Earmark Toolkit

Earmark News

Print this page

March 15, 2007

Stanislaus officials lobby Congress for funds

By Michael Doyle

ScrippsNews

In theory, Stanislaus County [California] officials face a harder time than usual in this year's search for federal funds.

In practice, 2007 may prove to be political business as usual.

This week, county representatives are delivering their multimillion-dollar wish list on Capitol Hill. They want funds for flood control, emergency communications and a parkway.

All told, the Stanislaus County contingent is asking for $4.1 million in federal funding.

"It's definitely a critical time for us to be here," Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden said Wednesday.

The request includes $2 million for a trail in the Toulumne River Regional Park near downtown Modesto, $600,000 to continue studying Orestimba Creek flood control near the town of Newman and $1.5 million for radio equipment so police officers and sheriff's deputies can talk to each other.

Wasden and 16 county allies, united under the Stanislaus Leadership Collaborative banner, are hand-delivering the requests. This has become a tradition for local governments. Merced County representatives are coming next week, Fresno County representatives previously showed up and San Joaquin County swamped Capitol Hill by sending about 70 officials back.

There are tricks to this trade.

Modesto and Stanislaus County both have the paid help of lobbyists with the firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. The visitors host receptions for lawmakers, bring proof of local support, prepare slick promotional materials and keep their requests relatively narrow.

"We learned a long time ago to come in with significant projects, but only a limited number," said Bill Bassitt, chief executive officer of the Stanislaus Economic Development & Workforce Alliance. "This is not a Christmas list."

The local requests, though, come as the Democratic-controlled Congress touts new restrictions on the so-called earmarks by which lawmakers traditionally steer federal dollars homeward. The result is a more complicated political environment.

"They've said, 'No more earmarks,'" Stanislaus County Supervisor Jeff Grover said Wednesday, "but we don't know what 'no more earmarks' means."

Apparently, neither do lawmakers. Congressional staffers meeting with the Stanislaus County visitors acknowledged that no one yet seems to know precisely how new rules will work in practice.

Recent earmarks have included funding to purchase land for the San Joaquin National Wildlife Refuge, money to study potential reservoirs on the Upper San Joaquin River and previous funding for the Orestimba Creek and police radio initiatives.

But earmarks got a bad name, thanks to projects like Alaska's $223 million "Bridge to Nowhere," and Democrats took power vowing change.

As one of their signature moves, lawmakers approved a new package of House rules including one dubbed "earmark reform."

"We have seen an explosion in earmarks over the last 12 years in Washington, earmarks that had greased the wheels of an out-of-control congressional machinery," Rep. Louise Slaughter, the New York Democrat who chairs the powerful House Rules Committee, declared in January. "The Democrats have pledged to fundamentally reform the way earmarks are passed into law."

The new rules, though, are far from a prohibition. Instead, the congressional sponsors of all earmarks must simply be identified publicly. Usually, lawmakers take public credit anyway for the earmarks through press releases. Lawmakers asking for earmarks must also now attest that they have no personal financial interest in the project.

The new rules do not say anything about restricting earmarks linked to campaign contributions.

Despite all the anti-earmark publicity, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein told the Stanislaus County visitors that her office had received more California earmark requests than ever before. Grover said Wednesday he has been hearing congressional predictions that the new earmark rules might be eased later this year, once lawmakers start finishing the appropriations bills.

Permalink