In early March, Education Minnesota dumped 50 State Capitol lobbyists from its roster in just a couple of days.
Several of them had been advocating for the teachers union for more than a decade.
It is common for a group to release a handful of lobbyists at a time. In January, the Association of Minnesota Counties got rid of three in one swoop. The city of Red Wing ditched four at once. A week later, Minnesota Second Chance Coalition, which advocates for convicted felons, unloaded four lobbyists.
But 50? No group has come close to Education Minnesota's purge. That's nearly one lobbyist for every four legislators, the kind of team coverage most other groups would envy.
Turns out, nearly all of the 50 are actually Education Minnesota field staffers, who occasionally helped teachers do some persuading at the Capitol. The organization did a review and decided these staffers did not need to be registered as lobbyists, said Chris Williams, a spokesman for Education Minnesota. "It doesn't signify a large change in how we do business day to day," he said.
There are few areas at the Capitol that have a bigger arsenal of lobbyists than education.
There are lobbyists for educational computer use, K-12 schools, K-12 funding, higher education, education policy, testing, transportation and, more generically, education issues. Even individual school districts have their own lobbyists.
Now Education Minnesota has two designated Capitol lobbyists, with a handful of other top staffers registered to be lobbyists. The organization itself has a nearly $30 million annual budget.
