The Champions
Ex-Lawmaker Still a Friend of Hospitals
By ERIC LIPTON
Published: August 5, 2011
WASHINGTON ? Earl Pomeroy figured that Plan A was his career in Congress, where, over nearly two decades, as a North Dakota congressman he became a powerful advocate for the hospital industry.
Darren Gibbins/Associated Press
Representative Earl Pomeroy, Democrat of North Dakota, with his wife, Mary, in Fargo after he lost his campaign for re-election last November.
The Champions
After Congress, Lobbying
Articles in this series will look at members of Congress and their advocacy for favorite industries or causes.
Now, after losing re-election last year despite hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from grateful hospital executives, doctors and other industry officials, he has moved on to Plan B: promoting their cause as a lobbyist.
While that kind of shift is familiar in Washington, in Mr. Pomeroy?s case there is a special twist. House members are banned from lobbying on Capitol Hill for a year after leaving office (Mr. Pomeroy?s term ended in January), but Mr. Pomeroy, a Democrat, has teamed up with his former chief of staff, who is not subject to the restriction, as a lobbying partner.
Just as Mr. Pomeroy once pushed in Congress to expand federal health care programs and block regulatory proposals that industry executives considered burdensome, he and his former aide, Bob Siggins, now are pressing the Obama administration and Congress to drop a planned change in Medicare rules that could force dozens of long-term care hospitals to close or curtail services. Mr. Pomeroy?s clients, Select Medical Holdings and Vibra Healthcare, operate such facilities across the country.
His role as an industry champion shows the enduring power of being a well-placed friend in the capital. At least 160 former lawmakers currently work as lobbyists in Washington, according to First Street, a Web site that tracks lobbying trends in Washington, with many more exerting influence as consultants or advisers.
Typically, retired lawmakers sit on the sidelines for a year before signing on corporate lobbying clients, but Mr. Pomeroy?s leap was unusually swift. Of the 30 or so members who left Congress along with him and joined law firms, consulting firms, businesses or trade associations that lobby Congress, only five had formally registered as lobbyists as of mid-July, according to a New York Times review of lobbying records. That short list includes Mr. Pomeroy, and the former representatives Steve Buyer, Republican of Indiana, and Walt Minnick, Democrat of Idaho, each of whom has moved to a lobbying practice in unison with his former chief of staff.
Mr. Pomeroy defended the practice, saying his work with his longtime aide complies with the law.
?The rules are the rules, and I follow the rules closely,? Mr. Pomeroy said in an interview, adding that Mr. Siggins contacts players on Capitol Hill, while he focuses exclusively on the Obama administration.
But some former colleagues find the arrangement uncomfortable. Thomas C. Sawyer, a former House Democrat from Ohio who served on the ethics committee, said he would not have taken a similar step when he left Congress in 2003. ?It is needlessly perilous,? Mr. Sawyer said.
The problem, said Joel Hefley, a Colorado Republican who served four years as chairman of the House ethics committee, is that staff members on Capitol Hill still probably associate Mr. Siggins with Mr. Pomeroy, particularly when they are working together on the same lobbying assignment.
?That blurs the line too much,? Mr. Hefley said.
Mr. Buyer ? who created a firm he calls Steve Buyer Group ? has signed up clients including the McKesson Corporation, a San Francisco health technology company and distributor of prescription drugs. Back in Congress, Mr. Buyer introduced legislation promoted by McKesson that would have mandated national tracking of prescription drugs in an effort to combat counterfeits. If the measure had become law, the company, which specializes in that kind of work, probably would have benefited enormously.
Now as a lobbyist, Mr. Buyer and his former chief of staff are trying to help the company renew a $4 billion-a-year contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Once chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Mr. Buyer still has close contacts within the department. The pair also was hired to lobby Congress by T-Mobile USA, which is seeking approval for its proposed merger with AT&T.
?Steve Buyer has complied with those rules and the law, and not contacted House or Senate members nor staff on any matter,? Mike Copher, Mr. Buyer?s former chief of staff and new lobbying partner, said in a statement. Mr. Copher makes all calls and visits to Capitol Hill, the statement said.
Senate ethics rules, which are tougher than those in the House, would effectively block such arrangements. The Senate bars top staff members from lobbying Senate lawmakers or staff for a year, and extends the ban to two years for former senators.
Barclay Walsh contributed research.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/us/politics/06pomeroy.html?_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss
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