Article

Lobbying Rules

Feel Free To Share This Page Slashdot Del.icio.us Google Digg Reddit Newsvine Furl Yahoo Facebook

Tampa, May 3, 2007 -  

WASHINGTON - Some more openly than others, Tampa Bay area members of Congress are responding in different ways to new rules designed to make the workings of government more open and transparent.

Three have disclosed special funding requests that traditionally have been kept secret in Congress.

Two - Republican representatives Ginny Brown-Waite of Brooksville and C.W. Bill Young of Largo - refuse to disclose their requests for what often are described as budget "earmarks."

Two freshman House members - Democrat Kathy Castor of Tampa and Republican Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor - agreed to release to The Tampa Tribune what they say are their complete request lists. So did four-term Republican Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow, the House GOP conference chairman.

Their requests include money for Tampa's Riverwalk, digital cameras for Plant City police, better promotion of the domestic shrimp industry, defense-industry research and the preservation of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy to a local college.

Friday was the deadline for U.S. House members to submit such requests to the House Appropriations Committee under the new rules for the 2008 budget. Senators have until later this month.

The disclosures come from one of the biggest changes in both chambers this year: earmarks that make their way into final spending bills must come with their requesting lawmaker's names clearly identified within budget documents.

Previously, such requests that made it into the budget did not have to identify the author. Funded earmarks often remained a mystery unless the lawmakers wanted to brag about their successes.

More commonly known as "pork-barrel spending" because these earmarks bring home the bacon to districts, these requests lead to wasteful spending, government watchdogs say.

Although earmarks may help the member of Congress secure the loyalty of voters, critics say the practice also invites corruption.

In fact, it was fallout over several recent ethics scandals and corruption that helped Democrats win control of Congress last fall and prompted the rules changes.

Process Broken, Critics Say

Lawmakers, though, are permitted to keep secret their requests that fail to get funded as part of the budget.

Given that out, Brown-Waite and Young have declined to release a rundown of all the projects they are pushing. That means only their requests that are approved as part of final spending bills likely will come to public light.

"Apparently, some members of Congress do believe this is something that the public should know about," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste.

As for the lawmakers who don't, Schatz asks: "Why is it such a secret?"

Critics such as Schatz and Steve Ellis, of the Washington-based group Taxpayers for Common Sense, do not say that all of the recipients of earmarks necessarily are undeserving of federal funding.

They say, however, that earmarking is a broken process that year after year has been used to funnel billions of dollars to home districts outside the usual merit-based and competitive federal grant processes.

It's a process that lends itself to corruption, they add, because lawmakers who are worried about re-election find themselves pressed by constituents, local and state officials, educators, businesses, community groups and lobbyists to make the requests.

In refusing to release her list of requests, Brown-Waite emphasized she has made no requests to direct federal money to "private entities for projects that are not tied to an existing federal purpose." She said she based her requests on what local officials think are important to their communities.

In a written statement, Brown-Waite also suggested that "if The Tribune is interested in seeing what my 5th District elected officials feel is important to their local communities, that they request copies of the project request letters sent to my office by each of the eight counties" in her district.

Ellis, of the taxpayers group, responded that even if the newspaper did that it would not necessarily produce all of her requests, because other groups or individuals also might be making requests of Brown-Waite.

Young, a member and former chairman of the Appropriations Committee, does not really have a set list or requests to release, said spokesman Harry Glenn. Because Young is a senior committee member, he continually is getting new funding requests and modified requests not just from his district but from across the state and the country, Glenn said.

Glenn said this ever-evolving process for Young simply cannot be compared with the lists that freshmen lawmakers and those not serving on the appropriation committee might come up with.

Senators Stay Silent

Although House members had a deadline for submitting their new requests last week, senators, who have much broader constituencies and whose earmark requests can be less parochial, have until later this month to submit their requests to some appropriation subcommittees.

But the offices of both GOP Sen. Mel Martinez and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson say they do not intend to publicly disclose their earmark requests or even say how many requests they are filing this year.

Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin said the senator's office has received more than 800 separate requests from local officials and others from across Florida. The office agreed to release a list of requests it has received from throughout central and western Florida, including the Tampa Bay area.

McLaughlin said, however, that the list does not reflect items that Nelson will submit to the committee this month in what is an ongoing evaluation process by his office. McLaughlin said Nelson intends to make public only the items that get funded in the budget, in keeping with the Senate rules.

"Taxpayers have a right to know how their money is spent," Nelson says in a written statement. "That's why I support new Senate reforms."

Martinez's communications director, Ken Lundberg, said the earmarking process is competitive and that it is a better strategy not to widely advertise what the senator is seeking from some often limited federal funding sources.

Advantages To Keeping Mum

There may be some other political advantages to not disclosing earmark requests. Lawmakers have a better chance at avoiding embarrassment or offending local elected officials over projects they don't get in the budget or that they don't really push for funding.

Contributing to the new antipork climate was the sentencing to prison last year of former GOP Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California for taking bribes from the chief executive of MZM Inc., a defense contractor, in return for steering defense bill earmarks to the company.

Also drawing attention to it was the news that former superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to bribing public officials, had described the appropriations committees and process as "an earmark favor factory."

Other recent embarrassments include the $223 million in funding - since rescinded - for the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere" linking one small Alaska town to a tiny island.

In providing their funding requests to the Tribune, Castor, Bilirakis and Putnam say they've evaluated their choices carefully and stand by them as valid uses of taxpayer dollars.

Putnam defends the constitutional power of the purse given to Congress and said special projects are necessary because some federal funding formulas are obsolete, unfair or flawed when it comes to Florida and other states with fast-changing demographics.

He said lawmakers with unique insights into the needs of their districts simply are doing their jobs by inserting priorities or projects that will benefit their constituents. He agrees that earmarks "should be transparent and disclosed."

Shopping Lists

Putnam disclosed 26 requests totaling about $51 million. They include $1 million to help the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission monitor the status of grouper and snapper in the Gulf. He's also made two requests - for $225,000 and $250,000 - to help preserve drawings, photographs and other items relating to architect Wright's historical relationship with Florida Southern College in Lakeland.

Castor's office similarly said her list reflects "grassroots knowledge" of her district and her experience with the needs of children as well as local health care and environmental concerns.

Castor disclosed 49 requests totaling more than $156.4 million. Those include $13 million to dredge Tampa Harbor's Big Bend Channel and $2.5 million for Tampa's Riverwalk, a 2.4-mile walkway planned to link Tampa Heights with the Channel District.

Bilirakis said he is glad to reveal his 35 earmark requests that total more than $99.6 million.

"I supported bringing more transparency to the earmark process when the House approved such changes earlier this year," Bilirakis said.

Of that amount, more than $33.6 million is for military and defense-related research and development, including projects by companies in his district.

His requests also include $8 million for the nonprofit Wild American Shrimp Inc.'s marketing efforts for the domestic shrimp industry and $50,000 for digital cameras for the Plant City Police Department.

Plant City Police Chief Bill McDaniel said the money would go for 85 new cameras to be used by officers at traffic accidents and crime scenes - to replace 10-year-old cameras.

Lawmaker requests for earmarks for projects have skyrocketed in recent years. In 1987, President Reagan vetoed a spending bill because it contained 121 earmarks.

A Congressional Research Service analysis, however, shows that the number of earmarks in appropriations bills increased to 15,887 by fiscal 2005.

The tax watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste says the dollar amount of special projects reached $29 billion in 2006.

The group estimates Florida in 2006 received nearly $267 million in earmarks, ninth highest among the 50 states and District of Columbia.

For that same year, the last for which national comparisons have been done, the group ranks Florida 50th in terms of per capita earmarks at $21.84 per person, ahead of only Georgia. Alaska was tops at $489 per person.

The national average was $30.55 per person, the group reported.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@tampatrib.com.

List Of Projects