Lobbyists Find Job Security In Crunch

Registration Is Up Amid Budget Woes

Countless interest groups will be scrapping for survival when legislative sessions open next week in Maryland and Virginia. But one profession seems poised to make out just fine amid the deep budget cuts coming in both capitals: lobbyists.

The economic downturn does not appear to have hurt the lucrative business of the lobbying corps in Annapolis and Richmond. In some ways, it is clearly helping. Even as they cut costs elsewhere, many businesses and nonprofit groups say they are loath to forgo their hired help in the capitals.

"The tendency seems to be just the opposite," said Gerard Evans, one of the top-earning lobbyists in Annapolis. "As businesses get squeezed and the bottom line becomes more precarious, they turn to lobbyists more and not less."

As of yesterday in Maryland, 2,167 registration forms had been filed by lobbyists to represent clients since the close of last year's legislative session, according to the State Ethics Commission. That is up from 2,050 in the comparable period a year ago -- and that was quite a busy time. It included a special session in which multiple taxes were raised.

Data from Virginia are less precise but suggest that the lobbying corps remains vibrant. The number of lobbyists signed up this year, 1,595, slightly exceeds that of last year, according to figures compiled this week by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in state politics.

During the upcoming sessions, decisions on issues such as energy policy and environmental restrictions could have far-reaching consequences for businesses and other interests, as they do every year. But with both states facing daunting fiscal shortfalls that are largely the result of the national recession, organizations that benefit from the budget are also anxious about losing funding.

In Maryland, for example, the League for People With Disabilities relies on three state programs for the majority of its $5 million operating budget, which pays for an array of employment and therapeutic recreational services.

For the first time in at least several years, the league has contracted with a lobbyist in Annapolis to look out for its interests.

"The reason we went this route is that it's more important than ever that the legislature know the important work we're doing," said David Greenberg, the league's chief executive. "You read every day in the paper that the state is facing enormous challenges."

Although some larger businesses and other groups keep government relations specialists on the payroll, most organizations such as Greenberg's look to contract lobbyists, who might represent dozens of clients with various interests in the capital. The top earners in Annapolis and Richmond typically gross several hundred thousand dollars a year.

The league's $10,000 lobbying expense, Greenberg said, is well worth minimizing the risk of losing more funding than otherwise would be the case.

One of the funding sources for the league is Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program whose beneficiaries include nursing homes and numerous other health-care providers who are lobbying to maintain their level of reimbursements from the program.