in an anteroom next to the House chamber; he’s been providing the free food for 24 years. Tudor serves up coffee, orange juice, cereal and pastries to legislators. He also places a paper plate of doughnuts (each cut in half) in the House press gallery.

“We find the press is equally hungry,” Tudor said.

A lobbyist disclosure form shows Tudor spent $712 on the daily House breakfast buffets in January, the first month of the session. His organization also spent $1,946 on a legislative reception it split with two other organizations.

“We don’t have a big budget,” said Tudor, who represents 2,100 stores in Georgia. “The items we provide are typically convenience store items. It’s a way to help people understand our industry and what we do.”