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Lawmakers head to Vegas for cable TV conference
By Kurt Erickson
kurt.erickson@lee.net
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SPRINGFIELD -- It’s a weekend in Las Vegas for some Illinois lawmakers. With just a month left in the legislative session, an estimated 12 to 14 members of the Illinois House and Senate are spending the next couple of days at a trade show for the cable television industry.

The three-day, expenses-paid junket comes as the cable industry is fighting an attempt by telephone giant AT&T to change state law in a high-stakes battle for the eyes and wallets of television viewers.

Among those jetting to Nevada on Friday was state Rep. Mike Bost, a Murphysboro Republican who says the trip could help him learn more about the issue.

Some lawmakers who were invited on the trip said they declined because they don’t accept freebies from lobby-ing groups.

“I just don’t take these trips,” said one of them, State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa.

While Bost said he’s paying for some of his expenses, he said the Cable Television & Communications Association of Illinois is footing the bill for his hotel and airfare.

Similarly, state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, said the trip is educational in nature.

“First, I don’t gamble. Secondly, it’s not being held at a casino,” said Dillard, who plans to arrive Saturday. “I’m out there to see the engineers and chief operating officers of these companies, not lobbyists.”

While in Las Vegas, the lawmakers will be staying at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel, which, according to its Web site, features rooms with flat-panel television screens, a steakhouse called Envy and “convenient monorail access to the Strip.”

At the convention, the lawmakers will get to see exhibitors ranging from HBO to Hustler TV, according to an overview of the conference.

Bost said it was only the third such trip he’s been on in 13 years as a lawmaker.

“It’s very seldom that I’ve taken these kinds of trips,” Bost said.

An industry spokesman Friday wouldn’t release the names of all of the lawmakers who are on the trip. But he said the annual cable television conference generally draws 12 to 14 Illinois lawmakers.

“This is purely – and don’t snicker – educational,” said cable spokesman Gary Mack. “The fact that it is in Las Vegas is unfortunate.”

State ethics rules allow lawmakers to accept trips if they are educational in their purpose.

“The problem is, what is an educational mission?” asked Cindi Canary, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

According to a trip itinerary obtained Friday, lawmakers can meet with lobbyists Saturday at Café Ba Ba Reeba!

On Sunday the itinerary has the lawmakers touring the convention at the Mandalay Bay Casino, followed by speeches from top cable company executives from Disney and Time Warner.

In Illinois, the cable industry and some cities are fighting AT&T’s proposal to change video franchising laws. AT&T says their plan will boost competition and drive down prices for consumers, but cable companies say noth-ing is stopping companies like AT&T from getting into the market now.

Municipalities say a statewide franchise law would take away their authority to enforce service standards and could leave customers with either poor or no service.

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Reader comments on this story - 5 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

orval wrote on May 5, 2007 11:14 AM:

" if there is anything lower than politicans in this world it must be whale dodo and thats on the bottom of the ocean "

//////////////////// wrote on May 5, 2007 8:37 AM:

" party on boys.oh yea remember why your there bet all my tax $$$$$$$$ on red "

To: me wrote on May 5, 2007 8:11 AM:

" You didn't read. Their trips are being paid for by the lobbyists, or the politicians themselves. Problem is, they're taking a trip specifically designed to influence their decision on this issue that is crucial to competition. We claim to support free market and competitial in industry, but here is a perfect example where protectionism may prevail instead of providing another choice to consumers to help with competition. I think we need as many choices in this area as possible, which would be good for the quality and price of the service being provided. "

Stay Home wrote on May 5, 2007 7:34 AM:

" Our lawmakers should stay home and fix the elcteric rates fiasco, before they fly off to Vegas for their "educational" seminar on cable services. Besides, lawmakers are the ones who got us into this electric rate frenzy in the first place, I don't think I want them messing with cable service. Also, if this seminar was really anything more than a free trip to the casinos, it would have been held in a central location of the country, not out west. What a joke. I'd love to see the complete list of Illinois lawmakers that took advantage of this pay-off, I mean seminar. "

me wrote on May 5, 2007 5:19 AM:

" Politicians heading off to Vegas. I love seeing my tax dollars put to good use. "
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