Lobbyist expenses wasteful, critics say

HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania governments paid lobbyists more than $4 million this year to lobby the state and federal governments for more tax money.

Watchdog groups call the expenses wasteful, saying taxpayers pay elected representatives to do that job. Government officials say they need lobbyists to compete for more funds.

"It further undermines the process by using tax money to use an alleged professional to do the same thing government is supposed to do in the first place," said Gerald Shuster, a professor of political communications at the University of Pittsburgh.

Campaign committees for six large lobbying firms with clients in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and state government donated $2.9 million in campaign money to state and federal campaigns in the past three years. Lobbyists say that's the nature of their business, and government officials say there's no connection between donations and contracts.

Yet, with trust in the Legislature undermined by a corruption investigation and a 101-day budget impasse, several politicians say they want to reform lobbying practices they've engaged in for years.

"We've got to break the hold of lobbyists," Gov. Ed Rendell said recently. "One of the things I want to do in campaign finance reform is bar any lobbyist from making any campaign contribution to any official in Pennsylvania."

Blank Rome, which the state pays $720,000 a year to lobby federal lawmakers, donated $148,140 to Rendell since 2002.

"I have never been influenced by any campaign contributions, ever," Rendell said. The $720,000 paid to Blank Rome is about $140,000 less than it would cost to keep a state office in Washington, as former Gov. Tom Ridge did, said Rendell spokesman Gary Tuma.

Local officials say other governments are paying lobbyists, so if they don't, they would miss out on hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.

Allegheny County, represented by 31 state representatives and senators, for three years has paid Robert Ewanco $10,000 a month to lobby Harrisburg lawmakers.

"The payback has been 20-fold," said County Executive Dan Onorato's spokeswoman, Megan Dardanell. She credited Ewanco with getting money for widening Route 28, flyover ramps in Duquesne and to buy security cameras, among "hundreds of millions of dollars" worth of other projects.

Ewanco, a member of the city Stadium Authority, did not return calls seeking comment.

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney has six Western Pennsylvania clients who are either governments or government authorities.

Westmoreland and Beaver counties pay the firm $5,000 a month and $3,000 a month, respectively. The firm this year was paid $168,763 by Port Authority of Allegheny County, $72,651 by the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, $48,000 by Pittsburgh Public Schools and $3,600 by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh.

"Entities like the county, city (and) school district rely on an enormous amount of state support," said Chuck Kolling, a Buchanan Ingersoll lobbyist who represents government clients. "If we in Allegheny County, or Pittsburgh or the school district don't have representation before the (state), we're putting ourselves at a significant disadvantage."

Township commissioners and mayors should make their cases to state lawmakers, rather than paying someone else to do it, said James Broussard, a Lebanon Valley college history professor and chairman of a taxpayers' group, Citizens Against Higher Taxes. The governor's cabinet should do the same in Washington, he said.

"It's a little offensive to me to be going to a lobbyist and using taxpayers' money to get even more taxpayers' money," Broussard said.

Kolling said he does more than pitch his clients' interests. Each year, legislators introduce about 2,000 bills. Figuring out which ones affect which municipalities, and then keeping track of them, requires local governments to hire full-time staffers or contract lobbyists, Kolling said.

"It's a good investment to make, to have somebody monitoring individual pieces of legislation as well as their priorities," Kolling said.

Several existing associations of local governments could fill that role, Shuster said.

"They already have in place the League of Cities (and Municipalities), the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, the Township Commissioners Association and the County Commissioners Association," which are funded by taxpayer-paid dues to lobby, Shuster said.

Pittsburgh pays the League of Cities and Municipalities $63,104 a year, a fee based on its population, said Cathy Qureshi, the city's assistant finance director.

Authorities such as Alcosan and Port Authority say state and federal representatives -- even local ones -- don't always advocate for them.

"We don't feel anybody else is really going to go to bat for the needs of public transportation and the more than 100,000 riders who use our system every day. We need to do that," said Port Authority spokesman Jim Ritchie. The authority paid Greenlee Partners $48,750 this year, in addition to Buchanan Ingersoll.

Alcosan spokeswoman Nancy Barylak said every grant Kolling brings back offsets rate increases Alcosan otherwise would need. In addition to its contract with Buchanan Ingersoll, Alcosan paid Eckert Seamans Cherin Mellott $48,142 this year.

Alcosan's lobbying focuses on expensive infrastructure projects such as one required by a federal consent decree to lessen the sewage treatment plant's effects on the environment. Other sewer authorities use lobbyists to compete for similar grants, Barylak said.

The state's stakes are even higher, said Peter Peyser, managing principal at Blank Rome.

"The budget of the commonwealth is about $28 billion. Last year, $2 billion was federal stimulus money, on top of the billions of dollars in Medicaid, transportation funding and economic development aid for state government," said Peyser, the state's lobbyist.

"Think of any $28 billion company that does billions of dollars of business with the federal government. You would expect them to have" lobbyists, Peyser said.

Blank Rome's political action committee donated $624,000 to state and federal politicians during the past three years. The Democratic and Republican senatorial campaign committees got $60,000 apiece. Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Philadelphia, was the top individual recipient, with $24,000.

"It's part of the lobbying process in Washington to participate in the political process. Congress set up this system about 35 years ago," Peyser said. "It's the nature of the business."

Ewanco and his political action committee donated $104,000 to local and state officials since becoming Allegheny County's lobbyist in 2006, including $8,000 to Onorato. Democratic state Reps. Matt Smith of Mt. Lebanon and Frank Dermody of Oakmont received $11,500 and $11,000, respectively.

In the past three years, Buchanan Ingersoll donated $724,126 to state and local officials. Onorato was the top recipient, with $49,177, according to campaign finance records.

"People have First Amendment rights to make contributions to who they choose, and who they choose is not our business," said Onorato's spokeswoman Dardanell.

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