Earmark white paper author revealed

A lobbyist at a firm known for securing earmarks has confirmed she is the author of a 2008 white paper defending the lawmaker projects.

Melissa Hyman, a partner at the Ferguson Group, confirmed to The Hill in an e-mail that she wrote the bulk of the report that had K Street buzzing.

{mosads}The former aide to three-term Rep. Joseph Hoeffel (D-Pa.) said she wrote both “The Fairness of Congressional Earmarking in American Democracy” and this year’s update. A cover page included with the updated document identifies her as the author.

“Yes, I am the primary author of the white paper, in consultation with several other partners at the Ferguson Group,” Hyman said in the e-mail to The Hill.

The updated white paper, written on March 12, comes as both parties enforce tough new restrictions on earmarks that will likely reduce the number of projects in this year’s appropriations bills.

The Hill obtained a copy of the seven-page white paper, which, like its February 2008 original, makes a spirited defense of the earmarking process and has been making its way around K Street. That is an unpopular cause these days, with both House Democrats and Republicans instituting various bans on the members’ pet projects.

“Earmarking does not increase federal spending, but instead directs funds appropriated from established federal programs to areas of need as determined by elected members of Congress working with local elected officials and constituents,” the paper says.

In short, Hyman’s paper argues that when given responsibility over federal spending, executive-branch agencies distribute money much less evenly than when members of Congress have that same authority. She draws examples from several grant programs, such as the Justice Department’s COPS program, which helps provide funding to local police departments, and the Federal Transit Administration’s bus program.

“As the paper indicates, earmarks are an effective method used by the federal government to return money to communities, particularly small- and medium-sized communities,” Hyman said. “Members of Congress, who live in these communities and are elected to represent them, know firsthand the needs of their communities and understand the importance of returning federal funding to meet these local needs.”

When the paper first came to light in early 2008, it created a buzz on K Street since it defended earmarking. The process of attaching funding for small projects to appropriations bills, sponsored by lawmakers, has often been derided by critics as a source of corruption, most notably exemplified in the case of jailed ex-Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.).

Steve Ellis, vice president for Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group, said the white paper does not present the problems with earmarks.

“It is a one-sided argument here that presents a very biased view of the earmarking process,” Ellis said. “It leaves out the most important information, such as the actual cost and the fact that the most powerful lawmakers always get the most earmarks.”

The Ferguson Group has long been suspected by other lobbyists of being behind the paper because of its skill in securing earmarks for clients.

On its website, the lobby firm says it has helped secure a quarter of a billion dollars for its clients in each of the last three fiscal years. Lobbyists at the firm helped win more than $330 million for their clients in the fiscal 2006 House transportation authorization bill and have netted close to $120 million in Homeland Security Department funds for their clients since the agency was first created in 2002, according to the website.

The firm itself has done well, too. The Ferguson Group reported earning around $12.3 million in lobbying fees for 2009, a 12 percent rise from its 2008 figure, according to lobbying disclosure records.

Hyman is a registered lobbyist at the firm and represents several local governments and transit authorities across the country.

In 2008, The Washington Post reported that the author of the white paper was a member of the 302(b) Group, an informal association of lobbyists who previously worked for either the House or Senate Appropriations committee. But in e-mails with The Hill, Hyman said she is not a member of the group, noting she did not work as an aide to either committee. She did say that firm partners who are members of the group consulted on the paper.

The white paper has won fans on K Street who feel the earmarking process has been mischaracterized by its critics.

“The paper is excellent and makes the point that democracy works,” said one appropriations lobbyist. “Spending is not automatically reduced without earmarks, and finally, Congress should not abdicate its authority to direct spending only to let the executive branch make those decisions.”

Ellis does not agree and questions why Washington lobbyists are needed to secure federal funds for local governments.

“This is a self-serving document, but I don’t begrudge them that. At least it is open and serves as a defense of what they do,” Ellis said. “But why do local governments need lobbyists in the first place? They are spending local taxpayer dollars to secure federal taxpayer dollars.”