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Published on Wednesday, February 07, 2007.
Last modified on 2/7/2007 at 12:33 am
Governor lobbies on farm, energy issues
By NOELLE STRAUB
Gazette Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Gov. Brian Schweitzer embarked on a whirlwind East Coast tour this week with stops in Washington, D.C., Florida and South Carolina to lobby on farm issues, speak to groups on alternative energies, fundraise and promote Montana to the film industry.
Schweitzer met with Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns on Tuesday morning. The governor asked Johanns to reconsider a proposal to close seven USDA Farm Service Agency offices in Montana.
Schweitzer said he reminded Johanns that he served on the Montana State USDA FSA committee in 1993 when it successfully fought the proposed closure of the same offices.
"I told him, 'Don't compare Montana to other places,' " Schweitzer said. "We have big distances and we have legitimate agricultural producers. In some places they have these USDA FSA offices and they have a bunch of hobby farmers around. We don't. ... FSA offices are an important part of doing business."
Johanns responded that the process is under way and Congress would have its say on the matter, Schweitzer said.
"I was heartened, since we have two very good friends of mine in the United States Senate," he said.
Schweitzer's schedule also included attending a reception and dinner for the Motion Picture Association, which held a daylong business symposium here. The governor said hundreds of filmmakers would be there, giving him an opportunity to pitch Montana as great place to film.
"I'm trying to attract the film industry to come to Montana," he said. "So it gives me an opportunity to network. Some of these folks I've visited with on the phone. They all say, 'Well, I'll meet you, are you going to be out in Washington, D.C.?' "
He also appeared on Bloomberg TV early Tuesday morning.
Schweitzer held a fundraising reception at an office building near the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday afternoon. The Montana Republican Party sent out a release slamming Schweitzer for the event, and the governor demanded an apology.
The GOP release said the fundraiser was hosted by "none other than K Street lobbyist Patrick Gorman of Gorman & Associates." Federal records show that Gorman has never been a registered lobbyist.
"This is another example of the typical hollow rhetoric Montanans have come to expect of the Governor," state GOP Executive Director Chris Wilcox said in the release. "He'll badmouth lobbyists all over Montana, but when he and his re-election campaign stand to benefit financially, he's more than happy to rub elbows and cash their checks."
Schweitzer called the release "disappointing," and added, "I wish they would be a little nicer."
"They actually owe my friend Patrick Gorman an apology, because he's not a lobbyist, he's never been a lobbyist," Schweitzer said. "He doesn't lobby for a living. He's a personal friend."
But Wilcox refused to back down.
"If he can justify in his mind drawing that fine a line, that a government affairs consultant doesn't mean in any way he has an interest in influencing government policy, he can draw that line, but I don't think voters would," Wilcox said.
Wilcox said the GOP did not "mean to misrepresent (Gorman's) profession in any way." But Wilcox said the governor uses a "broader scope" in defining lobbyists that would include Gorman.
The Gorman & Associates Web site describes the company as a "strategic consulting firm for corporate and government affairs." Gorman is a lawyer who "has advised corporations, NGOs, nonprofits, and individuals on issues pertaining to criminal law, the environment, international trade, fundraising, community development, media relations, and alternative dispute resolution," it says.
Schweitzer said Gorman offered to put together a small fundraising event when he heard Schweitzer would be here. "My friend Patrick Gorman said, 'Well, if you're coming through D.C., I'll see if I can round up, you know, you got to start raising some money some time.' "
Schweitzer noted that Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who is up for re-election in 2008, has $2 million in the bank, while he has $50,000.
"I better get busy," he said. "I have to get the same number of votes as he does."
Asked how much he expected to raise, Schweitzer said, "I've never been very successful in this town. So I'd be surprised if I get a dozen people to show up. I don't know many people here."
Midway through the fundraiser, about a dozen people were there, a Schweitzer spokesman said.
The governor planned to arrive in Orlando, Fla., late Tuesday. He will speak today to a Touchstone Energy conference about alternative energy including clean-coal technology, wind power and biodiesels.
"They are the generators of electricity for a lot of the farmers' co-ops across America, including Montana co-ops," he said. The trade group is paying for his trip to Orlando to speak, he said.
He then will fly late tonight to Columbia, S.C. He will meet with the president of the University of South Carolina and deliver a keynote address on biofuels Thursday to a Farm to Fuel conference. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., invited him to speak, he said. He will return to Montana Friday.
He said he made the trip because he was able to tie together so many events. "If there's somebody back in Montana who'd like to trade schedules with me, they're welcome to do it," he joked.
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