WASHINGTON — Since Mayor Mark Mallory took office in 2005, city taxpayers have paid a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm $853,000 to help it snare federal funding for local projects.
Mallory says the return the city has received – $86 million in appropriations and grants – makes the investment worthwhile and it’s why he was working the halls of Congress recently flanked by two politically wired lobbyists who ushered him from one meeting to the next.
But some question the value of such lobbyists in a post-earmark era, when members of Congress have little to zero sway over what specific local projects get federal dollars.
That’s because of a 2011 moratorium on earmarks, which are lawmaker-directed spending to a hometown project.
The “wish list” that the city and the Ferguson Group lobbyists passed out last month to the Ohio delegation is chock-full of earmark-like requests that Ohio lawmakers can’t deliver.
For example, one item on the city’s two-page federal funding agenda says Cincinnati wants $30 million for I-75 corridor improvements and $800,000 to study the next phase of the city’s streetcar project.
“To me all of this sounds like a huge waste of the city’s money, if that’s what the lobbyists are producing,” said Steve Ellis, of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington watchdog group that has crusaded against earmarks. “As long as the moratorium is in effect,” the Ohio delegation can’t do anything with those requests.
Cincinnati City Council in recent years discussed cutting funding for lobbying with some arguing council members themselves could lobby. But ultimately the city kept its lobbyists.
Cincinnati is certainly not alone in having Washington representation. More than 1,000 states, cities, and municipalities hired lobbyists in 2011, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics. In all, they spent about $81 million in taxpayer dollars on Washington lobbyists last year.
“A lot of cities find great value in it,” said Gregory Minchak, spokesman for the National League of Cities, an association of municipal leaders.
The center’s data shows that spending on lobbying by cities and states climbed steadily from 1998 through 2009, but it’s dipped in the last two years.
Ellis noted that it’s often hard to determine whether success in securing federal money for local projects can be credited to a well-connected lobbyist, an influential lawmaker, or a forceful city advocate.
Last year, the city of Cincinnati forked over $120,000 to the Ferguson Group and officials are likely to spend about the same amount this year.
Mallory: 'An amazing amount of money'
Mallory says it’s worth every penny--and then some. The return on Cincinnati’s $120,000 investment in 2011 was about $27 million in federal funding for two key city projects--a $25 million grant for the Cincinnati Streetcar and more than $2 million in funding for the Riverfront Park.
The two Ferguson Group lobbyists under contract with the city – Bill Hanka and Ron Hamm – bring “tremendous value” and have helped snag “an amazing amount of money,” Mallory said between meetings with Cincinnati-area members of Congress last month. “Any mayor of a city our size, even smaller frankly, who is not up here working the system, is not doing their job,” he added.
City officials first hired the Ferguson Group in 2003, and Mallory has strongly supported the city’s contract with the firm during his tenure.
Hanka, one of the Ferguson lobbyists who works on the Cincinnati contract, initially said the firm had helped the city nab $121 million in federal dollars since 2005, but then revised that down to $117 million when asked for a specific list.
Even the $117 million total seems inflated, since two key items listed are “authorizations” – legislative promises that don’t have actual federal dollars attached. For example, the firm’s list of “federal agenda successes” includes $30.9 million in funding for the Riverfront Park from the Army Corps of Engineers. But $30 million of that is an authorization and only $936,000 is actual federal cash.
Hanka said the $30 million authorization was a “a major agenda item that we have to fight all year,” adding that it’s very difficult to get a new project funded by the Army Corps of Engineers. He conceded that the city still has to fight for the actual funds, but noted that without the authorization, “the Corps doesn’t give out money.”
Cincinnati far from alone in lobbying
Cincinnati-area lawmakers generally did not want to comment on the city’s lobbying contract with the Ferguson Group.
Asked if the city’s money was being well-spent, Rep. Steve Chabot declined to respond directly.
“My door is always open to any constituents who’d like to discuss issues in Cincinnati or the district as a whole,” the Westwood Republican said in a statement. “I’m elected to represent the people of Ohio’s first district and it’s my duty to hear their concerns.”
As policymakers in Washington have become tighter with the federal purse strings and cracked down on earmarks, local governments have found it more difficult to advocate for resources in Washington. Some, like Mallory, say the current climate makes having Washington representation even more vital, while others say it’s fruitless. With the congressional spigot for local projects essentially shut off, the lobbyists have to navigate the federal agencies that allot money for local projects.
Both the House and Senate have enacted a ban on earmarks, which in past years lawmakers used to steer funds to specific projects in their home districts. Now, much of that money is given out through competitive federal grants, or at the discretion of myriad agencies, from the Department of Transportation to Health and Human Services.
“It’s not as easy as it used to be, where you would call your congressman from back home and say ‘I need an earmark’,” said Hanka, a former congressional staffer.
No Covington lobbyist; 'We're all broke'
Among local government entities in the Greater Cincinnati region, only Cincinnati and Hamilton County have registered Washington lobbyists; both have contracts with the Ferguson Group. (Cincinnati also hired a second outlet last year to work on the sale of the Blue Ash Airport, paying at least $9,800 to Kaplan, Kirsch & Rockwell for that activity.)
Other local officials in the area say they either can’t afford to hire a Washington advocate -- or they’re not sure it would really make a difference.
“They’re broke, state government’s broke, we’re all broke,” said Larry Klein, the city manager for Covington, Ky. And with the earmark ban, “it’s very hard to get truly legitimate projects like the Brent Spence Bridge funded, much less the smaller things.”
Still, he said even if Covington had the money to hire a lobbyist, he’s not sure if he would. “You have to be a pretty big city to get your own way” in Washington, he said.
Hanka, the Cincinnati lobbyist, said he has adjusted his lobbying style to match the new era. He said the firm scours the federal register and agency websites every morning for newly announced grant opportunities. Hanka sends a list of the relevant ones to Cincinnati and other clients, and then helps usher them through the grant process.
On its website, the Ferguson Group has highlighted its role in helping Cincinnati win the $25 million transit grant for its streetcar project.
The firm arranged a key meeting, the web site notes, between Mallory and the Obama administration’s Transportation undersecretary, Roy Kienitz, who told Mallory the DOT “was looking for a stronger, demonstrated commitment of resources from the City of Cincinnati to make the project more competitive,” the website states. Cincinnati’s City Council passed legislation “authorizing up to $64 million in local bond financing for the project,” and the grant was awarded in 2010.
In 2012, the firm helped the city win another $10.9 million in federal grant money for the project.
“If you just take the street car--that’s $36 million--the relationship would be worth it just there,” said Mallory.
Mallory argued that it’s not harder to get federal money now, just different. And that makes it even more crucial to have advocates in Washington looking out for the city’s interests.
“Remember, there’s still a ton of money that’s going to be spent,” he said. “And the dynamics for me don’t change. I want Cincinnati to get its fair share.”
ENQUIRER IN-DEPTH: Earmarks end, but Cincinnati's lobbying continues (Cincinnati Enquirer)
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