How the Speaker gives Chris Jankowski VIP Treatment

Today there was a prime example of how those lobbyists and members who are part of Speaker Bill Howell’s tight inner circle receive VIP treatment. In this case it was Chris Jankowski, the single largest source of campaign dollars for the House political operation and one of the lobbyists closest to Howell.  You may remember him from our story earlier this week.

This one has a lot of moving parts, so pay attention.

Ellis Denning Construction and Development is a firm in Rockville, MD. While most of the firm’s work is in DC, they have some projects in Virginia. Currently they have a large project under construction in Loudoun. Additionally they have two other projects in pre-development: a 150,000 square foot development in Montross and a 751 unit residential development near Colonial Beach. 

Both of those pre-development projects are in the district of newly-minted Senator Richard Stuart. During the campaign, Stuart received a $2,500 donation from Ellis Demming. This is the only political donation that the firm has ever made based on VPAP.

When Stuart ran, it became common knowledge that the person calling the shots in the campaign was Chris Jankowski. Chris was on the ground a lot. Sometimes almost daily. Worked very hard for Stuart by all accounts.

If you have worked a tough competitive race, you know that there is often a strong bond that develops between the staff and their candidate. Word has it that such a bond was formed here. Keep all this in mind.

Fast forward to this year’s General Assembly session.

The Homebuilders Association of Virginia made it a top priority to end the cash proffer system and moving to impact fees. The bill, SB786, was sponsored by Senator John Watkins.

One company, Ellis Denning (remember them above?), took special interest in the legislation. Ellis Denning hired a lobbyist.  Hmm... who could they hire... who can get the job done...

They hired Chris Jankowski. In his mandatory filing of his being retained by the firm as a lobbyist, Jankowski wrote that he was hired to handle “All matters pertaining to but not limited to SB786.”  What?  That's bizarre.  It is very unusual for a lobbyist to say he is specifically handling issues pertaining to a specific drafted bill. In Jankowski’s case, it will allow you to look inside how the Howell insider machine operates.

Now let’s walk through what happens next.

The bill is initially sent to Senate Local Government Committee, of which Richard Stuart is a member.  Remember what was said above- Ellis Denning has only contributed to one candidate (Stuart) and they have major projects planned in his district.  The bill is amended in committee and passes out 10-3 with Stuart voting YES.

From Local Government it made a stop in Senate Finance where it is passed out 12-2 and was sent to the Senate floor for a vote.

On the floor, the whole Senate rejected the amendments made to the bill in the Local Government committee. Instead, Senator Watkins offers an amendment in the form of a substitute which the Senate votes to approve. After an additional amendment from Senator Whipple is passed, the final bill passes out of the Senate on a 21-19 vote. But this time, Stuart votes NO. Clearly something in the amendments that were approved on the floor, changed the bill for him.

Without parsing it line-by-line, given the developments in his district and the donation from Ellis Denning, it certainly would be a reasonable assumption that the amended bill was no longer a good bill for the company (and, possibly for the district itself). And it may be that Stuart thought it was the right thing to do and his perspective happened to align with Ellis Denning.

Assuming the bill is now unfavorable to Ellis Denning, Jankowski has to do something on the House side. And the easiest thing to do is go to the boss and get some help.

In the House, the speaker determines which committee will review a given bill. However, this year, the Speaker has chosen to send some bills to Rules Committee he chairs rather than sending it to the committee that would typically review it. The Speaker has used this tactic to send bills straight to floor in an effort to cause Democrats to cast a bad vote politically. This is what happened earlier in the year with Adam Ebbin’s bill which Democrats refused to vote on. Senator McEachin’s pro-labor bill is being handled the same way.

While most observers would have expected the Speaker to refer the bill to the House Counties, Cities and Towns Committee, instead, he sent it to the Rules Committee. And on a voice vote, it was continued until next year. Possibly this was done to work out the kinks, but the bottom line is that the version Jankowski opposed will not be law any time soon. And that was likely to be the real goal.

Some may say that the Speaker continued the bill because he does not get along well with Mike Toalson, the Homebuilder’s main lobbyist. But many aides and members think there is something else at work here. Most of the members and aides who knew about the bill had no idea that Jankowski had any interest in it. That created some confusion and curiosity in the General Assembly Building as to why the Speaker was sending the bill to Rules, rather than Counties, Cities and Towns.

But when word began to circulate that Jankowski was hired to lobby the issue, things began to make sense. Instead of working with the other staffers, lobbyists and members to get a deal, many now believe that Jankowski ignored the usual process and just asked the Speaker to send it to Rules and continue it for a year.  That way there are no fingerprints left.

When you give the Speaker the kind of cash Chris Jankowski does, it seems like the rules change. Unsure if  a piece of legislation will go the way you want through the normal process? No problem! Speaker Bill will hook you up and fix the mess.

But only if you come with a lot of campaign cash and some free plane rides.

Comments

Wow.

If this is accurate, this is pretty bad. With all the other stuff that happened, it would begin to seem like Howell is now a bigger liability than Wilkins was.

Maybe the NEXT GOP Speaker will actually not do anything sleazy. Two bad ones in a row though. Not good.

Nothing new here. Jankowski seems to be a very smart and savy operator. Good for him.

Howell is finally has smart people working with him who actually know how to operate. They are really sticking it to the dems who want to play both sides of the fence and are now crying about it.

May I remind the Dems like Ebbin and McEachin of one phrase that comes to mind....TO the winner goes the spoils. Howell can do what he wants and they cannot do anything to stop him. He is the all powerfull Speaker of the House. I say keep sticking it to the dems. Good Job Mr. Speaker!!!!

[not virgil goode]

Ben, I will have to say this stuff is awesome....excellent muckraking!!!!!!!!

[Church Hill Dem]

In other breaking news -- the Supreme Court has struck down the regional taxation authorities under HB 3202.... Bob Marshall won his lawsuit!

[Gnarly]

I think you are making Jankowski out to be much more of the "big bad" player than he really is. He is simply a political worker/consultant with a little lobbying work on the side who is a trusted political ally of the Speaker. It just made sense for him to be the person in charge of one of the many entities that are used by legislative leaders of both parties to collect money and distribute it for political purposes. He's the guy who is there to keep the books and make sure the reporting paperwork gets done for this particular committee.

Also, in the legislative process for this bill, what you just described is "Standard Operating Procedure" for the General Assembly since Philpott was Speaker...and probably before (not sure I wasn't around there before then). Only one huge difference is Philpott used to yell out loud who was to vote to kill or pass something right in Rules Committee or even from the podium in the House Chamber. Another significat difference between now and back then is that everything is disclosed with these entities, so any citizen (including bloggers) can follow the bouncing balls and draw their own conclusions and act accordingly.

why do you have it out for Jankowski so bad Ben? He's harmless. I agree with Gnarly, he's just doing some lobbying work. Leave him alone and go back to your day job. Stop playing Sherlock - it's not working for you.

Gnarly:

You would be wrong. The Speaker's political operation has a consultant/service that does all the paperwork and keeps the books called Forest Consulting Services. It is owned by one of the most knowledgeable people in Virginia on campaign finance law and compliance.

Last year, the House Republican Campaign Committee paid Forest $6,175 and the Dominion Leadership Trust paid $4,325. So there would be no reason for Chris to "keep the books and make sure that the reporting paperwork gets done." But nice try.

No other "entity" used by a legislative leader or a caucus is managed by a lobbyist if, for no other reason, than to avoid the appearance that a lobbyist has any special access or privileges. And, since most lobbyists have to play both sides of the aisle, those are not the people you want to have control of a political operation.

And as for being a political worker with a small side lobbying practice well, that is the funniest thing ever. If you really believe that, go look at the lobbyist disclosure forms to see the big firms that use him and the big fees they pay. And on the flip side, go look at vpap to see how little he generates on the political side:

Rhumb Line, LLC: $350
J. Christopher Jankowski, LLC: $302
Capitol Square Communications: $4,750

Not exactly his major source of income or enough to have come to the attention of the Speaker if he didn't have that wad of cash to hand out.

[Gnarly]

Anon 11:44...you say...
"Not exactly his major source of income or enough to have come to the attention of the Speaker if he didn't have that wad of cash to hand out".

So you are saying Ben was mistaken about Jankowski's political activities? Ben just said he was in the Stuart race heavy and my guess is it was because he's a POLITICAL ally of the Speaker. The wad of cash is not what he raises because of lobbying...it's what the Speaker raises. I'm not denying that Jankowski gets lobbying work because of his relationship with the Speaker. Of course he does..that's how it all works.

My point is, a legislative leader just puts a trusted ally in charge of those things as almost a figurehead. It is the legislator (in this case the Speaker) who controls the flow of money in and out of the entity.

Ben did make one other very good point though in bringing up the fact that there was a lobbyist that is out of favor with the Speaker. The fact of the matter is, there is a significant number of lobbyists who have creeped around the halls for 20 to 30 years and they are all a bunch of partisan Democrats and some of them cry "foul" when they can't get things done with Republican legislators. SHOCKING!

What here is different about how this system has always worked and in fact INVENTED by the Democrats? At least now there is adequate disclosure about how the money is changing hands.

Gnarly:

The Speaker receives a huge chunk of that money from the RSLC and Jankowski helps steer it to him. The Speaker did no heavy lifting to get the $800K in donations. Jankowski funnels it from the RSLC to Howell and he becomes Howell's best friend.

There's nothing wrong (in my view) from someone getting lobbying work due to the lobbyists relationships. I mean that is what a lobbyist sells. The apparent difference in this case from what I'm reading, is that the relationship may include special treatment that appears to remove some of the normal rules that everyone else plays by. Given all the RSLC money involved, it's pretty hard to see this as anything other than special privileges granted in return for mammoth donations.

You're certainly right that some of the warhorse Democrat lobbyists are probably getting shafted. The Speaker is a Republican, these lobbyists aren't, and so they go to the end of line. That's the way the game is played. But are the rest of the GOP lobbying corps getting the same sort of red carpet treatment that Jankowski gets? Probably not. It seems reasonable to attribute that, at least partially, to the fact that Jankowski puts more money on the table than anyone apparently can. But, of course, we all know that the size of donations has nothing to do with the access one receives, right? Right.

Would you want someone, figurehead or not, in charge of the Speaker's political activities at the same time as he's being paid by clients to lobby on issues that Republicans are openly opposed to? When he's asked his opinion about the political ramifications of a bill, will he look out for the caucus position or the lobbying clients position?

Any of the stuff Ben wrote about aside, the potential for conflict of interest is fairly high. Howell would be better off having someone in that role who isn't cross-pressured, irrespective of any of the other issues that may or may not exist.

[Gnarly]

You still have one key point wrong. That money is there BECAUSE of the Speaker, not Jankowski, and then the Speaker decides where the money goes. Jankowski is not the level of player that can produce that money and I'm pretty darn sure he doesn't get to say where that money goes as well.

Come on....you know how this works. RSLC is just a pass-thru that Jankowski heads as a favor to the Speaker.

I'm not sure this is much better in terms of PR, but it just bothers me that very relevant aspects of these "follow the bouncing ball" tales are sometimes completely wrong.

Jankowski is a pussy.

[Dan]

Ben, keep up the good work. This type of reporting on the goings on in Richmond is what you do best.

Anyone who has ever closely followed the Legislature in any of the fifty states knows that these boys need to be watched. Partisanship has nothing to do with it. It's about integrity.

Gnarly:

Actually you are the one who is wrong. The RSLC is a national organization. It is NOT the Speaker's political committee. RSLC is DC-based 527 that sends money to a lot of states. Virginia House GOP campaigns are one of many national beneficiaries. Jankowski has long and strong ties to the RSLC and even today, his firm is paid big bucks for RSLC work.

Again, to be clear. The RSLC is a national organization. The Speaker benefits from its largesse. But he is no more in charge of it than any other GOP House Speaker in the country who receives money from the organization.

Besides, if it was the Speaker's PAC, it is HIGHLY unlikely to have spent $700,000 of it for Senate campaigns and operations. And he probably would not have spent well over $1 million helping McDonnell in the AG race in '05.

Here is RSLC's website. I doubt a group run by the Virginia Speaker would be featuring a story about the Mississippi AG race. http://www.rslc.com/. If you look, you may find the names of staffers that also appear on Jankowski's lobbyist shop site. That is one of many indications of how strong the ties are.

So let's do this again.

The RSLC is responsible for about $800K to the Speaker in the past few years.

Jankowski has deep RSLC connections and is able to secure the money for the Speaker from the RSLC (in addition to what he can get his clients to give) to use in House campaigns.

Jankowski may (or may not) have a role in running the Speaker's campaign funds, which are the Dominion Leadership Trust, the House Republican Campaign Committee and Friends of Bill Howell. NONE of these groups has ANY control over the nationally-focused RSLC which Jankowski IS closely tied to.

Jankowski may receive special benefits from the Speaker that other lobbyists do not receive, due to his ability to secure that money, since the RSLC is the biggest source of funds for the Speaker's campaign committees.

This is a lot bigger and more involved than I think you may be aware of.

[Gnarly]

I stand corrected. My apologies.

That's OK. Whoever you are, I am sure you know and like Jankowski and wanted to help him. But you deserved the facts too. Be well.

[Joel Rutstein]

FWIW, my great State Sen. Chap Petersen wrote this at his blog, Ox Road South, on Feb. 12, the day of the full Senate vote on the bill:

A few minutes ago, we voted on SB 768 sponsored by John Wakins (R-Powhatan) which wipes out the current system of "cash proffers" used by local governments in northern Virginia and replaces it with system-wide impact fees which are capped.

While offering cost certainty to home builders, the bill takes away the ability of local governments like Fairfax and Loudoun to assess developers the true cost of new projects. From my conversation with Fairfax county and city officials, it is unanimously opposed at the local level.

After significant debate (and several unsuccessful amendments), the bill passed the Senate on a 21-19 vote. I voted "no." It will now go to the House and I'm trusting that it will die there or be vetoed by the Governor.

Other builders liked the bill and gave Stuart. In fact I'm betting that if you add it up it's more than $2,500. Maybe he voted on what he thought about the issues and it had nothing to do with $$$. No way, that'd be to easy.

This is true. But the point Ben seems to be making is that Stuart was the ONLY one who got money from this particular builder who happened to be represented by Jankowski who also was knee deep in Stuart's race.

Personally, I have no idea what changed in the bill that caused him to switch his vote. Maybe someone else does.

[Kevin]

Building 751 units in Colonial Beach??? What happened in the last six months since I've been there to put up that many residences? I know it's the "Golfcart Town of Virginia" but I didn't think it was blowing up that big.

Anyone know what's going on with Phil Hamilton? Word has it that significant emails invovling him were deleted (in violation of the Public Records Act) by his wife before she resigned as head of the Crime Commission but they have now been recovered. Those who would know won't talk. Time to FOIA the Commission.

[Timothy Watson]

Ben,

Great story but the text incorrectly refers to the bill as "SB786" when the bill number is "SB768". SB786 is Deed's sexual assault bill. You also misquote VPAP's summary in the same regard.

The link goes to the correct bill on LIS.

The key factor that has been left out of this discussion is the effect of the locality lobby. VML and VACO are both very powerful and both strongly opposed to the bill. It was the localities who pushed the bill to be carried over not Jankowski.

Furthermore, it is not unusual for a business with limited presence in the state to donate only to those legislators whose district in which they have an impact, or for a lobbyist to assist a legislator with fundraising or campaigning help.

[Bob Leonard]

What everyone is missing - and this is the important piece - is that companies with issues before the general assembly can contribute to the RSLC directly and avoid disclosure requirements under Virginia law. The Speaker helps the companies that funnelled the money to the RSLC and sometimes hire Jankoski to lobby the issues. This is completely unethical by any standard. Anyone directing PAC funds in any way to legislators should not be lobbying - period.