OLYMPIA — The state Department of Transportation is keeping its longtime lobbyist in Washington, D.C., for another four years.
Agency leaders last week signed a new four-year, $492,275 contract with Denny Miller Associates, the firm that has knocked on doors in Congress on the department’s behalf since 1985.
The high-powered lobbying company beat out four other nationally known competitors for the contract, which the state originally forecast to cost $750,000.
“We are getting the same level and kinds of services from Denny Miller Associates, but the lower cost to us, and ultimately to taxpayers, came about through contract negotiations,” said Steve Pierce, communications director for the department.
Tim Lovain, the company’s vice president and general counsel, said they agreed on a lower price though they don’t intend to be any less vigilant in helping the state benefit from the ever shifting flow of federal policy and dollars dealing with transportation.
The year ahead will be an important one as Congress weighs passage of a multi-year transportation funding bill.
“It’s our intention to do as much as needed,” he said. “When we see clients struggling because of the economy we try to share some of the pain.”
Among the state’s largest agencies, the Transportation Department is the only one with a D.C. lobbyist to help it secure federal funds for roads, bridges, buses and ferries. It paid the firm $1.1 million under its old contract that ran from August 2004 through Sept. 15.
Transportation officials aren’t defensive about expending a few of the increasingly scarce tax dollars on a lobbyist even as the state budget sinks into the red and lawmakers may pare up to $2 billion in spending in a special session later this year.
“We think it’s important to have representation in Washington, D.C., so we can compete successfully for federal funds,” said Allison Camden, the state agency’s federal relations manager.
Having eyes and ears in the nation’s capital helped prepare the department to be one of the first in line for money distributed in the 2009 stimulus bill known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The state received $492 million for state highway projects, $179 million for transit, $50 million for aviation and up to $751 million for high-speed rail projects — a portion of which was funding turned down by other states.
The other companies that bid on the contract were K&L Gates; Chambers, Conlon & Hartwell; Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies and Van Scoyoc Associates. Information on their bids can be found at http://tinyurl.com/3u2qqly.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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