Delaware Fails to Provide Transparency in Lobbyist Disclosures: Report

Delaware received an “F” grade for lack of transparent lobbyist disclosures from a new climate group called F Minus.
Delaware does not require lobbyists to disclose their salaries or the positions they take on legislation on behalf of their clients, resulting in a negative rating in the First State.
F Minus’ executive director said “tougher disclosure rules would make it easier to hold” lobbyists accountable for “playing both sides of the crisis.”

According to the climate group F Minus, Delaware received a failing grade for its lack of transparency in lobbying disclosures, which do not require lobbyists to disclose their salaries or the positions they take on legislation on behalf of their clients.

A group formed in 2023 to track fossil fuel lobbyists who also represent clients harmed by the climate crisis gave Delaware and 27 other states an F grade for their lobbyist disclosure systems.

F Minus said the organization’s research shows that “over 1,500 state-level lobbyists… are on both sides of the climate crisis, working for the fossil fuel industry while also working on behalf of people, communities, schools, businesses, nonprofits and more people harmed by the crisis.

The group also found “an overwhelming failure by almost all states to capture the full scope of lobbying by fossil fuel companies.”

FOSSIL FUELS ARE FIGHTING: What is the Caesar Rodney Institute? Why is he suing Delaware over offshore wind?

According to F Minus, only eight states require lobbyists to disclose all three “keys” to full disclosure. These include customer damages, bills being lobbied, and positions taken on bills.

“Delaware’s fossil fuel lobbyists have managed to continue to represent oil and gas interests while representing local governments, schools and businesses that have been harmed by the climate crisis,” said James Browning, executive director of F Minus i, in a memo press release, former director of Common Cause for the Mid-Atlantic region. “Stronger disclosure rules would make it easier to hold these lobbyists accountable for playing both sides of the crisis.”

Delaware lobbyists

According to the F Minus database, as of January 2024, 16 lobbyists had submitted activity reports.

All lobbyists represent at least one fossil fuel client.

The F Minus List identifies dozens of clients of one of the state’s top lobbying firms, Ruggerio Willson Watson, which represents three fossil fuel industry clients at a time, as well as the city of Wilmington in New Castle County, the University of Delaware and health care groups such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Members of this company include Baily Brooks, Rhett Ruggerio and Kim Wilson.

CLIMATE CHANGE: How Delaware’s next governor can address flooding and other impacts of climate change

Byrd Group lobbyists Robert and Rebecca Byrd represent Calpine and the Koch Companies, as well as the Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement and the Medical Society of Delaware.

Search the F MINUS database of Delaware lobbyists

John Flaherty, director of the Delaware Coalition for Open Government, praised F Minus’s support for “greater disclosure and transparency” among lobbyists, many of whom he said “advocate for issues that are not in the public interest.”

“The public has a right to know who is involved in trying to grease the government’s levers,” he said.

How to search for lobbying disclosures

The Delaware Public Integrity Commission is responsible for overseeing lobbyist registration and expense reporting.

Lobbyists are required to file quarterly expense reports on “direct expenditures on members of the General Assembly or agency employees or officials.” According to the commission, activity reports containing the appropriate bill number “and the administrative action number or title” must be submitted within five business days of lobbying.

The Integrity Committee then submits weekly reports to the General Assembly on lobbying activities while the legislative body is in session.

Lobbying activity reports can be searched online through the Public Integrity Reporting System.

The online database also includes quarterly spending reports for each lobbyist. The most common expenses are food and beverage expenses, but reports may also include payments for entertainment, lodging, travel or gift cards.

Got a tip? Contact Amanda Fries at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @mandy_fries.