Lobbyists: We’re the keys to unlocking stimulus funds

But these firms face a different terrain — working with the executive, not legislative, branch — and the sheer size of the stimulus funding has led some to form dedicated teams to handle this work.

Most of the big lobbying firms are hot on the trail of stimulus money in transportation, health technology, clean-water technologies, weatherization, and the attendant services of design, engineering and software.

“The money has been sent to an account — the question is, how do you get that money from an account” like the departments of Transportation or Environmental Protection, said Matthew Stanton, a partner at MBI Gluckshaw Inc., a public affairs firm in Trenton. “I find out what pots of money are available, and make some decisions on where and what are our best chances.”

The transparency — especially in transportation-related stimulus projects — has a flip side, though, as businesses may not need as much hand-holding as with other public spending programs, said Andrew Sinclair, a principal at the Trenton-based Princeton Public Affairs Group.

Among the stimulus-seeking clients Stanton’s firm represents, four are based in New Jersey, he said. One client is a large engineering company that wants a piece of the $8 billion the government has allocated for rail services, Stanton said. The company aims to supply rail engineering and track work along 10 corridors identified for high-speed rail services, including the Northeast Corridor, he said.

Every lobbying firm in the state worth its salt has a specialized transportation practice, which essentially chases project bids put out by DOT at the federal and state levels, NJ Transit and metropolitan planning organizations like the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. But the higher degree of transparency in the stimulus projects has left lobbyists with “limited opportunity” in this area, Sinclair said.

Other doors open up, as for Ohio-based Advanced Drainage Systems Inc., the world’s largest maker of plastic drainage pipes that three years ago set up a $12 million manufacturing unit in Logan Township.

Sinclair played a role in facilitating the company’s expansion into New Jersey, and is now helping it navigate DOT channels to secure orders for laying plastic drainage pipes, along with road rebuilding projects.

Dan Kowalchuk, Advanced Drainage’s regional sales manager for New Jersey and Pennsylvania, said his company would find opportunities in select projects involving the addition of new highway lanes, shoulder widening and intersection improvements, because these projects usually involve laying or replacing drainage pipes. But because many transportation infrastructure programs in New Jersey involve reconstructing bridge decks or painting steel bridges — which don’t require drainage pipe installation — their involvement is limited, Kowalchuk said.

Lobbyists see the $19 billion in federal stimulus spending earmarked for health information technology as “the most appropriate pot of money to go after,” Stanton said.

Sinclair said he is awaiting clarity on the bidding process for electronic medical records systems, especially in terms of how the money would flow and to which agencies. Starting in 2010, the state will make grants available to hospitals, physicians and clinics for purchasing health information technology systems, according to its Web site, which tracks stimulus projects.

With health information technology projects, Stanton also sees a change in the playing field. He said the challenge is in dealing with members of the executive branch, instead of “going down to Congress and begging a legislator to put an earmark,” as both have different levels of complexity and difficulty.

Capital Public Affairs Inc., in Princeton, is heavily focused on stimulus allocations for municipalities and higher education institutions, said Steven E. Some, a principal. It is now representing a college with a large construction project using green technology, several municipalities looking to launch infrastructure projects and engineering firms that supply state transportation construction programs, he said; a special team at the firm handles stimulus-related work.

E-mail to shankar_p@njbiz.com