Was the Charter School Rally ‘Lobbying’?

Crain’s Insider has an interesting article regarding advocacy/lobbying reporting by Families for Excellent Schools, a pro-charter school group.

In early March, the group organized a rally at the state Capitol featuring Gov. Cuomo, Senate Co-Leaders Skelos and Klein, and thousands of students and parents that it bused to Albany for the event.  But, as Crain’s reports, the group did not report any of its spending on the event to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), the state’s lobbying regulator.

This raises a very interesting (and from my perspective, very important) question – whether this type of advocacy (where the group is not attempting to influence any particular piece of legislation, but trying to “educate” public officials about an issue or issues) constitutes “lobbying” under state law and must be reported to JCOPE.

Footage from the March event was later used in a television commercial – which Families for Excellent Schools is planning to report on its May 15^th JCOPE filing.