A costly gamble

By The Standard Staff - 07/22/2007

Butte-Silver Bow commissioners voted Wednesday night to spend $10,000 a month, or $120,000 a year, to hire a consulting group to lobby for federal money in Washington, D.C. In these times when earmarks are increasingly frowned upon and a pall hangs over the whole practice of lobbyists currying favors from politicians, our local leaders want to get in the game? It’s a costly gamble with no guarantee of return — not a wise use of public funds.

The council vote was actually tied on this one, and Chief Executive Paul Babb was forced to take a stand in favor of hiring the Russ Reid Co. to break the tie. Voting with Babb to hire the firm, were Charlie O’Leary, Cindi Shaw, Wally Frasz, Jim Fay, Joe Lee, and Dave Coleman. Voting against were Rocko Mulcahy, Mike Sheehy, Glen Granger, John Sorich, Mark Moodry, and Dan Foley.

O’Leary recommended the contract after meeting staff from this firm at a national conference and then following up with further meetings and research. Russ Reid has offices in D.C., Pasedena, Calif., and Portland Ore., and judging from their Web site, their main focus is on raising funds for nonprofit organizations.

They may be very good at what they do, but in this changing political climate they could easily come up empty handed in their quest to find federal dollars for local infrastructure projects. Butte-Silver Bow cannot afford that risk right now, with all the pressing needs we have. And for that kind of money, the county could hire a professional to work full time on locating possible grant funding and still have thousands of dollars left over.

How the county would pay for this has not been identified, either, and Mulcahy said that was one main reason for his no vote. Another reason was that he doesn’t think the county has done enough through the usual channels to secure funding — by appealing directly to Montana’s Congressional delegation and their staffs, for example, and by asking Butte’s state legislators for help.

“I don’t think we’ve done near enough to work with our local representatives,” Mulcahy said. “I don’t think we should sell those people short.” The question also came up of whether the county can even pick this firm without going through a competitive process, but County Attorney Bob McCarthy told The Standard on Friday that no laws prevent that.

His research uncovered a 1981 state law that required governments to solicit bids if they spent more than $5,000 on a private consultant, but the 1997 Legislature repealed much of that law, including the provision giving Montana firms preferential status.

“It seems to me that what they ought to do is solicit proposals, but there’s no legal requirement that they do so,” McCarthy said.

What they should do is abandon this idea altogether and start working through established channels to learn what kind of federal help might be available and then pursue it. The price is right for that option.