Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios : News and Events : News : The Concord Monitor features Preti Flaherty's Senior Government Relations Advisor, William Bartlett, in "Top lobbyist is Speaker's Realtor."

The Concord Monitor features Preti Flaherty's Senior Government Relations Advisor, William Bartlett, in "Top lobbyist is Speaker's Realtor."

News and Events : In The News

March 4, 2005

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Top Lobbyist is Speaker's Realtor
By: Daniel Barrick

Published March 4, 2005, Concord Monitor

House Speaker Doug Scamman is relying on an old friend to handle the sale of some private land in his hometown of Stratham. That friend, former Senate president Bill Bartlett, also happens to be one of the most connected lobbyists in Concord, with heavyweight clients like the New Hampshire Medical Society, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Coalition Communities, a group of wealthy towns that wants to end the statewide property tax.

Bartlett, a licensed Realtor, is the broker for a 10-acre parcel Scamman is seeking to sell, a fraction of the 250-acre farm that Scamman owns and calls home. The parcel is zoned for commercial development and carries an asking price of $3 million.

As a lobbyist, Bartlett's clients will figure in three prominent legislative battles this year: education funding, malpractice reform and insurance reform.

Such overlapping of personal and public business is not illegal in New Hampshire. It doesn't appear to violate the Legislature's ethics code, which prohibits lawmakers from seeking financial gain from people, like Bartlett, with interests before the State House. And Bartlett's role as broker has been fully disclosed: a "for sale" sign on the edge of Scamman's property carries Bartlett's name and phone number.

But the intertwining of private and public comes just a few months after the last House speaker, Gene Chandler, decided not to run for another term because of investigations into improper campaign donations from lobbyists and businesses.

Scamman said his and Bartlett's business relationship should not cause any concern.

"I don't see any problem with that," Scamman said. "If, in fact, we ever get a sale, he'll be paid, not me. I don't see how anyone could construe that as a problem at all. We all have to do business."

He said it was a standard real estate deal and that Bartlett has acted as his broker for 2½ years, well before he was re-elected to the House last November after a 14-year absence.

Bartlett said his work as Scamman's broker was unrelated to his work as a lobbyist. "If someone could find something where the speaker benefited from this, I would be happy to discuss it with them," Bartlett said. "But there's no hidden agenda here, this is full disclosure, and there's nothing unethical about it."

Relationships like Scamman's and Bartlett's are hardly unusual in New Hampshire politics, where many former lawmakers find work as paid lobbyists soon after they leave public service. Gov. John Lynch, for instance, relied on the volunteer services of members of one of the capital's biggest lobbying and law firms in putting together his budget and school funding plan last month.

Some State House observers said New Hampshire's relatively small size make such arrangements almost inevitable, though a few remarked that Scamman's and Bartlett's high profiles made their situation more notable than most.

Rep. Shawn Jasper, former chairman of the Legislative Ethics Committee, said Bartlett's and Scamman's business relationship shouldn't raise any eyebrows as long as the transaction is handled properly.

"Were it me, I probably would have gone with somebody who was not a lobbyist, but I don't think it rises to a level of concern," Jasper said. "But that is always the problem when you mix politics with business: People are going to be concerned and maybe question what you do there on out."