WANT MORE CAPITAL IN THE CAPITOL? HIRE A LOBBYIST.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Do you have a lobbyist?

If not, you're part of a fast-shrinking minority without a hired gun in Washington, D.C.

If you think that's an exaggeration, consider this:

Marriage counselors have lobbyists. People who grow sunflowers have a lobbyist. The oncologists, the neurologists and the anesthesiologists all have their own lobbyists. So do the cosmetologists. And the meteorologists.

People who want to legalize marijuana have a lobbyist. People who don't like e-mail spam have a lobbyist. Even people who own Bernese Mountain Dogs have one.

``It's endless,'' says Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a longtime critic of the federal appropriations process who says the proliferation of registered lobbyists is a symptom of a broken system.

Nowadays, he contends, it seems every industry, ideology and even disease has a power broker to protect its interests or, more likely, snag dollars from the federal government.

The result: a vast increase in the number of ``earmarks'' or special funding for pet projects that politicians slip into legislation - more commonly called ``pork.''

Since 1999, the number of registered lobbyists has more than doubled to about 34,000.

Meanwhile, the D.C.-based watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense found that the 1980 federal defense appropriations bill had 62 ``earmark'' projects - a number that soared to 2,671 last year.

Lawmakers and analysts agree, there is a lobbyist behind each earmark.

``Sure, there are the Motorolas and the Boeings and the Intels,'' Flake said of big-name companies that hire mega-teams of consultants to cruise Capitol Hill for favors. ``They're outnumbered 20-to-1 by the school lunch servers and the Alzheimer's advocates.

``You name it, they have a lobbyist,'' he said. ``They've all got a program.''

Penny Farthing, a partner with Patton Boggs LLP - one of Washington's most powerful lobbying shops whose clients include Shell Oil, the Kuwaiti government and Los Angeles World Airports - said she believes it's nearly impossible for a group to obtain federal funding without a lobbyist's help.

Which, many say, explains why it's not just major cities such as Los Angeles and Long Beach or even smaller municipalities such as Pomona, Apple Valley, Duarte and Lakewood that have lobbyists.

Now, it's senior centers and youth groups and after-school programs as well.

Even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and Vulcan Park in Birmingham, Ala. - home to a 56-foot statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire - have lobbyists. And both have received federal earmarks from various spending bills.

E. Del Smith, who represents Long Beach and several other California entities, said it's ``in vogue'' for groups to hire a Washington lobbyist. And, he noted, neither deficits nor budget belt-tightening have stopped the practice.

``It's funny. There's less money available at a time when there's more lobbyists. And at the same time, because there's less money, you need more horsepower to get it,'' he said.

Sometimes, of course, the goal isn't direct funding but to persuade Congress not to enact regulations that could cost an industry big bucks.

Bowling alley owners, for example, hired Berman & Co. in 2003 to lobby on issues ranging from tobacco and alcohol sales to small-business taxes. Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern - made famous by John Belushi in a popular ``Saturday Night Live'' skit series - recently hired William Mullen Strategies to lobby on ``issues pertaining to proper registration and licensing'' of a new D.C. area location.

Sometimes, money isn't even part of the equation.

Two months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, lobbyist Philip S. Smith registered to represent Afghanistan's Northern Alliance Junbish Party. Working out of his home and not the typical K Street corporate office, Smith helped pressure the Bush administration - against, he said, the wishes of some State Department officials - to aid Afghan Gen. Rashid Dostum.

Meanwhile, lobbyist John Melcher, a former senator from Montana, said he took on the cause of the Bernese Mountain Dog Club because of his daughter, who is a breeder. He said the group doesn't seek federal appropriations, but rather an end to puppy mills and stricter regulations on international imports of the big, fluffy, tri-color dogs.

Yet with securing appropriations such a popular arena for lobbyists, many are wondering what the future might hold as Congress considers broad new ethics rules that could include a ban on earmarks.

Farthing said it could spell major changes for the industry, though she said, ``I would find it hard to believe that members would vote to do away with earmarks for public entities.''

Flake, who is pushing legislation that two of the three contenders for majority leader have endorsed, said he wants to make sure all earmarks are introduced to bills early so they can be challenged and potentially removed.

Currently, most earmarks are added to the final version of spending bills and, under House rules, no single item can be removed. If a lawmaker objects to certain spending, the only recourse is to vote down the entire bill, which often also includes vital military funding or other important items.

No California lawmakers have signed on to support Flake's legislation.

``It would basically give Congress the line-item veto,'' Flake said. ``People talk about the president having a line-item veto, I think Congress should have one.''

Referring to the former San Diego congressman who pleaded guilty to charges that he accepted bribes from defense contractors in return for steering billions of dollars in projects to them, Flake said, ``As we've seen in the Duke Cunningham case, earmarks are the currency of corruption.''

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com