By SETH SLABAUGH
seths@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE — State Rep. Jack Lutz, R-Anderson, the ranking minority member on the House Commerce, Energy and Utilities Committee, has accepted free tickets worth hundreds of dollars to the Indianapolis 500-mile race and Parade and to the Indianapolis Colts football games from utility company lobbyists.
“I have nothing to hide, and I don’t mind lobbying activity being reported if it’s done correctly,” said Lutz, a furniture sales representative whose district contains small communities in Hamilton, Tipton, Madison and Delaware counties, including Daleville, Gaston and Yorktown. “Yeah, I’ve been to some Colts games and the Indy 500 one year.
“Do you know what kind of lavish food they served us in the suite at the Colts game? Chili dogs and chicken fingers.”
Indiana’s newspapers are shining a spotlight on Indiana lobbying activities, and House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, and Senate President Pro Tempore David Long, R-Fort Wayne, have said both houses will act on lobby reform when the Legislature convenes Jan. 4.
“I haven’t been to a Pacers game for I don’t know how many years, and I haven’t been to an IU, Purdue or Ball State athletic event for a number of years, either,” Lutz said.
According to Indiana Lobby Registration Commission filings, the freebies Lutz has received in recent years include $609 in Indy 500 tickets from AT&T; $297 and $198 in Colts tickets and food from Vectren; $119, $429 and $373 in unnamed sporting event tickets and meals from the Indiana Energy Association; $178 for unnamed sporting event tickets and food from Duke Energy; and $604 for unnamed tickets and dinner from Indianapolis Power & Light.
The lobbying interests of those companies include regulation, the environment, labor and taxation.
“Do you think I should turn it down?” Lutz asked. “I have never had my arm twisted badly or my ear bent where I couldn’t get up and leave. I’ve never had that done to me. For every person walking around in my district who I represent, they are represented by a lobbyist. In your profession, you probably belong to a newspaper association that has a lobbyist.”
According to Grant Smith, executive director of the Citizens Action Coalition, Lutz has resisted pro-consumer utility legislation for years.
“He’s always carried their water,” Smith said, referring to the utility companies. “He has supported all sorts of rate mechanisms that curtail oversight by the (Indiana Utility Regulatory) Commission. Utilities also influence Democrats, but at least in some respects, other people are at least approachable on the issue.”
Lutz, who has been a representative since 1991, responded: “I would have to be in the majority if I were to carry their water. I have spent only four years in the majority.”
Bauer, who has accepted more freebies from lobbyists than Lutz, has in the past sent lobby reform bills to the House Rules Committee, where the bills have died, Lutz and other Republicans note.
“I guess I’m proud of the things that the Republican caucus did when we were in the majority: Opening up the Legislature for not only the session to be televised on the Internet but a lot of committee meetings were opened to television; instigating the state inspector general’s office to weed out corruption; stopping proxy voting in committees,” Lutz said.
Rep. Bill Davis, R-Portland, said: “I went with Duke Energy one time to a Colts game at the new Lucas Oil Stadium. It’s a social event. You work with these people all the time, so it’s nice once in a while to meet socially. There are times for business and times for socializing. That’s pretty much what happened. My wife and I went.”
Both Davis and Lutz expressed concern about inaccurate reporting of lobbying activities.
For example, Lutz said he attended a dinner, sponsored by a law firm, at which he drank a glass of water and then left. It shows up on a lobbying report that Lutz received a dinner valued at $116.
Davis was surprised to learn from The Star Press that the Indiana Motor Truck Association reportedly paid more than $1,100 and $1,400 to lodge and feed Davis during the group’s annual conferences in Florida.
There was only one conference in Florida, however, and Davis fully paid his own way, wanting to avoid any appearance of impropriety because he was a member of the board of directors of the association.
“I can show you my canceled checks,” he said. “I’m disappointed that showed up on a lobbying report and will talk to them and get that taken care of.”