Georiga Cities, Counties Hire K Street Heavyweights to Seek Federal Dollars, Aid

WASHINGTON — Rockdale County, the smallest of the metro Atlanta counties, has had surprising success in recent years in lassoing federal dollars, including more than $3 million in federal grants for scenic trails and memorial plazas at its lakeside Veterans Memorial Park.

Neighboring officials watched with intense interest, if not outright envy, and noticed that Rockdale was doing something they weren't. It had hired a big-time Washington lobbyist, the law firm of Holland & Knight.

RICK MCKAY/STF (enlarge photo) Richard M. Gold lobbies for Georgia communities in Washington, D.C., playing a central role in securing Federal dollars for water projects, road plans, and conservation plans in Rockdale, Paulding, Cobb, and now Henry counties.

So last year the Henry County Board of Commissioners followed their neighbor's lead and joined the growing number of local governments around the country and in Georgia that hire professional Washington lobbyists. "In the past, we didn't get anything," said Henry County Chairman Jason Harper. "It's worth a try."

The city of Conyers, the county seat for Rockdale, hired its own lobbyist, too.

Soaring "earmarks" for pet projects have helped to spur a lobbying surge nationwide. Cities and states doubled their spending on outside lobbyists from $35 million in 2000 to nearly double that — $67 million — in 2006, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics found in a study of federal disclosure reports. Current spending is on pace to set a new record this year.

In Georgia, cities from Atlanta to Macon to Tybee Island and several counties, including Cobb and DeKalb, are among those with professional advocates on Capitol Hill.

Although Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue runs the state's lobbying effort with state employees and a tiny office in Washington, several public entities have retained lobbyists. Among them are the Georgia Ports Authority, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) and most of the state's universities.

For communities, the lobbying retainer averages about $120,000 a year nationwide, an expense that local officials have had reason to believe they could recoup many times over with a federal grant. Last year, however, most earmarks were dropped as Democrats took control of Congress from Republicans.

Atlanta's biggest public lobbying effort is for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which in the past few years reaped $179 million to build its newest runway, $35 million to equip the runway, and $26 million for a new congestion-relieving taxiway.

Now the airport is reshaping its lobbying team with a $510,000 effort to raise the airport's profile in Washington, said Walter Vinson, intergovernmental affairs manager at Hartsfield-Jackson. The airport has dropped the local firm of JG Consulting and turned to big name national firms, led by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Holland & Knight.

Coordinating the lobbying drive in Washington is William Clyburn, a former transportation official who was an aide to Sen. Zell Miller, the now retired Georgia Democrat. Clyburn is the cousin of Rep. James Clyburn, the South Carolinian who this year became the third-ranking Democrat in the House leadership.

To critics, the idea of paying local tax dollars to hire lobbyists to seek federal tax dollars is disturbing.

"It means that more power is being centralized in Washington instead of in the states and counties," said Brian M. Riedl, an expert on federal spending at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research center. "The rise of lobbying has meant that the federal dollar is now distributed by politics rather than by merit."

Defenders, who see the lobbyists as useful for localities and for congressional offices, include Rep. Sanford Bishop, who holds a key post as Georgia's only Democratic member of the House Appropriations Committee, which writes spending bills.

"We as members of Congress have a whole range of issues that we are concerned about," the lawmaker said. Local communities with issues that need in-depth attention find "a paid representative will give them the kind of focus that they often desire," he said.

"And of course when (constituents) have someone who is educated in the process, it takes up less of our time and our staff's time," Bishop added. He said his staff will do the research for communities that are "not as sophisticated" on how to apply for federal help.

But asked if a community with a good cause might be overlooked if it does not hire a lobbyist, Bishop conceded: "It is possible. It certainly is."

Bishop's hometown of Albany three years ago hired the Ferguson Goup, a Washington lobbying firm whose 110 public agency clients have been billed $3.3 million so far this year, putting it at the top nationwide, according to the Center for Public Integrity. The firm also lobbies for the city of East Point, Ga.

For some localities in the state, the urge to hire lobbyists began just over a decade ago. That's when the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia asked Richard M. Gold, a former Environmental Protection Agency official, to analyze why the state was receiving so few EPA clean water grants — especially compared to neighboring states.

Gold, a Washington lobbyist for Holland & Knight, has been working for Georgia communities ever since, playing a central role on water projects, road plans, and conservation plans in Rockdale, Paulding, Cobb, and now Henry counties.

Not unlike an elected representative, he even visits the districts he serves to take the pulse of the people. "I spend a lot of time talking to constituents," he said. "The last thing I want to do is to lobby for something that people are opposed to."

Occasionally he finds opposition to the idea of federal earmarks. But even in conservative areas, he said, "The vast majority say, 'If we're sending money to Washington, some of it better be coming back here.' "

Holland & Knight also represents the Grady Health System, the Metropolitan North Georgia Water District, and, as of this year, the city of Atlanta.

Although the firm's official biography boasts that Gold and his "appropriations team" have garnered $2.6 billion for clients nationwide since 2000, Gold is cautious about the future, in which money for earmarks is expected to go down to a trimmer $10 billion to $12 billion a year, from more than double that amount.

That makes it harder for small communities who want strictly localized projects of the paving Main Street variety, he said. "If you are reducing the overall dollars of earmarks, less of that is going to happen because members are going to focus on the core needs of their districts," Gold said.

He warned that communities should beware of lobbyists who over-promise. "There is this dynamic of 'earmark shops' that go out and convince these smaller places to 'hire us and we'll get you an earmark or two,'" he said.

Rob Leebern, chief of federal affairs for the lobbying arm of Troutman Sanders, which represents Forsyth County and recently was hired by the city of Dahlonega, agreed that the competition is tougher. "Counties and cities are trying to maximize the opportunity for success" by hiring lobbyists and also having "good relationships with their representatives and senators," he said.

Leebern, a former chief of staff for then-congressman and now Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said his firm is counseling clients to pursue merit-based competitive federal grants for water and sewer projects and advising them on how to navigate through the "labyrinth" of the federal government policies and regulations.

Back in Henry County, hopes were raised last year when projects for an Interstate 75 interchange and for law enforcement equipment made it into the annual spending bills after the county hired Holland & Knight. But when Congress failed to complete the legislation, those projects were dropped along with all earmarks.

Now the county's projects are back for a second try. Henry County Commission Chairman Harper said it's helpful "to have someone who understands the legislative process" in Washington.

As for the decision to spend about $100,000 a year for the service, Harper said, "You make an educated guess." But after years of no success, he concluded, "There's not much to lose."

At the same time, the city of Conyers hired the lobbying firm of Russ Reid Co. with hopes of getting $750,000 for an emergency call-in center. "Now we have our fingers crossed on $300,000," said Tony Lucas, the city manager.

The city is also looking for funding to expand the Georgia International Horse Park, once a venue for the 1996 Olympics, as a wetland nature preserve.

Having a lobbyist in Washington has had some advantages, according to Lucas. "There are so many weird things going on there," he said. "We do feel like it will make a difference."

And if it doesn't, Lucas said the firm, which charges $8,000 a month for the first 18 months, has promised to continue to represent Conyers for the next 12 months for free.