One of the unusual items that popped up in the Star’s recent analysis of lobbyist registry data was the “on-site review” of an Etobicoke strip club three Toronto councillors conducted in 2009.

The story was first reported in the Star in February 2009, when Councillors Frank Di Giorgio, Giorgio Mammoliti and Cesar Palacio took an “industry facility tour” at the invitation of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, a group representing many of the city’s 21 strip clubs.

But it appeared again during a Star analysis of the 6,421 records stored in the online registry, dating from 2008 to July 20 of this year. The analysis shows that the most-lobbied topics are economic development, planning and signs.

When contacted last week, Di Giorgio said he was invited by the association with a view to having an idea of the kind of working conditions the employees were working under.

And Tim Lambrinos, executive director of the association, told the Star in 2009 he hoped the visit would help councillors better understand issues involving strip clubs when they come up at city council.

“Most people in that kind of situation will make a snap judgment call, and say there’s nothing that can be said or done that will make them receptive to the nature of the business they’re in,” says Di Giorgio. “They’d just discount them, and not bother dealing with them at all.”

“I visited the areas where these ladies had their lockers and changing rooms — I didn’t know what I was walking into at the time,” recalls Di Giorgio.

“I didn’t give the optics of it a lot of thought, I just thought that with the role that I was in, that I had an obligation on my part to go.”

Data culled from the lobbyist registry shows that Lambrinos visited Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam at her office in May 2011. The councillor explained that visit was due to the fact she has a number of adult entertainment parlours in her Toronto Centre-Rosedale ward.

They discussed issues including a bylaw amendment that could inflict additional costs to operators, as well as possible amendments to the no-touching rule.

Wong-Tam said she wasn’t invited to conduct an on-site inspection.

“I would have gone, had it been necessary,” says Wong-Tam. “But instead, some of the licensed workers reached out to me and came to my city hall office, where we met in the presence of my staff.”

“Whether you work at McDonald’s or IBM, I would (like to) believe that employers provide employees with a safe workplace, no matter what that workplace is.”