PB BUSINESS LEADERS LET GO OF BRAC LOBBYISTS

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

By Alison Vekshin/Stephens Washington Bureau
Wednesday, August 17, 2005 10:12 AM CDT

WASHINGTON -- Despite nagging worry, Pine Bluff business leaders did not renew the contract of Washington lobbyists who worked to keep the Pine Bluff Arsenal off a federal base closure list released this spring.

The Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County let the contract expire in June, said Jim Crider, the group's president.

Crider declined to comment on the reason, saying he would prefer to wait until Sept. 8, when the Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) Commission is expected to submit its recommendations to President Bush.

The Arsenal was kept off the Pentagon's base closing list. Instead, it stands to gain a mission from a new $8.9 million reserves building that would replace an Army Reserve Center at Pine Bluff.

The BRAC commission could add bases on its own, but has given no indication it is targeting the Arkansas installation.

Crider said he still could not presume the Arsenal had been spared until the commission completes its work.

"We can't afford to assume that," Crider said. "The safest position is to keep quiet for now."

Nonetheless, the contract for lobbyists from Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, LLP, and Hyjek & Fix, Inc., was allowed to expire. The lobbyists were hired two years ago and were paid $200,000 in 2003 and 2004, according to Senate lobbying records.

"The Alliance just concluded that they were in good shape for BRAC and that they wanted to move on," said Chris Goode, a senior adviser at Hyjek & Fix.

"From their perspective, we accomplished the mission," Goode said.

Goode and three other lobbyists met with Alliance members in Pine Bluff in late May and made a pitch for a contract extension.

Goode commended The Alliance for thinking ahead and hiring Washington representatives two years before the Pentagon released its list.

"Pine Bluff, frankly, did it right," Goode said. "We had significant interaction and engagement with the right decision makers at the right time."

In seeking a contract renewal, the lobbying firms had told Pine Bluff leaders that with national security needs constantly changing, an installation needs to remain relevant.

"Can you use help from outside advisers to stay in touch with that reality? I think you can," Goode said. "We are a luxury and it costs money and resources. That's another reality."