Lobbyists help steer funds for Oklahoma in Washington

WASHINGTON — Dozens of Oklahoma earmarked projects in the massive spending bill signed by President Barack Obama last week can be directly traced to lobbyists, according to an analysis by The Oklahoman.

In fact, most of the Oklahoma entities — from public schools and colleges to cities and towns — receiving money in the bill have lobbyists.

Both of the public school systems that received earmarks — Tulsa and Jenks — have lobbyists here. All but one of the colleges and universities that got money pay for representation.

Development authorities in Woodward, Ada and Ardmore that got earmarks have lobbyists, while other towns that pay for lobbyists got projects.

Lawmakers who defend the earmarking process often contend that they know better than Washington bureaucrats where the priority projects are.

The Oklahoma priorities seem to be funneled through a handful of different lobbyists, several of whom used to work on Capitol Hill for Oklahoma lawmakers, according to the report.

According to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, the $410 billion spending bill signed by Obama includes 95 Oklahoma projects worth nearly $82 million.

Nearly 35 of those are related to Army Corps of Engineers lakes and dams in the state; those are the most expensive projects earmarked for Oklahoma — mostly by Sen. Jim Inhofe — and no lobbyist influence is readily apparent in the selection.

But more than 50 other projects requested by members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation — all but Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, secured earmarks — went to entities with registered lobbyists. Only a few had no obvious patron in the lobbying world.

Based on merits

Oklahoma lawmakers strongly denied that lobbying plays a role in their decisions about projects for their districts.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said, "Our decision to request an earmark is made exclusively on the merits of the project. The person lobbying on behalf of a project has no bearing on whether or not we make the request.

Page 1 of 2

1 2 Next