Millions in Utah tax dollars are spent to lobby Congress

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 8, 2005 | by Jerry D. Spangler

WASHINGTON -- In theory, Utahns elect two senators and three House members to represent their interests in the nation's capital.

In practice, state and local governments, as well as public universities, water districts and other publicly funded organizations, combined to spend more than $7 million -- much if not most of it taxpayer money -- from 1998 to mid-2004 lobbying Congress or hiring outside lobbyists to do it for them, according to a new study by the Center for Public Integrity, released Thursday.

"It's almost like the lobbyist tax," Keith Ashdown, vice president for policy at Taxpayers for Common Sense, told the center.

"If you are from a local entity and you are trying to get funded and you don't have a senior lawmaker on the right committee in Congress, you have to basically pay a tax to lobbyists to get recognized," Ashdown said.

The University of Utah tops the list of public Utah entities spending money on lobbyists, the center's study shows, spending $1.8 million over the past 5 1/2 years.

The U.'s Nancy Lyon, head of government relations, says money spent on lobbyists is a great buy. "We get between $300 million and $500 million a year in federal monies; and we're proud of that."

The grants, research monies and other cash "are a great asset" to the U.'s mission, to U. students and to the Utah economy as a whole, says Lyon.

At $320,000 in 2003 and $300,000 in 2005, the lobbyists are costing 1 percent of the federal grants and other cash coming into the U., "a very wise investment," says Lyon, a former Utah House member and, before taking the U. job, a well-known lobbyist on Utah's Capitol Hill.

The U. just switched lobbyists from the Timmons Group (bought out by WWP Group) to a three-firm consortium whose principals have close ties to Utahns. One principal, said Lyon, is the former chief of staff to the House Resource Committee when former Utah Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, chaired the committee. Another principal has close ties with former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, who now heads the huge federal Health and Human Services Department.

The lobbyists "know the laws, the system and the key people" in Congress and the federal bureaucracy, said Lyon. "We're going to work that funding source very aggressively."

Nationally, 1,400 different local governments spent more than $357 million on lobbying, whereas more than 300 universities spent $141.7 million on lobbying from 1998 to 2004, the report found. State governments and U.S. territories combined to spend $64 million.

Utah's state government spent nearly $1.2 million over the past 5 1/2 years, the report found.

Former Gov. Olene Walker, who for 11 years was lieutenant governor to former Gov. Mike Leavitt before succeeding him in November 2003, said Thursday she doesn't remember what specific work the lobbyists did for the state. "We were doing most of the lobbying ourselves, especially on keeping Hill (Air Force Base) open, " said Walker, who recalled that one lobbying firm's contract was cut short because it wasn't producing the results state officials wanted.

The Utah Transit Authority spent more than $1.6 million on D.C. lobbyists. But over the same time frame, said UTA spokesman Justin Jones, "We've gotten $377 million in federal discretionary funds, money that could have gone to other transit districts if we don't fight for it." Much of UTA's successful light-rail system was built with that money, he added.

The tremendous amount of money being spent on D.C. lobbyists -- a total of $13 billion spent by public and private entities since 1998- - has fueled a robust lobbying industry that now employs more than 14,000 people.

And the amount being spent to influence Congress and administration officials now exceeds the amount spent by candidates seeking federal office, the report found.

Spending by Utah entities ranked 36th among the 50 states and six territories.

According to the study, 119 different Utah companies or organizations spent $28 million from 1998 to mid-2004 on lobbying activities.

Envirocare of Utah spent more on lobbying -- almost $6.8 million - - than any other Utah company.

Huntsman Corp. was close behind with $6.5 million, and 1-800- Contacts was fifth with $1.35 million.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., son of Huntsman Corp. founder Jon Huntsman Sr., recently closed down the state's two-person D.C. office, saying he would work with the state congressional delegation to serve the state's needs. (The center's report runs through June 2004, and Huntsman took office Jan. 1 of this year.)

However, Huntsman has also issued a request-for-proposal for private lobbyists to handle some Utah work, and Huntsman chief of staff Jason Chaffetz says new lobbyists may be hired.

One out of every four Utah dollars spent on lobbying came from a publicly funded entity. In fact, three of the six Utah entities that spent more than $1 million on lobbying were funded with tax dollars - - the University of Utah, UTA and state government.

Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, told the public policy center that it "would be penny-wise, pound- foolish" for state and local governments not to have a presence in Washington. If they don't, "The federal government screws the states, the states screw the counties. And the cities and counties don't have any money left," he said.