Lobbyists hired to get money for Fresno Met

WASHINGTON -- Lobbyists could not save the Fresno Metropolitan Museum, though some tried.

Well before the museum shut its doors for good this week, officials had hired well-connected lobbyists in hopes of securing federal aid. The museum paid Capitol Hill experts $180,000 between 2001 and 2004, public records show. They had their work cut out for them.

"There's just a lot of competition," the Fresno museum's chief former lobbyist Ilisa Halpern Paul said Wednesday, adding that "art is seen as an extra by most people." The lobbying fees took only a small slice from the Fresno museum's annual budget, and none of the specific assistance being sought would have kept the facility's doors open.

Besides using hired guns, Fresno museum officials also tried the informal route.

Scott Nishioki, chief of staff for Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, recalled Wednesday that a museum official contacted Costa's office within the past year asking about earmarks. Nishioki said the futile request came after a formal appropriations deadline already had passed.

"In this environment, it's a hard sell, particularly if they don't have their own financial house in order," Nishioki said.

The Fresno Metropolitan Museum, of course, has not been alone in working the political angles. Organizers of a proposed Ag Science Center planned for Stanislaus County have reported paying lobbyists at least $300,000 since 2006 as they seek start-up help.

The California State Railroad Museum Foundation in Sacramento, Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose and Oakland Museum of California, among others, have all hired Capitol Hill lobbyists in recent years as well, lobbying records show.

The lobbyists are paid to know how Washington works. The state railroad museum, for instance, hired former Sacramento-area congressman Vic Fazio.

Similarly, Ilisa Halpern Paul gained experience working for Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein before she became a lobbyist. Even so, a museum presented a different professional challenge than some of her other corporate clients.

"People don't always see this as essential," Paul noted, adding that "one of the key problems we had was the perception that museums got a lot of private support, even though in a town like Fresno that doesn't always hold."

The Fresno museum did not hire lobbyists in Sacramento to seek state aid. From Washington, museum officials sought two rounds of assistance.

With the help of Feinstein and others, the museum obtained a $900,000 earmark in early 2003. The supporters included two GOP members, Reps. George Radanovich of Mariposa and Devin Nunes of Visalia, who no longer ask for earmarks.

"We were very strategic, very bipartisan," Paul said.

The money was supposed to help build what then-Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Visalia, termed a "state-of-the-art science-based exhibition and learning center." Even so, it wasn't enough to offset soaring costs from the museum's ambitious renovation. Costs ballooned from $12 million to $28 million by the time it was completed in November 2008.

The museum later received $99,200 designed to help establish a mobile museum serving remote San Joaquin Valley communities. Paul said the museum subsequently curtailed its lobbying and focused on its private fundraising once it had received these federal allocations.



The reporter can be reached at mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com or (202) 383-0006.

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Reid would seek tighter lobbying, ethics laws

CARSON CITY, Nev.—Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Rory Reid says he would tighten Nevada lobbying and ethics laws if elected.
In a policy statement issued Thursday, Reid said if Nevada wants to attract new businesses and restore its economy, it needs to create a foundation of trust.

Among other things, Reid says he would work to end lobbying by legislators, extend Nevada's "cooling off" period to two years, require ethics training for all state employees and lobbyists, and impose penalties for violations.

Reid also pledged "transparency" in state government, saying he would make his official schedule public and hold regular news conferences and town hall meetings.


Source:mercurynews.com/

Lobbying Disclosures Due Today

Today is the final day for lobbyists and organizations employing lobbyists to file their quarterly disclosure forms. The forms are due — they are all filed electronically — by 5:00 pm.

Most attention will be paid to the various companies that have received bailout funds. Already, some firms have reported lobbying on behalf of the Big Three automakers and banks receiving government funds.

While none of the automakers had filed their individual company lobbying reports as of Sunday evening, outside firms for the struggling Big Three automakers have reported billing nearly $550,000 in the first quarter of 2009 on federal lobbying.

…

Morgan Stanley, which has said it would like to repay the $10 billion it received in government loans as soon as possible, reported spending $540,000 on federal lobbying in the first quarter, a figure which includes internal lobbying costs and monies paid to its outside consultants.

…

Goldman Sachs spent $265,000 on outside consultants, having on retainer the Gephardt Group, the Duberstein Group and RR&G, among others, according to Senate lobbying reports.

Smith-Free Group and Quadripoint Strategies billed Bank of America $90,000 during the first quarter of 2009.

Citigroup paid its outside lobbying team of Capitol Hill Strategies and Ernst & Young $120,000 during the first quarter.