Redstate

(The art of federal funding.)

By Mark Kilmer Posted in Democrats — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

What Republican is running to replace Marty Meehan in Massachusetts' 5th District? (It's time to start grumbling.) The Massachusetts GOP left behind by Mitt Romney being what it is… well, at least Romney's replacement, Democrat Duval Patrick, is an unpopular governor, albeit one with a well-decorated office, etc.. There are scads of Dems who want the seat, but I've heard only one Republican named dropped so far: that of Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan.

Whomever the Dems do select, there is a build-in advantage: Marty's $5.1-million in leftover campaign cash, "the largest of any House member nationwide."

Meehan is off to run UMass-Lowell, a school that has taken in over "$200 million in federal grants and contracts during Meehan's 14 years on Capitol Hill." The school spends a lot of money to haul off the big bucks:

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UMass Lowell spent nearly $700,000 on Washington advocates in the past six years, including $220,000 to Strategic Marketing Innovations.

And Strategic Marketing has the right guy for the loot:

The firm relies largely on William McCann, former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan, to secure federal money for the college and eight defense companies.

And speaking of money:

Salary and benefits still have to be negotiated, but Wilson said Meehan would probably earn slightly more than the previous chancellor, William T. Hogan. Hogan's salary was $235,800, and he also received a $28,000 housing allowance. As a representative, Meehan earns $165,200 a year.

Some of the school's chancellors "were concerned that a politician might not have the necessary skills to lead the 11,000-student university," but this wasn't just any politician; this was Marty Meehan, a big money guy:

Meehan's advocates at the university say that the congressman, with his well-honed political skills and connections, is the perfect candidate for the position, one who would hit the ground running. His strong relationships in Congress, in the national Democratic political establishment, and on Beacon Hill are highly attractive to a university that is hungry for federal and state funding.

Strange. In 2005, Meehan and Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-Dalyville) sponsored legislation would have extended "the current one-year 'waiting period' for members, senior staff, and senior executive personnel lobbying Congress to two years. It requires public disclosure when negotiating future employment and prohibits members from basing official actions on the prospect of personal gain or employment."

And here's Marty in January:

Meehan displayed his credentials when he recently escorted state university officials, including Wilson and UMass Board of Trustees chairman Stephen P. Tocco, around Capitol Hill, introducing them to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top leaders, including Representative John P. Murtha Jr., the Pennsylvania Democrat. Murtha chairs the Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, a prime source of university research funding. Meehan backed Murtha in his losing bid to become Pelosi's majority leader. Last year, Meehan toured the UMass-Lowell campus with a Bush official who is in charge of the Defense Department agency that distributes science and technology grants.

Oh, to Hades with the waiting period!

In addition, Meehan is also very familiar with the major Massachusetts firms that the university could collaborate with to seek federal funding. Some at the university feel that with the right leadership, it could emerge in the next decade as a world leader in nanotechnology and in nanomanufacturing, the making of micromaterials.

The university has a heavy emphasis on applied science and engineering programs. Long a leader in plastics, it is striving to become a world-class institution in what it calls sustainable economic and social development. Meehan's Armed Services subcommittee oversees the Defense Department's research development and science technology program, a $34 billion enterprise that funds university research.

But Meehan himself objects on principle to what he is doing:

Asked if the school's lobbying of Meehan could create the appearance of a conflict in the hiring process, Vice Chancellor Louise Griffin said, "No, not right now anyways.

"It's still in the finalist stage," she added. "When we hired (McCann), there certainly was no conflict at all."

Meehan also dismissed the idea of a conflict.

"I think that's absurd on its face," Meehan said. "I think the fact that I've been helping the university would make it so they would not want to hire me, because it would keep me as a congressman."

Meehan has been a leading proponent of dampening the influence that former congressional advisers have with their past bosses as lobbyists. He has been helping the school obtain federal money since before it retained McCann in 2005, he said.

"I don't care who the university hires for lobbyists," Meehan added. "In fact, I don't think they should hire anybody."

Tell us more, Marty:

Meehan, meanwhile, was pushing for an amendment to double the "cooling off" period that senior advisers must wait before lobbying their past bosses, from one to two years.

"There's a revolving door between Congress and K Street that gives lobbyists special access because of their past government service," Meehan said last April in announcing his proposal, which would also affect departing lawmakers.

"We must end the practice of senior congressional staffers turning around and lobbying their former bosses," he added, "and former members of Congress immediately cashing in on the relationships they've built with their congressional colleagues."

Earlier, I mentioned William McCann, Meehan's former chief of staff. Well, when Marty uttered the words just quoted, "McCann had been lobbying Meehan's office for eight months, according to disclosure forms." (Meehan does have an eager staff.

That is what the voters of MA-5 have to clean up. According to the Boston Globe, the "last competitive congressional race in Massachusetts was in the Ninth District in 2001, following the death of Representative J. Joseph Moakley," and that was only because there was a seven-way Dem primary

Here we go again.