Ann Eppard (By J.D. Cavrich/Altoona Mirror)

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 11, 1998; Page A04

When lawmakers and lobbyists celebrated the passage of the giant highway bill on April 1, the centerpiece cake had all the trademarks of transportation lobbyist Ann Eppard: It was the same white chocolate mousse she had ordered for years from the Alexandria Pastry Shop and Cafe to serve at committee festivities. The $217 billion legislation that sailed through the House also bore Eppard's imprint, from the addition of $3 million for a client who wanted to make a television documentary to the elimination of a proposed federal drunken driving standard.

Dressed in a tailored red suit, Eppard was celebrating in the offices of the House Transportation Committee along with her former boss, Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), last Wednesday night. A week later, however, she was hit with an indictment charging that during her tenure as Shuster's chief of staff she accepted $230,000 in illegal payments in connection with an enormous Boston highway project and embezzled $27,500 from his campaign.

Eppard's legal troubles, coming in the wake of perhaps her greatest legislative triumph, highlight how closely her career is tied to one of the Hill's most powerful chairmen. While the hefty highway bill serves as testimony to her effectiveness as a lobbyist, the 30-page indictment prepared by the U.S. Attorney in Boston alleges that she was able to translate her proximity to Shuster into personal wealth.

While it is impossible to determine exactly how many projects reflect her work, at least 10 specific provisions in the bill represent lobbying victories for her firm, Ann Eppard Associates Ltd. From posting signs for a yet-unbuilt interstate highway in Texas to earmarking $12 million for research into emergency response systems, Eppard has delivered for clients across the nation.

In interviews this week, Eppard's clients praised her performance. Working on behalf of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, for example, Eppard helped secure $20 million in funding for the Mon-Fayette Expressway. John Martino, legislative liaison for the commission, called Eppard "one of the most intelligent persons I've ever met in all my years in government and public service."

She was the "eyes and ears" for the alcohol industry's attempt to effectively gut a proposed national drunken driving standard, according to a person familiar with the lobby campaign. Rather than adopting the Senate's plan to make federal funds contingent on states imposing a .08 percent blood alcohol limit, Shuster's bill offered a variety of incentives encouraging them to do so.

In several instances, Eppard helped promote her chosen causes by introducing them personally to Shuster. Danny Alvarez, director of the Miami-Dade Transit Agency, met with the chairman and Eppard in late February. Rather than focusing on the project, however, Shuster quizzed Alvarez on the Western Hemisphere's last communist leader.

"He was more interested in knowing the opinion of the Cuban American population in Miami about Castro," Alvarez recalled, adding that at the end of the conversation Shuster suggested that Dade County officials should focus on lobbying their own congressional delegation to get on board the entire highway bill. Alvarez recalled Shuster saying: "We know you folks have a request in. It looks very viable, I think we can get them through. You're asking for our help, and we're asking for your help to get the votes to get the bill through."

In the end, the county got transport projects worth $500 million – including $3.5 million to replace the region's buses.

"We feel that we've been very successful," Alvarez said, adding that the board of county commissioners retained two other lobbying firms as well.

When New York documentary filmmaker Ken Mendell was looking for support to make a movie called, "An Engineering Biography of America," he received an audience with Shuster by hiring Eppard's firm. Mendell described the visit on National Public Radio: "When I left the meetings with these people, they were so enthusiastic that the aides came out to me afterwards, and said to me, 'Ken, I've never seen the congressman so excited.'"

Though Eppard's clients offered different reasons for why they retained her, every one emphasized that she was particularly well-positioned to press their case in Washington. Eppard still serves as Shuster's chief fund-raiser – she was even keeping track of a political opponent as she monitored the highway bill during a recent committee markup. She has let him stay for free in her home, a practice which prompted a House ethics committee complaint after Roll Call newspaper reported it in February 1996.

But as news of Eppard's indictment leaked out this week, some clients expressed concern. Barrier Systems business development director Ed Wood said his small Carson City, Nev., company was pleased that Eppard helped insert language calling on federal officials to examine the use of movable barrier technologies, including the concrete ones his firm produces.

"I sure don't like to hear that about anybody," he said of the indictment, adding, "We're looking for people who are upright and outstanding."

Others defended Eppard, arguing that the charges could have easily stemmed from partisan politics. Harlingen Chamber of Commerce president Shirley Clowers, whose group is seeking funding for the I-69 interstate, said, "When you have different parties there vying for power, these things are bound to happen."

Congressional Accountability Project director Gary Ruskin, whose group's complaint against Shuster is now being examined by the ethics committee, said her lobbying wins and the conduct outlined in the Boston indictment fit the same pattern. According to the indictment, Eppard received illegal gratuities from another lobbyist and two Boston developers who sought her aid in opposing the use of their land for an underground highway project.

"When you look at what the indictment is really about, it's about the peddling of influence," Ruskin said. "That is what we've been trying to get the Justice Department and the ethics committee to look at. It's all part of a piece."

Staff writer Charles R. Babcock contributed to this report.