Revolving Door Sidenote

The News-Leader's Chad Livengood had a story yesterday about Sen. Gary Nodler's election year interest in disassociating himself with funding for two programs in his state senate district: (1) a storm shelter at Missouri Southern State University and (2) forgivable loans for high-tech batterymakers in Lee's Summit and Joplin.  As Randy Turner notes, Nodler seems to have had "no problems letting everyone give him the credit for the Missouri Southern "storm shelter" and an appropriation for Joplin-based Eagle Picher, but now that it has become a campaign issue, Nodler is attempting to distance himself from the so-called earmarks."

There was also an interesting bit in the News-Leader story about Sen. Kit Bond's involvement in lobbying Nodler for the forgivable loans, which went to EaglePicher Industries in Joplin and Kokam America in Lee's Summit.

Nodler also got additional lobbying from U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, who reportedly called Nodler seven times in one day pushing for the stimulus funds to be used for supporting the batterymakers. Bond voted against the federal stimulus bill, but sought to influence the state legislature's use of the money.

Nodler has said Bond urged him to appropriate stimulus money for the batterymakers and $12 million for air cargo facility at the St. Louis airport for trade with China.

Bond emphasized "it's not only vital to the economic interests of the state but vital to the interests of the nation as a whole," Nodler told the Columbia Daily Tribune last May. "When I put together the Senate substitute, I just added those two provisions into that substitute."

Who else is lobbying for Kokam?  Bond's former Chief of Staff, Jason Van Eaton. Van Eaton began lobbying for Kokam American on April 24, 2009.  Coincidentally, the many phone calls from Bond reportedly came "in the final days of the Missouri legislative session," which ended last year on May 29.  As reported by The Columbia Daily Tribune's Terry Ganey on May 31, 2009:

In the final days of the Missouri legislative session, the telephone of state Sen. Gary Nodler was ringing off the hook.

Nodler, a Republican from Joplin, is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and he was getting an earful. Usually the appropriations chairman gets plenty of advice about how to spend the state’s money. But this year Nodler had at his disposal hundreds of millions of federal stimulus dollars approved by Congress to boost the sagging economy.

Among those calling Nodler with suggestions was U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., who voted against President Barack Obama’s $787.2 billion stimulus package in February. Two months later, days before the state budget deadline, Nodler hammered out a spending plan that included $50 million for two high-tech battery manufacturing plants in Missouri and $12 million for an air cargo facility at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for trade with China...

Although the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry was lobbying for the China hub facility in St. Louis, there had been no testimony about it. Jason Van Eaton, who was formerly on Bond’s staff, lobbied for the Kokam project and is executive director of the China Hub Commission.

During a visit to the University of Missouri last week, Bond downplayed his involvement in both projects. “I was just calling to find out what was going on,” he said. “I talk to a lot of my friends. We asked about a lot of things that were going on.”

...Nodler said Bond had called him seven times in one day to discuss the projects.

“Six times he missed connecting with me, but on the seventh call he made contact and discussed those at length,” Nodler said. “In the case of the battery manufacturers, he talked about the size of the federal investment that had already been made and what he believes to be the national interests moving forward in this area. It’s not only vital to the economic interests of the state but vital to the interests of the nation as a whole. He also voiced support for the China hub.”

“When I put together the Senate substitute, I just added those two provisions into that substitute,” Nodler added.

(This May 2009 articles shows that Nodler's election year positioning-- at least as far as EaglePicher is concerned -- is hogwash.  In his own words: "I just added those two provisions into that substitute.")

Who else is lobbying for Kokam?  Bond's former legislative counsel, Brent Franzel. Ganey also had a great article about the connections between Bond and Kokam earmarks in 2008. From that story:.   

When Don Nissanka sought help in Washington, D.C., to reach the people who could help him land a government contract, he secured the services of Brent Franzel, a lobbyist with ties to U.S. Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri.

Nissanka is the president of Kokam America Inc., which is developing lightweight lithium batteries for the military at a plant in Lee's Summit. With Franzel's help, Kokam secured $6 million through an earmarked appropriation that Bond placed in the federal budget last year.

This was not the first earmark Kokam received. Bond put an $8 million appropriation into a defense spending bill for Kokam in 2006 at a time when Franzel was listed as the company's lobbyist. Franzel once worked for Bond and later made contributions to his campaigns....

Records compiled by Web sites such as OpenSecrets.com, FedSpending.org and taxpayer.net, the Taxpayers for Common Sense Web site, show that in some cases there is a financial relationship between who seeks the earmarks, who gets them and who helps to deliver them. The connections involve fees paid to key lobbyists and campaign contributions made to members of Congress.

Records show Kokam paid $60,000 in lobbying fees in 2007 to Franzel and his organization, Cardinal Point Partners. Franzel is a former legislative counsel for Bond, a position that taught Franzel how military equipment and weapons were funded.

Interesting, no?

Image credit: NodlerForCongress.com