Connolly Donor Awarded Contract

Fairfax Chairman Says He Wasn't Involved in Hiring

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) received a $5,000 campaign contribution from a prominent Washington lobbying firm less than a month before the county awarded the firm a $10,000-a-month contract, county and campaign finance records show.

Connolly and the board did not vote on the hiring of Alcalde & Fay, an Arlington County-based firm that represents numerous cities and counties in dealings with Congress and federal agencies. Under Fairfax policy, consulting contracts and other purchases are handled by the county executive through competitive bidding.

Connolly said he was not involved in the selection of the firm, whose president, Kevin J. Fay, serves on the board of the Fairfax County Park Authority.

"There's an absolute firewall between me and that process," said Connolly, who has raised nearly $1 million for this year's reelection campaign. "I was informed after the fact."

County Executive Anthony H. Griffin, who announced the contract award April 6, also said Connolly was not consulted.

"He had no input into the process," Griffin said.

Connolly's campaign received $5,000 from Alcalde & Fay on March 16, according to an analysis of campaign finance records conducted for The Washington Post by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project. The firm also donated $5,000 to Connolly last June.

Connolly said that the timing of this year's contribution was related to his annual St. Patrick's Day party and fundraiser and that as soon as he heard about the contract, he informed county officials that the firm was a campaign donor.

Connolly said his only connection to the firm was through Fay, a Fairfax County resident with whom he has worked on various board projects, most notably the opening of Clemyjontri Park in McLean, a playground fully accessible to disabled children.

Connolly said there was no discussion of a contract with Fay, who was appointed to the park board by Supervisor Joan M. DuBois (R-Dranesville).

Fay was out of the county last week and unavailable for comment. Nancy Gibson Prowitt, the firm's lead lobbyist for Fairfax, said the contributions to Connolly were not an attempt to solicit business but a reflection of the fact that most of its partners live in Northern Virginia.

"They support good government," she said.

Although a state or region's congressional delegation is tasked with bringing home federal largess, cities and counties have relied increasingly on well-connected private lobbyists to help them compete for coveted appropriations dollars. Alcalde & Fay replaces Fairfax's longtime federal representative, Thomas J. Bulger, a former Fairfax budget analyst and legislative representative for the National Association of Counties whose firm, Government Relations Inc. held the Washington lobbying contract for 10 years.

Connolly and other Fairfax officials said the genesis of the change dates to a board discussion at a February 2004 retreat about how to put more muscle into its Washington representation.

"There was a sense that we were missing out on grants and that we didn't have as robust a presence with Congress," Connolly said, adding that this was not Bulger's failing but reflected the board's lack of a coherent Washington agenda.

County officials said they particularly wanted better contacts on committees handling defense appropriations, to compete for road construction funds and other monies to soften the impact of the recommendations of the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The panel has recommended the relocation of about 22,000 Defense Department personnel to Fort Belvoir in southern Fairfax County.

"We have to get defense money or military construction money, and that's not an area where local government typically has a connection," said Susan E. Mittereder, the county's legislative director and a member of a committee of county officials who reviewed four proposals from lobbying firms, including Alcalde & Fay and Government Relations Inc.

Founded in 1973 by Hector Alcalde, a onetime chief of staff to former representative Sam Gibbons (D-Fla.), who later served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the firm has more than 60 public-sector clients, including the cities of Virginia Beach and Dallas; Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Marin County, Calif.; and Fairfax Water, formerly the Fairfax County Water Authority.

The firm has earned a reputation for its technical skills in moving earmarked federal funds through the budget process to local government clients. A widely criticized -- and routinely employed -- legislative practice, earmarks are appropriations that bypass committee hearings and other public scrutiny and are placed directly into spending bills by members of Congress. Some earmarks are among the most notorious examples of congressional pork, such as a $223 million "bridge to nowhere" sponsored by Alaskan lawmakers for a span linking the town of Ketchikan to tiny Gravina Island. The item was later withdrawn.

In its formal proposal to Fairfax, Alcalde & Fay promoted its earmarking expertise, offering a breakdown of the congressional calendar that showed each "earmark opportunity."

Defenders of earmarking call it a legitimate way for localities to get needs addressed. Mittereder and Prowitt said the process is now transparent and a part of the public record, with localities such as Fairfax submitting their spending priorities to the congressional delegation.

Mittereder, who said she initially invited about a dozen lobbying firms to apply for the county job, sought a proposal from Alcalde & Fay because of its work for Virginia Beach, which includes $100 million in erosion control and hurricane protection. "They have a proven track record in terms of their experience," she said.

Two other applicants, American Continental Group and a joint venture of Sullivan Associates and Madison Services Group, also bid on the lobbying contract. Bulger, of Government Relations, said he had no reason to believe that the selection process was unfair.

Staff writer Amy Gardner contributed to this report.