About $856,000 Going to Local Lobbying Staff

In addition to what RTD spends each year on contract lobbyists, it deploys its own staff of professional persuaders, at a cost of about $1.2 million per year.

Some of the approximately 25 members on the staff of RTD General Manager John Dyer shuttle from their base in Los Angeles to Washington and Sacramento to promote the system and try to win funds for the Metro Rail subway and other projects.

Others have the assignment of being the eyes and ears of the RTD in Los Angeles County, traveling between city halls and public meetings. The local representatives are most conspicuous at community meetings organized to bring the details of Metro Rail to the public.

“You go to (Metro Rail) hearings and there seems to be a zillion of them,” said an aide to one Los Angeles City Council member who supports the subway. “You (ask yourself), ‘Where do these people come from?’ ”

The answer, of course, is they come from a staff of about 17 in the local lobbying unit--up from about 10 in 1980--that will cost about $856,000 this year. The remainder of the $1.2-million budget is spent for those who lobby outside of the county.

These “community relations” specialists, often local political activists or former staff members of elected officials, handle complaints from local elected officials and business leaders about bus stop locations, route changes and service cutbacks. And, department records show, they cater to key politicians--making sure that a supportive Redondo Beach City Councilman gets his Metro Rail ground-breaking shovel or stopping off to buy a influential out-of-town congressman a bow tie on the way to a formal dinner.

One of their key functions is cultivating a grass-roots network of phone callers and letter writers who can be pressed into service to boost causes beneficial to the RTD.

“One of the things that we’ve specifically been told by our own local congressional delegation is that . . . they want to hear from the people. They don’t want to hear just from the agencies,” said Lou E. Collier, the RTD official in charge of the local lobbying effort.

He said that one of the biggest accomplishments of his unit in recent years has been building support for Metro Rail, particularly out in the sprawling suburbs where the line will not run and where skepticism about the Central City project traditionally has been the greatest. Collier, who prefers to call his staff members “ombudsmen,” coordinates their activities closely with the RTD’s state and federal lobbyists.

This year, a large part of Collier’s financing was shifted from the Metro Rail construction budget to the bus system budget. Collier denied that the bus system now would be financing more Metro Rail lobbying. But he acknowledged that the functions are not always easy to keep separate.

Critics say the local government affairs unit is unnecessary and ineffective.

“I think they are there to feed pabulum to the people,” said Michael Malek, a Metro Rail supporter who is active in a number of transit issues. A few years ago, Malek said, the local lobbying unit mounted a huge campaign to persuade the eastern San Fernando Valley to accept an aerial or elevated Metro Rail route. It included bringing in experts to Los Angeles and taking community and political leaders on tours of systems in other cities. Calling the campaign a waste of taxpayers’ money, Malek said, “It demonstrated to the RTD what they already knew from day one: We did not want aerial.”

RTD officials resist the label of lobbyist for its corps of local advocates. But Sarann Kruse, the mayor of Lawndale who has worked with the RTD’s local government representatives for years, said in an interview that that is what they are--and that they are unnecessary.

“I would say it’s lobbying. I don’t know what else you’d call it,” Kruse said in an interview. She noted that RTD representatives often seek her City Council support for legislation. “I don’t really see a need for it.”

Kruse and some other local elected officials said they prefer dealing with RTD board members directly.