Time Warner hosted outing for state lawmakers
Time Warner Cable, Maine’s largest Internet provider, provided a steak dinner and footed the lodging bill for some state lawmakers at an overnight “education forum” in January in an attempt to lobby against legislation pushing for municipally-sponsored broadband service.
The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting reported on Wednesday that somewhere between 12 and 35 state lawmakers attended Time Warner’s Jan. 22 “Winter Policy Conference” at the Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, according to separate accounts from Sen. Andre Cushing, R-Hampden, and Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland, who both attended.
Some state lawmakers, like Rep. Ellie Espling, R-New Gloucester, had the the costs of staying overnight at the inn covered by Time Warner. The publication said one night for a room at the inn retails between $205 and $355 per night.
Scott Pryzwansky, Time Warner’s director of public relations for the eastern United States, said in an email to the publication: “As one of Maine’s leading employers and telecommunications companies, we designed this second biannual educational forum to help policymakers and others better understand some of the complex telecommunications issues confronting Maine and the nation.” He added: “Like many other organizations in Maine that sponsor similar forums, we believe it is our responsibility to help raise awareness about issues that are central to Maine’s economy and future."
But some, including Gordon Weil, the state’s first Public Advocate, said meetings like this are cause for concern. He told MCPIR that this is “obviously intended to persuade them by more than the validity of the arguments; it’s intended to persuade by the reception they’re given.”
Read the full report, including a breakdown of Time Warner’s contributions to state lawmakers, here.
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