Hospitals big lobbyers in N.J. in 2013

A report from New Jersey election law monitors finds hospitals spent more on lobbying state lawmakers last year than any other industry or group in a year when lobbying spending was up overall.

Data released Thursday by the state Election Law Enforcement Commission shows hospitals spent $4.5 million lobbying in 2013, just ahead of unions, which spent $4.4 million.

The entity that spent the most was the New Jersey Education Association at $3.3 million. The conservative Americans For Prosperity was a distant second, spending $950,000.

The report also finds that Wolff and Samson, a law firm where Port Authority of New York and New Jersey chairman David Samson is a partner, was paid more than $1 million to lobby when combined with its public affairs subsidiary.