MetroWest Dollars Head To D.C.
Lobbyists rake in big bucks from local companies
By James Baetke
MetroWest may be located outside the Beltway, but local companies aren't letting distance stop them from spending cash in and around Washington, D.C.
A recent review of filings with the federal government found that companies in MetroWest are spending big bucks on lobbying issues, ranging from defense to computer security. One of the biggest spenders was Natick-based Boston Scientific, which had spent nearly $1 million only six months into the year. The corporation is among the top medical device companies in the world, but has been under mounting debt pressure after its $27.2 billion acquisition of Guidant Corp. in early 2006.
According to federal disclosure forms, Boston Scientific is lobbying on issues related to congressional oversight of the Food and Drug Administration, Medicare reimbursement for medical devices and supplier contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In 2006, the company spent $1.8 million, and in 2005 paid $1.7 million toward lobbying in Washington.
"We focus our efforts in Washington on fostering an environment conducive to the development of the most innovative medical technologies and to ensuring those technologies are available to as many patients as possible," said Charles Rudnick, spokesman for Boston Scientific, in a prepared statement.
Rudnick would not answer further inquiries about specific spending or strategy.
Hush Hush
The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 requires any lobbying activity to be filed with the secretary of the Senate and clerk of the House of Representatives, making the documents public records.
"People don't normally discuss their strategies for achieving goals in the legislative process publicly," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization aimed at reforming lobbying and ethics rules.
Some companies have staff lobbyists, while others hire Washington firms as contractors. Companies and lobbying firms must file reports twice a year, in February and August.
Staples Inc., the office supply retailer based in Framingham, spent a relatively modest $100,000 by midyear, lobbying on legislation dealing with personal data privacy, identity theft prevention and online sales tax.
"Staples is interested in following legislative and regulatory issues that potentially affect our business," said Owen Davis, the company's public relations manager. "Namely, Staples has supported recent legislation on the streamlined sales tax initiative that impacts retailers with online sales."
The initiative would require a uniform sales tax in which remote sellers - those without a physical presence in the taxing state - would collect and remit taxes to states and cities that opt into the program.
TJX Cos., which owns retailers T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, among others, spent $140,000 so far this year on legislation related to computer intrusions. The Framingham corporation revealed in January that a computer breach in December put millions of customers' personal information in peril.
Records show this is the first year TJX has hired lobbyists since at least 1998, when the current record-keeping system began.
Dwarfing spending by TJX and other local firms was Waltham-based defense giant Raytheon, which has nearly 1,500 employees in Central Massachusetts.
Raytheon spent more than $2.4 million from January to June, according to its federal midyear disclosure form.
Documents show Raytheon lobbied in at least 14 areas, including measures dealing with defense cooperation with Pakistan, Turkey and India and lobbied legislation related to weapons sales to U.S. allies.
Raytheon hired 11 Washington lobbying firms to persuade members of Congress, the State Department, the Defense Department and the office of the president on legislation relating to border security in the United States and provisions dealing with executive compensation, according to the documents.
Raytheon has steadily increased its spending on lobbying, shelling out $1.7 million in 1998 and nearly $8 million in 2006.
Company officials at Raytheon refused to comment on specific lobbying strategy, saying that public records have fully disclosed their lobbying endeavors.
Drug Money
The pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and health products industry led the way in reported lobbying for the eighth straight year, spending more than $165 million in 2006, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Genzyme Corp., a major biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge with operations in Central Massachusetts, allocated $1.3 million to lobbying in the first half of the year on such issues as patent reform, competitive bidding for labs and Medicare reimbursement.
The company spent $2.2 million on lobbying in 2006, the most it has spent since 2001.
Genzyme declined to comment on its specific strategy.
"What we have seen over the years is more and more money being spent by more and more lobbyists as the economic stakes for people get greater and greater," Wertheimer said.
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