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$20,000 paid to lobby firm in first quarter of 2009
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Posted on Apr 23 2009
The Fitial administration paid $20,000 to Washington, D.C.-based International Government Relations Group to lobby the U.S. Congress for the CNMI’s “economic development” during the first quarter of 2009, federal records show.
IGRG electronically filed the lobbying report with the U.S. Congress on April 20, which was the due date for lobbying reports covering the first quarter of 2009.
The CNMI government also paid IGRG $20,000 each during the fourth, third and second quarters of 2008. The four quarter 2008 payment was filed on Jan. 16, 2009.
Data from the Center for Responsive Politics showed that the CNMI’s spending for lobbyists in Washington, D.C. has declined between 1998 and 2008, reaching its peak in 2001 when the government paid $1.1 million to Greenberg Traurig, the firm of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff at the time. Abramoff helped Rep. Tom Delay craft legislation blocking federal immigration and minimum wage labor laws to the CNMI.
There’s no record of CNMI lobbying spending in 1999.
Federal records show that the CNMI spent $960,000 in 1998 to pay for the lobbying services of Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds; zero in 1999; $500,000 in 2000 for Kirkpatrick & Lockhart; $1.1 million to Greenberg Traurig in 2001; $680,000 in 2002 to Greenberg Traurig and National Group; and $260,000 in 2003 paid to Daryl Owen Associates, PodestaMattoon, and Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.
In 2004, the CNMI government paid $560,000 to Beirne, James P., Cassidy & Associates, Daryl Owen Associates, PodestaMattoon, and Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.
In 2005, $440,000 was paid to Beirne, James P., Daryl Owen Associates, PodestaMattoon, Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, and Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.
The CNMI government spent much less in lobby contracts in 2006, paying $100,000 to Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.
The amount went up again in 2007 with a $220,000 contract to Oldaker, Biden & Belair, and Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.
In 2008, the CNMI government spent $60,000. Of this amount, $20,000 went to Fleishman-Hillard Inc., and $40,000 to International Government Relations Group.
