STATE COLLEGE, Pa., July 9 –– Hoping to influence state governments as
they muscle into areas that once were federal responsibilities, lobbyists
and corporations have begun showering gatherings of the nation's governors
with the cash and attention they once reserved for Washington.
The four-day annual meeting of the National Governors' Association,
which ends Tuesday, is closed to the general public but is wide open to
generous corporations, which underwrote most of the event's $1.5 million
budget.
Eighty companies, including America Online, AT&T and Microsoft, pay
$12,000 apiece each year to be saluted as NGA Corporate Fellows and will
be rewarded Monday with the chance to join round-table discussions with
the governors on information technology and the new economy.
In addition, 108 companies donated a total of $1.2 million to the
Pennsylvania host committee to pay for elaborate nightly entertainment and
other costs of the gathering. The rest of the budget came from
registration fees, with government officials paying $295 each and
private-sector attendees shelling out $780 each.
Eight companies, including Apple, AT&T and US Airways, donated
$50,000 each in cash or products and were "steering committee hosts."
Chipping in $25,000 each were 17 "corporate hosts," including
Anheuser-Busch, General Electric and Sprint. Nine more companies,
including Boeing, Pepsi and Pfizer, gave $15,000 each and were recognized
simply as "hosts."
For $5,000, a company could be an "associate host," and for less than
that, the program offered "special thanks."
Philip Morris Cos. is both a "corporate fellow" and a "corporate
host."
NGA meetings are very well attended: Thirty-nine governors were in
State College this weekend. Social and informal events at the meetings
make it easy to buttonhole multiple governors.
The quality time for contributors began Friday, the day before the
meeting opened, when about 60 sponsors of the host committee played golf
with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, a Republican who is often mentioned as a
vice presidential possibility for Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
Nell Abom, Ridge's deputy communications director, said the corporate
contributions meant that taxpayers had to pay only for security and staff
time. She said most donors to the host committee were based in
Pennsylvania and were eager to "step up to the plate to show off the New
Pennsylvania," using a trademark Ridge expression. She said that
technology companies, especially, recognized the value of putting the
state "in front of opinion leaders and state and national
policymakers."
State troopers stopped the public at the foot of the road to the
heavily secured conference center, sparking protests over the lobbyists'
access. On the nearby Penn State campus, students printed up black
T-shirts that said "Democracy" with an arrow pointing one way, and "NGA"
with an arrow going the other way.
Milford Sprecher, business development manager for SAP America Public
Sector, a "corporate fellow" that sells software to governments, said an
admission charge is not a shocking concept.
"We could be talking about the auto show," he said.
And Joe McCormick, director of state and government relations for the
Boeing Co., another "corporate fellow," said, "If you have the public in
there, it's not going to be a freewheeling exchange of ideas."
Several lobbyists, hoping to dispel any perception of backslapping,
said the governors occasionally use the sessions to give them bad news,
often preceded with softeners like, "I see where you're going, but . .
."
NGA's spokeswoman said the closed meetings have been controversial for
years but defended them as necessary if governors are to get work done at
what she called "a private business meeting."
"That's why we stopped calling it a 'conference' and call it a
'meeting,' " said Christine LaPaille, the group's public affairs director.
"There was a perception that a 'conference' allowed everyone to come in
and participate."
The combined annual budget for the NGA and its the Center for Best
Practices, an affiliated nonprofit group that accepts corporate
contributions, is $16 million. LaPaille said the Corporate Fellows program
primarily provides access to the NGA staff.
"Corporate lobbyists already have access to governors," she said. "They
don't get it through NGA."
But Verizon Communications, which was Bell Atlantic before its merger
with GTE, received a remarkable platform after paying dues as a "corporate
fellow" and raising $150,000 for the State College meeting as a "host
committee co-chair."
Ivan G. Seidenberg, Verizon's president and co-chief executive officer,
gave a speech and took questions from governors this afternoon at the same
session where they heard from retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, now the
chairman of America's Promise, which promotes volunteerism.
Seidenberg, lamenting "the mismatch between old regulation and new
technology," called for the passage of several bills eliminating what he
called unneeded regulations. "As Verizon Communications, we will be able
to put our expanded scale and scope to use as a positive force in
communities all across the country," he said. "In our case, bigness works,
because we generate the cash to reinvest in the business."
Then Seidenberg took questions, which were not exactly harsh. Wisconsin
Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, a Republican, asked "what we can do as governors"
to speed approvals to give the former Bell companies "the opportunity to
get into the long distance market a lot faster."
"It just seems that the delay is something that is not good for
America," Thompson said.
