Lobbyist

WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan congressional report documents hundreds of contacts between White House officials and the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his partners, including at least 10 direct contacts between Abramoff and Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political strategist. The report by the House Government Reform Committee, based on e-mail messages and other records subpoenaed from Abramoff's lobbying firm, found 485 contacts between Abramoff's lobbying team and White House officials from 2001 to 2004, including 82 with Rove's office.

Bruce Bereano is The Great Believer. In what? In anything that pays him to believe.At last year's General Assembly session in Annapolis, he believed passionately in 57 different clients who paid him $656,780 to sweet-talk legislators. This is a state of belief (and non-stop talking) no other lobbyist in Annapolis even remotely approaches.Among The Great Believer's clients is the Maryland tobacco lobby, currently under such fire that smoke is coming out of its ears. Because this state has the highest rate of cancer in America, the governor wants an anti-smoking campaign.

He stood at the witness table with an expression of respect for the legislative committee he was addressing. And though he had become a fixture in Annapolis, he always introduced himself. "My name is Jim Doyle, and I'm a lawyer from Baltimore," he would say. Then would come brief, sharply focused testimony. "There was an air about him that stood out above us all," says his friend and colleague, George N. Manis. "It was the silver hair, the blue suit, the blue tie, his presentation, his demeanor.

County Executive John G. Gary announced yesterday that he has hired Anne Arundel's first Washington lobbyist to help find grant money to boost an assortment of county programs.Waterman & Associates won a one-year contract worth $96,000 after bidding that attracted 14 other firms.The company also will work for the county Board of Education and Anne Arundel Community College.By hiring Waterman & Associates, Anne Arundel joins Prince George's and Montgomery as the only Maryland counties with lobbyists in Washington.

ONE AXIOM about politicians continues to ring true: They never fail to disappoint. Newly appointed state Sen. Robert R. Neall's decision to register as a lobbyist while serving in the Maryland General Assembly is profoundly disillusioning.Even though Mr. Neall says he has registered as a lobbyist so as to comply with Anne Arundel County's strict ethics law, he has created an impossible conflict of interest. His two clients are developers. One is Driggs Construction, which is planning a $300 million townhouse complex near Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Things have been a bit grim in recent months at GTECH Holdings Corp., a maker of computerized lottery systems.In December, federal prosecutors were reported to be investigating a contract to the company from Maryland. Last month, GTECH stock sank when New Jersey officials postponed approval of keno, one of the company's most profitable lottery systems.Days later, the stock slid an additional 12 percent when California decided to review its bidding process before renewing a GTECH contract.

The chief lobbyist for Maryland's boating industry has left his post after 14 years to work as the director of state government relations for Chicago-based National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA).Mick Blackistone, who served as executive director of the Marine Trades Association of Maryland, is taking over a post in which he is to monitor proposed legislation, regulations and taxes that affect boat manufacturers in 15 key boating states in his new job."I have worked closely with the NMMA for over a decade," Mr. Blackistone said in an interview.

WASHINGTON -- A memo written by a lobbyist for Lincoln Federal Savings and Loan, suggesting that four senators may have wanted to avoid congressional hearings, was not used as evidence in the recent Senate hearings on the S&L scandal.The June 28, 1988, memo reported that Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., was "anxious" to contact Representative Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., an influential member of the House Banking Committee, at a time when that committee's staff was pressing to put a public spotlight on Lincoln.

Annapolis lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano, who has been fighting a suspension of his license over an alleged ethics violation for years, won a partial victory at Maryland's highest court yesterday. The Court of Appeals, in a 54-page opinion yesterday, reversed lower court rulings upholding sanctions against Bereano and remanded the case to the State Ethics Commission for further proceedings. It is unclear what further action the commission might take against the lobbyist; its executive director, Robert A. Hahn, said the body would review the matter.

Grace L. Webb, an indefatigable champion of human and civil rights, died Thursday at Sinai Hospital of cancer. She was 51. Ms. Webb, a resident of Randallstown, served as interim chief of staff and a legislative officer for the state Department of Human Resources. Earlier, she served as chief lobbyist for the Legal Aid Bureau in Baltimore. Del. Howard P. Rawlings, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, called Ms. Webb "a consummate professional and a role model in an environment where she was the most outstanding African-American lobbyist in Annapolis.