Proposals Call For Disclosure of Ties to Lobbyists

In an interview, Blunt said he recommended that the group hire a lobbyist after they asked, but he said he did not recommend Hartley. He did not have to. The leaders of Students in Free Enterprise knew Hartley as well as they knew him, Blunt said.

"You never know what to advise people when they ask," Blunt said. "Members think, 'I'm the member. I'll help my constituents when I can.' But on the other hand, if they're thinking, 'I can't keep track of everything,' that's true, too."

"I remember them asking me what I thought," he continued. "I told them I wouldn't say not to bring a new player on the field if you think you can afford it."

AEA Technology Engineering Services Inc., a Pittsburgh firm with 55 employees, won four earmarks worth $5 million in the 2006 energy and water appropriations bill. Its lobbyist, Zel E. Lipsen, has contributed $3,500 to Rep. David L. Hobson (R-Ohio), chairman of the House energy and water development appropriations subcommittee, since 2003, and $1,500 to Rep. Peter Visclosky (Ind.), the panel's ranking Democrat, since 2001.

Advanced Acoustic Concepts Inc., a small Navy contractor, received at least $1.5 million in this year's defense appropriation, after winning the backing of Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), the ranking Democrat on the House defense appropriations subcommittee. PMA Group, the company's lobbying firm since 1998, has given Murtha $29,000, making it the lawmaker's third most generous patron, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

On Jan. 21, 2005, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), Reynolds's counterpart at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, boasted of winning more than $2 million in federal funding for the Chicago Public Schools. Four days later, Chicago Public Schools' lobbying firm, Holland & Knight LLP, contributed $5,000 to the DCCC, the first of three donations last year totaling $15,000.

Emanuel said he had never recommended Holland & Knight to the school system and was not aware that the firm or its lobbyists had contributed to the DCCC. Peter Cunningham, a spokesman for the Chicago Public Schools, said the system hired the lobby shop on the recommendation of a former Chicago city official who worked at the firm.

In years past, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Falcon Waterfree Technologies would have gone straight to its congressman, Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), when it ran into a wall trying to sell its water-free urinals to the Navy. Instead, last year, it hired a go-between, American Defense International Inc., for what company executives viewed as a nominal $40,000. ADI lobbyists advised the firm to go to Ehlers anyway, who then secured a $1 million earmark. Ehlers spokesman Jon Brandt said the congressman was happy to help, but James Krug, the company's president and chief executive, still views the contract as money well spent. "In a complicated Washington environment, it seemed prudent to hire an expert," he said.

Other lobbyists' clients agreed. "I don't know what has led us to this point as a country," said West of Students in Free Enterprise, "but you definitely seem to need a lobbyist these days."