PETER CASEY
Having issues heard
At a time when the budget shortfall is an almost all-consuming concern for state lawmakers, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors wants to boost its lobbying power on Beacon Hill.
MAR leaders, under the guidance of President Peter P. Casey, are hoping to raise more money for the Realtor group’s political action committee, or RPAC. In a recent interview with Banker & Tradesman, Casey said one of his goals is to raise a total of $75,000 for RPAC this year. Casey said he hopes to accomplish that by getting more MAR members to contribute and increasing the average contribution to $25. In a speech he gave during his installation as president, Casey said he wants as much as 20 percent of the membership to contribute this year, as opposed to the 5 percent that has given in prior years. The funds would go toward supporting a variety of causes and candidates, both Republican and Democrat, at the state and national levels.
MAR has lagged behind other Realtor associations across the nation when it comes to political fund-raising, according to Casey. “We are the smallest givers to political action in the United States, and the growth that we are planning this year is miniscule compared to what others states are doing,” he said.
In fact, the National Association of Realtors sets fund-raising goals for state associations and MAR comes dead last in fund-raising. The 16,000-member group manages to collect an average of about $4 per member, according to Casey, who cited statistics from NAR.
“In most other states, they’re averaging $20, $25 a member. The difference is enormous,” he said.
One reason for the gap may be because of the more stringent campaign finance laws in the Bay State, said Diana O’Donoghue, MAR’s legislative director. In Massachusetts, for example, individual contributions to PACs are capped at $500 and checks from corporations are not accepted, she said. Cash contributions are capped at $50. Individuals can also give up to $500 to an individual candidate – with the total maximum that a person can give to state, local and county candidates in any year being $12,500.
“We have some of the toughest campaign finance laws in New England,” she said.
In nearby New Hampshire, with its more lenient caps on political contributions, the 4,700-member New Hampshire Association of Realtors has been able to raise more than $120,000 for its PAC in the previous two years.
New Hampshire has more reasonable caps and laws regarding political contributions, according to Kip Cooper, who is the government affairs director for NHAR. During the last election cycle, the association was involved in 53 candidate races, said Cooper, including races where 22 Realtors were running for state office. In all, 18 of those Realtors were elected to the Senate or House.
Despite the challenges of fund-raising in the Bay State, MAR has managed to get more members to donate and to increase their donation amounts during the last three years, said O’Donoghue. From Jan. 1 through Oct. 18 of last year, for example, MAR was able to collect $28,265 in contributions, according to reports the group filed with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. That’s roughly $7,240 more than the group raised in all of 2001, which included non-cash contributions of about $3,300 that were included as part of an auction. Fund-raising in the prior two years exceeded 2000 significantly. In 2000, about $13,200 was collected from members and some $12,400 was spent. Meanwhile, for the first 10 months of 2002, RPAC spent $16,507 in either donations to lawmakers or other lobby-related expenses.
Thirty percent of the RPAC money that MAR raises goes to NAR for its national lobbying efforts, and the rest stays in the state. In addition, $30 from the total dues that members pay to belong to MAR, NAR and a local association, is also spent on lobbying on the national, state and local levels.
The state’s PAC has made contributions to various lawmakers, including those who have sponsored legislation that MAR supports, according to reports filed with the state. In the last three years, the committee has donated to politicians like former state Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Shannon O’Brien; House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, D-Mattapan; Reps. Harriett L. Stanley, D-West Newbury, and John H. Rogers, D-Norwood; and Sens. Marian Walsh, D-West Roxbury, Robert E. Travaglini, D-Boston, Charles E. Shannon Jr., D-Winchester, and Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst. About 30 percent of all the money that the RPAC raises goes to NAR for its national lobbying efforts, and the rest stays in state.
The increased participation in RPAC has been the result of efforts by MAR leaders to raise awareness about the importance of political involvement in recent years, explained O’Donoghue. The last few years have also seen the state’s Realtors band together on such issues as the elimination of a law that requires real estate agents and home sellers to disclose whether Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation, a type of insulation that was shown to have harmful health effects, has ever been installed in a for-sale home. Realtors were successful in getting that law repealed.
Nationally, Realtors have been buoyed by the National Association Realtors’ multimillion-dollar campaign to block banks from entering the real estate business. The banking industry is seeking permission to sell and manage real estate through a proposed rule change before the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.
Last year, NAR was able to get a bill introduced – the Community Choice in Real Estate Act – that would require congressional approval for banking conglomerates to sell and manage real estate. More than 245 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and more than a dozen Senators signed onto the bill. The Community Choice in Real Estate Act was reintroduced in both houses of Congress earlier this month.
“Political action money doesn’t buy you laws,” said Casey, who is president of Wilmot Whitney Real Estate in Weston. “What it does is to buy you access. It gives you a way to be heard. Once you have the opportunity to be heard you need to make your case just like everybody else. But if we don’t have the ability to be heard, this political agenda we have would be useless.”
Consolidating ‘Clout’
Despite some legislative wins in this state, several MAR-supported measures haven’t had much success. Repeated efforts to get a uniform Title 5 septic system code passed and to expedite the litigation involving real estate permits have not won legislative approval. MAR will be supporting those same measures during this legislative session.
MAR leaders say it’s critical to raise more funds for political contributions because housing affordability and homeownership opportunity are major issues in the Bay State, and that it’s important to donate to candidates, lawmakers and causes that are concerned about those issues.
Carolyn Chodat, owner of Classic Properties in Medway and Milford, said it’s up to the Realtors to help politicians understand the issues that affect the housing industry and homebuyers specifically.
“It’s important for them [Realtors] to be more aware of the clout that they have politically,” said Chodat. “They [politicians] aren’t out there seeing the masses trying to buy their homes,” she said
The group’s leaders also maintain that MAR is one of the few, if the not the only association, to represent the interests of homeowners.
“In addition to being the voice of Realtors in Massachusetts, which is something that we take very seriously and we owe it to our members to be heard, we’re the only folks in Massachusetts who represent homeowners,” said Casey. “There is no organized homeowners association in Massachusetts. We represent the homeowners.”
While MAR leaders acknowledged that increasing donations and participation will be challenging, they suggested that it’s a realistic goal. If for no other reason, members will be more likely to donate after seeing the success that Realtors have had in advocating their issues recently, including the repeal of the UFFI law.
“We have been very effective here in this state in having our issues heard, more in the last year or two, than ever before,” said Casey, commenting on RPAC’s activities. “We can’t influence politicians to do things they don’t want to do. All we can do is give them the information to make the decision with the full knowledge. I think our ability to do that with a little bit of political action money is well worth the effort.”
