How People's Ears Get Marked

posted by Congress Wire
Thu, 08/17/2006 - 3:58pm

So, People, Inc. Big social services organization covering Buffalo and Western NY. Presumably, doers of good things.

But, so too is Buffalo's Everywoman Opportunity Center (doers of good things, that is). Their self-sufficiency calculator for low-income New Yorkers, has proven itself financially useful and incredibly worthy.

Problem is, People Inc. is slated to receive some serious funding via the 2007 Labor HHS appropriations bill - while the Everywoman Opportunity Center (as just one example) is not.

That discrepancy alone might explain why neither of Buffalo's Congressional Representatives jumped at the opportunity to take credit for People Inc.'s two pending grants: one for $75,000, for an integrated Alzheimer's and dementia respite care demonstration project, and the other for $350,000, for electronic health records.

Working backwards from these earmarks, the $tory unravels itself in seconds.

In early 2005, People, Inc. hired themselves a DC lobbying firm. And this little lobbying account came with three lobbyists, or at least so shows the latest registration.

And ever since, the three lobbyists made ample contributions to DC electeds, Rep Brian Higgins and Rep Thomas Reynolds prominent among them (click on each of the lobbyists' names to view their respective contributions: Jonathan Orloff, Patrick Gould, Christopher Knospe).

Probably not a stretch to assume that over the same time period, the three amigos led the management team of People, Inc. to make some good faith contributions of their own to DC electeds; where again, Reps. Reynolds and Higgins found themselves prominent among those funded.

Coincidentally (or not), one of the lobbyists (Knospe) revolved out of the position of District Director for ... you got it ... Rep. Reynolds (whose office declined comment).

No matter. Suzanne Anziska, Higgins's Communications Director, confirmed for us via email that Capitol Partners had much access to Rep Higgins as well:

"Capitol Partners, Inc has met with Congressman Higgins and staff several times. Capitol Partners represents a host of Buffalo area organizations, including the City of Buffalo, Medaille College, and People Inc. (and others)."

But Anziska fell supremely short of having her boss take responsibility for the pending appropriations, citing a future unknown:

"As I stated before, it is impossible for me to comment on the success or failure of funding for People Inc. until the bill actually passes (office policy is not to announce funding until the yeas and neas are officially counted)-- we're sensitive to the fact that until a vote is taken, nothing is for certain."

Incredibly (or not), People Inc. is poised to get exactly what they paid for. In fact, it's eerie how similar the wording in Capitol Partners' lobbying registration (Monitoring appropriations for respite housing and electronic medical records systems) is to the final wording in the bill (in italics above). Could it be that the lobbying firm of Capitol Partners just wrote these appropriations into the bill themselves?

Either way, wouldn't it be good to see the Everywoman Opportunity Center get its fair shake without having to pay to play its way into this bill.

by Gur

Categories: congress earmarks pay-to-play

People Inc. vs. Everywoman Opportunity Center

Submitted by Mrs Panstreppon (not verified) on Fri, 08/18/2006 - 6:01am.

I visited the websites of each organization and reviewed the 2004 990s filed by People Inc. and Everywoman Oportunity Center. The 990s are available are the Foundation Center's 990 Finder.

I don't why you would compare these two particular organizations to each other. In 2004, People Inc.'s revenue was $73 million and it spent $64 million to provide housing and other services to developmentally disabled people.

In 2004, Everywoman had revenue of $1.7 million and spent $1.8 million to provide job placement and career counseling services to displaced homemakers and other disadvantaged women.

I'm not sure why you characterize People Inc. as "presumably" doing good work. Nor do I understand why you consider Everywoman's Self-Assessment Calculator to be "incredibly worthy".

The Self-Assessment Calculator is a software tool to help Erie County social service agencies assess the elgibility of their clients for financial and other assistance. Three-hour training classes are provided by Buffalo State College. Everywoman's contribution to the Self-Assessment Calculator "program" appears to be hosting access to the Calculator software on its website.

Everywoman incurred annual lobbying expenses of approximately $9.5k from 2000 to 2004. The lobbyist was not identified in the 990.

It certainly appears that People Inc.'s return on a small investment in lobbying expense of less than $10k paid off to the tune of $435k.

But if I were looking for the really big dollars in government corruption, I'd be looking at how People Inc. increased government funding from $42 million in 1999 to $68 million in 2004.

I'd also be looking at HUD grants for the purchase of land and buildings which totaled at least $13 million between 2002 and 2004. Corruption at HUD is almost a given in any administration. I'd be interested in who's selling property to People Inc., too.

I suspect that People Inc. is veering into the landlord business.

Here's another reason why:

In 2002, People Inc. provided room, board and protective services to 200 clients at a cost of $23.3 million.

In 2003, People Inc. provided room, board and protective services to 475 clients at a cost of $25.8 million.

In 2004, People Inc. provided room, board and protective services to 536 clients at a cost of $28.4 million.

I don't why People Inc. could provide services to 275 more clients in 2003 than it did in 2002 and only incur a 10% increase in expense of $2.2 million.

I do know from the 990s that service revenue increased from $48 million in 2002 to $53.2 million in 2003 and then to $59 million in 2004.

I don't anything about developmentally disabled people in Buffalo. Was there a substantial increase in the number of developmentally disabled people in Buffalo? Did another facility close? Or were housing eligiblity standards revised? If so, how and by whom?

The Sunshine Earmark Project is fun but has limited usefulness because the real reason for an earmark may not be as straightforward as it appears on the surface. The People Inc. earmark, for example, may be part of a bigger pro quid arrangement involving HHS and members of the Bush administration. The lobbying fees could simply be a standard transaction fee for processing the earmark.

The Sunshine Project is also limited in terms of identifying where the big federal money is going. $500 million in HHS earmarks is a drop in the bucket compared to other federal spending. I'm thinking the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security in particular.

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