The Swine Line

Along with the explosion of earmarks came the explosion of lobbyists - now towns and states are spending thousands on hiring lobbyists to get their pork.  This Roll Call article talks about the effect of earmark reform (or threats of reform) on lobbyists:

Appropriations Lobbyists Worried ($)

Though House Republicans’ tough talk on earmark reforms may turn out to be more noise than substance, that’s little consolation to the city’s appropriations lobbyists. The uncertainty about the number of earmarks and their size has them bracing for a difficult year.

Even President Bush is piling on, threatening to veto any spending bill that doesn’t cut the projects in half.

“There is a constant drumbeat that people need to start listening to, and it doesn’t seem to be going away,” said former Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas), an Appropriations Committee veteran now lobbying for The Normandy Group. “People are wondering what kind of future is out there for firms that are focused entirely on appropriations.”

After a year of grappling with new transparency standards and efforts by the House Democratic majority to chop earmarks in half, lobbyists returning to work are facing a fresh set of challenges, including Members who purposely are shifting their appropriation deadlines forward to decrease the number of requests.

…

The developments are the latest bad news for appropriations lobbyists since the scandal surrounding former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.) in 2005 rocked the earmarking process, attracting intense scrutiny from federal prosecutors and national media.

That year, the number of lobbying contracts for work on budget or appropriations issues reached an all-time high of 1,259, according to an analysis of figures from CQ MoneyLine. In the two years since, the figures indicate appropriations work has been harder to come by, with the number of contracts falling to 1,170 in 2006, and slipping further last year, to 1,157.

…

“The era of just throwing something in and not having professional lobbying involved is over,” said Rich Gold, who heads the lobbying practice at Holland & Knight. But he said stiffer competition for a shrinking pot of dollars actually has benefited his firm.

“Ironically, the more they raise the bar, the more folks like us who are really good are valued,” he said. This year, for the second in a row, Gold said the firm has grown its book of business by at least 10 percent.