DC office won't stop other lobbying
As Gov. Kevin Stitt moves to create a Washington, D.C., office to monitor federal policy and funding, some state governmental entities are already paying contract lobbyists in the nation's capital for that same purpose.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is paying $84,000 a year for a Washington lobbyist. The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University together paid about $700,000 in 2018 for D.C. lobbyists.
OU is likely to keep paying for its own representation in Washington even after Stitt has established an office there.
The governor is expected to begin interviewing people next month to represent the state's interests in Washington. The governor's plan is to start the office with one person renting office space near Capitol Hill.
The state has not had a Washington office since 1995, when then-Gov. Frank Keating shut down the office opened by former Gov. David Walters. Some states and cities maintain a Washington presence with a full-time office or just pay lobbyists for their services. Oklahoma City paid a lobbyist $24,000 last year.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is paying for a lobbyist despite having Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, as a powerful advocate. Inhofe is a former chairman of the committee that writes transportation funding and policy bills and is still among the most influential members in Congress on roads and bridges.
Terri Angier, chief of media and public relations for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, said last week, “As great as our relationship is with Oklahoma's congressional delegation, this lobbying firm can be helpful with many day-to-day transportation issues including appropriations and the day-to-day committee work, at a level that we think would be unreasonable to ask of our congressional delegation for that ti me commitment” as Congress works on renewing highway funding.
Angier said an existing contract, with the lobbying firm of former Oklahoma congressman John Sullivan, was renewed this year.
“We are assessing our future needs given the governor' s plan for a unified state government and a more coordinated effort and presence in Washington, D. C .,” she said.
In an interview last week, Stitt spokeswoman Donelle Harder said a Washington office would give the state a more comprehensive approach to the federal government. She mentioned specifically conflicts the state has had with using federal Medicaid money for medical education.
Both OU and OSU are already paying Washington lobbyists to represent their medical schools. A lobbyist for OU Medicine Inc. has been paid $50,000 this year to work on “issues related to teaching hospitals .” OSU's Center for Health Sciences paid $80,000 last year for a lobbying firm to work on general health care issues, graduate medical education funding and the “state of Oklahoma Medicaid waiver.”
OSU paid a separate lobbyist $120,000 for its other needs. OU has two other lobbying firms. It used three last year that were paid $500,000 combined.
Lauren Brookey, vice president f or marketing and communications at OU, said the university uses firms with different specialties. The two most prominent areas are defense and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; OU' s Norman campus is widely known for its weather research, the result of years of work to get federal funding and missions.
Norman is represented by Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, one of the most influential members of the House Appropriations Committee, which has directed money to the weather center and other OU specialties.
Brookey said the university is likely to retain its lobbyists even after there is a state office in Washington.
“An addition will be welcome and is needed but couldn't compensate for the time and attention for our individualized needs and research contracts,” she said.
Members of Oklahoma's congressional delegation have not weighed in on Stitt's plan. Inhofe opposed a state office in Washington when Walters, a Democrat, was governor.
Oklahoma Senate president pro tempo re Greg Treat, an Oklahoma City Republican, declined to comment to The Oklahoman last week about an Oklahoma office in Washington.
A top state House Republican on Sunday expressed tepid support.
Oklahoma House Majority Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, said on News 9, “I'm okay with this if we have some type of measurement to make sure we're getting our money's worth out of this.” Echols said it was “sad” that states felt the need to have offices in Washington.
Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, said on the same program, “I think it's a little bit ironic that the governor said he didn't want state agencies to have the opportunity to hire lobbyists to work on behalf of the citizens of Oklahoma but he wants the state of Oklahoma to have a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., to work on our behalf.
“I would say to him that we already have seven people in D.C. that do this —two U.S. senator sand five congressmen.”