Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

WASHINGTON — The City of Austin will significantly boost spending on Washington lobbyists over the next year as a new president takes office and Congress takes up major transportation legislation.

The city's budget for Washington lobbyists will grow from $75,000 to about $375,000, which officials hope will translate into more federal dollars coming to Austin for transportation, energy efficiency and other programs. City staff is expected to recommend additional lobby firms for the City Council to hire in the next couple of weeks.

Austin now contracts with one small Washington lobby firm. The head of that firm is Barbara McCall, a former City Council member in North Carolina who lobbies for eight cities, including four in Texas. McCall is expected to keep lobbying for Austin, and additional firms will enhance her work by giving Austin a federal lobbying presence similar to that of other big Texas cities, said Anthony Snipes, the city's chief of staff.

McCall said she considers herself more liaison than lobbyist. She works with the city's government-relations staff in Austin to carry out the goals set by the mayor and City Council at the outset of a congressional session.

A key mission for McCall has been to push for a program providing cities grant money for energy-efficiency and conservation programs.

The idea sprang from a one-page resolution passed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where it was championed by Austin Mayor Will Wynn. McCall and others from around the country worked to turn that resolution into legislation creating the grant program in a major energy bill approved late last year.

Now, she's working to make sure Congress provides money for the grants in its next round of spending bills. That involves calling congressional aides, submitting written testimony to committees and connecting Wynn and other mayors with key players on Capitol Hill.

"Austin is a major city of the country," McCall said. "So it has standing to submit testimony, to have a letter from the mayor of Austin to the chairman and ranking member of the committee, wherever they're from, to say, 'We'd like you to move this forward and here's why it's important.' It's really the mayor who's the chief lobbyist for the city."

McCall has also been working with congressional staffers and officials from the Lower Colorado River Authority to seek money for flood control along Onion Creek. And she and representatives of other cities pushed successfully for billions in federal foreclosure assistance to flow directly to cities instead of passing through states.

One reason the city is looking to beef up its lobby team now is because Congress next year will take up major transportation legislation known as a highway and transit reauthorization bill.

Matt Watson, Wynn's policy director, said additional lobbyists can not only bring more transportation dollars to Austin but also give the city a greater say in how Washington distributes those dollars.

"It's roads and bridges and highway safety," Watson said. "It's transit — whether we're talking about buses or urban rail or regional rail — it's bike and pedestrian facilities. All of that will be addressed, both the structure and the projects that flow from that."

Even though Republican presidential candidate John McCain has said he wants to do away with congressional earmarks, which direct agencies to spend money on certain projects in specific places, billions of dollars in grants and other federal programs will still be available to local governments no matter who is elected. Earmarks account for less than 1 percent of federal spending.

The city has been spending about $900,000 per year on lobbyists at the state Capitol, where legislators from other parts of the state have often tried to overturn environmental and other land-use regulations approved by the Austin City Council.

But many of those issues have been resolved, which will allow the city to use some of the money it spent on state lobbyists to pay for more boots on the ground in Washington, Watson said.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, said McCall "does good work for the city." He saluted her knack for finding grant funds for Austin and spotting proposed regulations that may harm the city. And while he said it's appropriate for the city to use McCall, he's not convinced more lobbyists are necessary.

"I just want to be sure that whoever they are going to hire, that we're going to have something to show for it when the job is done," Doggett said. "I'm not convinced, based on the experience I've had with some other groups operating in Travis County and near Travis County, that there's very much to show for hiring the lobbyist."

He added, "To get my office to do something on behalf of the City of Austin, it's not necessary to spend a dime.'"

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, a Republican from San Antonio who represents part of Austin, said it's up to the city to hire whomever it wants. "We'll work with anyone the city designates," Smith said.

Snipes said the city does not need to wait until after the presidential election to hire more lobbyists because it's looking at firms with ties on both sides on the aisle and expertise in a number of issues, including transportation, air quality and water quality.

"These firms have a wide spectrum of expertise that ranges not only from the Republican side but from the Democratic side also," Snipes said. "What we want them to do is give us that flexibility, regardless of what the issue is, that these folks can get in there and get it done."

But Doggett suggested the city hire its new firms after the presidential election so it can make sure the new lobbyists have the right ties to the next administration.

"If I can be convinced that we've got someone who, whoever wins the presidential election, really has strong relations with whoever is likely to be secretary of transportation and some of the undersecretaries over there and can get them to include some of our needs in a future president's budget, then I think that might be dollars well spent," Doggett said. "But I think the idea of just hiring a big name and assuming that big name can develop the ins is not a very good use of resources."

Lobby spending by Texas cities

All of Texas' largest cities have lobbyists in Washington, but spending varies. The following numbers are based on federal lobbying reports to Congress for lobby spending during the first six months of 2008. Lobbyists are required to report their payments from clients in $20,000 increments, so figures are not exact.

City Payments Lobbyist to lobbyists payments*

Austin $40,000 5.4 cents

Dallas $140,000 11.2 cents

El Paso $60,000 9.9 cents

Fort Worth $80,000 11.7 cents

Houston $160,000 7.2 cents

San Antonio $180,000 13.5 cents

* per resident

Sources: U.S. Senate records, U.S. Census Bureau 2007 population estimates