For those who hire lobbyists, the most gut-churning revelations in a recent congressional report were probably not the White House connections of confessed fraud and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, but rather the description of the invoices he submitted — and was paid for — through one of Washington’s leading lobby shops.
The bills — issued through Abramoff’s then-employer Greenberg Traurig — were reviewed as part of the House Reform Committee’s investigation into how the White House interacted with his team. The invoices, typically for the amazing per-client retainer of $150,000 a month plus expenses, were generally “characterized by relative brevity and vagueness,” they said. They had a hard time telling whom the lobbyists were meeting with, whether their activities were actually valuable and how many hours were spent on any given effort. It’s enough to make any client double check what they are paying for.
The bills do not reflect standard practice, said James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. Even when a firm is on retainer “they are very explicit about what they do,” he said.
Greenberg Traurig declined to comment on the invoices or say if it has since changed its approach to billing. The firm continues to cooperate with all investigations, it said in a written statement, adding, “More than two years ago, Greenberg Traurig asked for and received Jack Abramoff’s resignation in response to his having revealed for the first time conduct that was unacceptable to the firm.”
But opaque invoices are not the only the only thing clients need to watch out for. Tech-savvy lobbyists can puff up the seeming success of a blog site by creating swarms of other apparently legit blogs and links to make it appear influential. Though firms often recommend subcontractors they are familiar with, clients need to be sure there are no inappropriate fees involved in the deal.
So when you buy a service as expensive and intangible as lobbying, what should you do to know you are getting your money’s worth?
Do your homework, get estimates, ask questions and stay on top of what’s going on, experts say.
“You have to pay attention to the bills,” said Paul Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists. “You have to ask questions. And you’ve got to make sure they are giving you detailed billing reports or regular updates as a part of the billing piece of it.”
Miller recommended reading up on lobbying practices on the Internet and getting estimates from a number of different firms. “If you had just talked with any of the top 10 or top 20 firms in this town you would have known they weren’t charging that kind of money,” he said.
“[You need to do] the same thing you do when you have your kitchen redone with a contractor. You need to be educated enough to ask very hard questions about what they are doing for that amount of money and whether everything is transparent with regard to what they are doing,” agreed Thurber.
“You’ve got to be involved and you’ve got to ask questions,” said Miller. “If you’re not — I guess I am not going to have a lot of sympathy for you.”
