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Lobbying Firm In Gear To Help Clients Get A Piece Of The Stimulus Action
One sector that looks set to be stimulated by the $789 billion bill Congress has in the works: the lobbying industry.
Foley Hoag, the K-Street- and Boston-based law and lobbying firm, announced today that it has put together a "new cross-discipline stimulus response team," designed to go after state and federal dollars allocated for new projects on behalf of clients.
According to a press release:
The firm is bringing together attorneys and policy specialists from a mix of practices certain to be at the center of new project-based financing, including Energy Technology & Renewables; Environment; Infrastructure & Privatization; Life Sciences, and Government Srategies (sic).(Ed note: Lobbyists, it appears, have now been re-branded as "policy specialists". Kind of like how in Hollywood, agents are now known as "representation.")
The group will advise clients nationally and regionally as they pursue various aspects of stimulus-related work across a spectrum of business segments.
Doug McGarrah, who's running the new team, adds:
Our group has a sophisticated understanding of the steps involved in permitting, procurement and project delivery. We recognize this is an extraordinary opportunity to help advance the interests of our clients.
He goes on:
[M]any businesses and municipalities in our state will benefit from an infusion of federal funds. We are launching this integrated team with an eye toward helping clients react swiftly to, and capitalize on, this fast-moving Stimulus Package.
In other words: this stimulus bill is going to be a gold-mine, and we can help you get in on it.
We've put in a call to Foley Hoag to find out what exactly they plan to do for their clients, and will update with any details. And, needless to say, it seems unlikely that Foley Hoag is the only K Street firm able to spot an opportunity like this.
It's good to know that, even a $789 billion package designed to rescue the US economy hasn't put a damper on the spirit of self-interest.
Josh
Zachary
It is a gift, and Foley Hoag is but a vessel...
February 12, 2009 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm a little confused as to why this is news and why this piece has a snide, eye-rolling tone. People lobby for government money all the time; that's how officials know where to target resources. With the stimulus package there will be a whole lot of money to go around, so hundreds of organizations -- ranging from schools to hospitals to construction companies and everything else -- will be pursuing the business. That's what companies do: they try to get business. Am I missing something?
February 12, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is TPM, where the broad brush is often preferred.
February 12, 2009 3:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the tone is in reference to the speed of the announcement - the bill isn't even finalized yet.
But, yeah, of course lobbyists will line up to feed at the trough.
February 12, 2009 3:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Lining up to feed at the trough"...Again, I just don't see why there's a negative connotation. Where is all this stimulus money supposed to go but to organizations that request it?
February 12, 2009 3:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the negative connotation is that Foley Hoag's job (like that of all lobbyists) is not exactly to dispassionately help the federal government determine what allocation of funds is in the country's best interest. That is, clients will be hiring them to convince the government that the money should go into the client's pocket regardless of whether that's in the country's best interests or not.
And, lest it be forgotten, certain lobbyists (cough Abramoff cough) have been known to make their case not through logic and evidence but liberal spreading around of the Benjamins.
So, maybe a little snideness is warranted.
February 12, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
+1
February 12, 2009 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
$800 billion is a bonanza. Are we even the slightest bit surprised that lobbyists are lobbying? These guys are buzzing around looking for work, and lo and behold, they come across the biggest pile of shit ever created.
February 12, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pigs at the feeding station....
February 12, 2009 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am not sure anyone's surprised that there happens to be some lobbying going on. I can't read the TPM brain but methinks that they are bringing to our attention because for those of you who only read your local newspaper a story like this may not be in the cards. Nothing wrong with lobbying per se but as we have seen in the past sometimes lobbyist are merely vessels for city/state/federal projects and sometimes they are for private companies which offer little value to the public.
I think we know how dirty a word lobbyist currently but I hear liberal might get elevated from dirty word to a less than dirty word, so maybe there is some justice in the world of culture.
February 12, 2009 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
And of course the "moderate" Republican from Maine..Susan Collins..stripped the "whistleblower protection" from the recovery and reinvestiment package..she just made it easier for "Government" fraud, abuse and waste (and little accountability..once a crooked politician, always a crooked politician!!) of our hard-earned tax money
February 12, 2009 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
like flies on shit...?
February 12, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've been wondering how much of the stimulus $$'s are going to be eaten up in the administration of the program. I have a feeling that by the time the middlemen have taken their share, we won't be left with much.
February 12, 2009 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
The problem with lobbyists (at least the "pay-for-play" variety, as opposed to bona-fide grassroots issues lobbyists) is that they're overpaid middle men.
Why should there be an entire secondary market of sleazy marketers between policymakers and the service providers and public interests that benefit from expenditures of public funds? It's inefficient and wasteful to allow a parasitic industry of ersatz gatekeepers to stand between the public and its government.
Lobbying as a for-profit pursuit diverts public money, directly and indirectly, from being put to efficient use in the public interest (because lobbyist fees are recouped as expenses of doing business by service providers). It's basically become a legislative payola system.
February 12, 2009 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I absolutely agree. I also think that a mechanism to fix this can be built at the grassroots level, with a non-profit and an open source software project, without government funding.
February 12, 2009 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
When life gives you lemons ... I think TPM needs a lobbyist. Time to build that supertrain directly to DailyKos!
Some people think I'm kidding. Really. Get lobbying Josh!
February 12, 2009 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
" Policy specialists" should be forever known as the Daschle loophole.
February 12, 2009 7:07 PM | Reply | Permalink