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March 29, 2007

Merced Co. officials go to Washington

Business, political leaders press Congress on local project help.

By Michael Doyle

Fresno (Calif.) Bee

Lobbying is like the lottery. You can't win if you don't play. And the odds of success can seem similarly daunting, as Merced County officials are learning this week.

Two dozen of the county's business and political leaders are pressing Congress to support local projects. The visitors have their tip sheets, talking points and multimillion-dollar wish lists. They also confront stiff Capitol Hill odds, as myriad players put in their own bids.

"We do this to be competitive," Merced radio station executive Mike McAdam said Tuesday. "We think that the unique needs that we have for Merced County, and especially telling people what we have going on in Merced County, is very, very important."

McAdam, vice president of KUBB and KHTN Radio, heads the board of directors of the Merced County Economic Development Corp., making him one of the leaders of this week's lobbying trip. The priorities include:

$5 million to complete an engineering and design study for a State Highway 152 bypass around the city of Los Banos. The study funds would only be a tiny down payment on a project estimated to cost nearly half a billion dollars.

$5 million for a Campus Parkway project, a four-lane, 4.5-mile expressway connecting Highway 99 to Yosemite Avenue.

$400,000 for a proposed engineering academy to offer Merced high school students a strong grounding in math and science. The program, with matching local funds, would be based at Buhach Colony High School.

The Merced County requests total $22.5 million. Under newly imposed budget rules, new spending must be offset by cuts or revenue increases. Democratic leaders also insist they will closely scrutinize the specific funding items, dubbed "earmarks," that have sometimes exploded into political trouble.

"There's no question that we face a difficult budget situation that will have to be addressed with responsible spending," said Pleasanton Democrat Jerry McNerney, whose district includes southern San Joaquin County.

"That means securing funding for projects will be especially tough."

Next month, a sprawling San Joaquin County delegation will make its own pitch for federal help. Like Merced's delegation, San Joaquin County has adopted the name "One Voice" to reflect a unified lobbying posture.

For Merced, this includes agreeing on the Highway 152 bypass as the county's No. 1 priority.

The bypass has been under study for 10 years, while construction estimates keep rising. Hoping to push some emotional buttons, Merced officials this year are handing lawmakers a statement noting how a young mother was killed on the road "right in front of her children," who were 10 and 3. She was hit by a truck while walking.

"We can put a face on what's going on in our communities," said Elaine Post, redevelopment director for the city of Los Banos.

Delegations from Tulare, Fresno and Stanislaus counties, among others, have already marched through Capitol Hill this year.

All told, 1,663 California funding requests totaling $14.4 billion have flooded into the office of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein this year, according to Feinstein's staff. Feinstein is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The original deadline for House members to submit funding requests to the House Appropriations Committee was March 16.

Widespread confusion over new ethics rules caused the funding request deadline to be pushed back to mid-April, however.

"What I'm realizing is that there are a lot of people out there, with a lot of projects," said Gene Lieb, publisher of the Los Banos Enterprise.

Some business is outside Congress. On Tuesday, for instance, Merced economic development representatives met with Chinese Embassy officials to talk about the San Joaquin Valley's growth potential.

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