'Wynn-Win' for K Street, Loss for the Public?

Don't Blame SAIC

Rep. Albert Wynn has said he is leaving Congress for the lobbying law firm Dickstein Shapiro -- but not right away. (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)
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The latest broadside against legislation that would put the brakes on climate change is an "independent study" conducted by Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), a leading science adviser to the federal government.

The study, released last month, found that the legislation, co-authored by Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John W. Warner (R-Va.), would produce hundreds of billions of dollars of losses in the gross domestic product and substantial increases in electricity and gasoline prices.

On closer examination, footnote No. 5 of the study says that SAIC does not endorse a word of the document. According to the footnote, the study's inputs came from the groups that paid for the report -- the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF), which have an interest in the results coming out that way. SAIC used its computer model on the data, but that was the extent of its involvement.

"SAIC is a policy-neutral, non-advocacy organization," the footnote states. "Analysis provided in this report is based on the output from the . . . model as a result of the ACCF/NAM input assumptions. The input assumptions, opinions and recommendations in this report are those of ACCF and NAM, and do not necessarily represent the views of SAIC."

Margo Thorning of the ACCF accepts that view but asserts that the study is not undermined.

Oh.

Paperwork Overload

The new ethics law, signed by President Bush last year, requires lobbyists to file more forms with various federal entities. Lobbyists also face stricter penalties, some of them criminal, if those forms are less than accurate.

Sound like a problem? Sure. But that's where private enterprise steps in.

Roseanna Haley, longtime document guru for Van Scoyoc Associates, has gone out on her own and started Capitol Filings. She is selling her services to help lobbyists file their now-quarterly reports about each client (twice as often as the old law required) as well as new, twice-annual reports about their campaign-related donations.

"We wish her well in this new venture," said H. Stewart " Stu " Van Scoyoc, president of Van Scoyoc Associates. "We expect to be her first and most loyal client."

Hire of the Week

The White House's former top lobbyist, Candida P. " Candi " Wolff, is joining the lobbying department of the law firm Hogan & Hartson.

Wolff, 43, headed President Bush's lobbying effort starting in 2005 and left three months ago to spend more time with her two young children. She said she has been helping with homework and field trips, two things she couldn't do while she held the city's most demanding lobbying job.

But now, she said, "I'm ready" to go back to the grind. She starts today as a partner.

And late-breaking news . . . The new head of Altria Client Services' D.C. office is Bruce A. Gates of Washington Council Ernst & Young.