Around the State House, it is no secret where to go to find hard-to-get tickets to such events as Washington Redskins games or Rolling Stones concerts -- the full-service lobbying firm headed by Gerard E. Evans and John R. Stierhoff.
From 1995 to 1997, the firm handed out or sold more than $87,000 worth of tickets to football, baseball and basketball games, not to mention the Preakness, according to an analysis of the lobbyists' financial records.
The big spending on tickets was business as unusual for the lobbying firm, which spares little expense to secure its corporate clients and win legislative victories.
Over the three-year period of 1995 through 1997, the Evans firm spent almost $400,000 on the care and feeding of state legislators and clients, according to an analysis of the lobbyist's financial records.
The documents, made public in a 1997 lawsuit filed against the firm by a disgruntled former partner, detail the lobbyists' spending on entertainment, gifts and contributions to politicians and their favorite charities.
Dollar by dollar, the records provide a unique snapshot of big-time State House lobbying at a time when federal authorities are investigating Evans and Stierhoff and their relationship with state Del. Tony E. Fulton of Baltimore.
Federal authorities are trying to determine whether the Evans-Stierhoff firm persuaded Fulton to introduce legislation to help the lobbyists generate business.
While that investigation proceeds, the civil court documents reveal the inner workings of a firm that showed no reluctance to spend what it takes to be successful.
Consider these figures culled from three years' worth of the firm's records filed in the court case:
In 1997 alone, the firm spent almost $250,000 on entertainment and travel.
From 1995 through 1997, Evans was reimbursed $187,000 for expenses -- meaning he was spending, on average, more than $1,000 a week. While drawing a $42,000-a-month salary, he had expenses of more than $18,000 in one month.
During the three-year period, the lobbyists gave at least $148,000 to nonprofit groups, many of the gifts at the request of elected state officials who backed the causes.
The partners treated themselves generously, paying for an expensive membership at an Anne Arundel County country club, tennis court time and membership in the Center Club in Baltimore. The firm spent thousands on flowers, cigars, liquor and food, and it covered the $1,700-a-month cost of a Porsche for Evans -- on top of the partners' six-figure salaries.
The firm occasionally hired the politically connected. The campaign manger for a state senator was paid $54,000 to help with community relations on the Washington Redskins' new stadium in Prince George's County, while the daughter of a key General Assembly committee chairman served a 1997 internship with the firm, earning $2,200.
Evans and Stierhoff did not return phone messages seeking comment last week. They have not responded to interview requests since The Sun disclosed in May the federal probe of their dealings with Fulton.
But advocates of stricter ethics laws say details of the firm's free-spending ways are disturbing.
"I think it's a pretty obscene indictment of what goes on at the State House," says Bill Hogan, director of investigative projects for the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog agency that focuses on ethics and public service.
"This firm bestows benefits on lawmakers, who then bestow benefits on the clients. It's a pretty easy thing to understand."
'Certainly looks tawdry'
Adds Donald F. Norris, professor of policy science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County:
"When it gets to the amounts you're talking about here, it has the appearance of impropriety. This stuff may not be illegal, immoral or improper, but it certainly looks tawdry."
Such assessments have become more common in recent years as the size of the Annapolis lobbying corps, and its influence on the legislative process, have soared.
During the past 20 years, total lobbying fees and money spent to lubricate the social and legislative machinery during the Assembly's sessions have tripled -- to more than $21 million a year.
Chastened by disclosure of lobbying excesses, legislators have tried fitfully over the years to rein in the profession with tougher ethics laws.
A task force created last year to rewrite state ethics laws proposed banning legislators from soliciting charitable gifts from lobbyists -- saying the practice creates inappropriate pressure on both lobbyists and lawmakers.
Among the task force members, the loudest voice supporting the ban belonged to Stierhoff. The General Assembly, over the objection of many members, enacted the ban on solicitations this year. It goes into effect Oct. 1.
Another task force is to undertake a full-blown study of state lobbying laws this year and propose more changes to the Assembly next year.
Superb political pedigree
For a primer on high-profile lobbying, the task force might want to examine the history of the Evans-Stierhoff firm, which came together in 1994 with a superb political pedigree.
The gregarious Evans was a veteran State House lobbyist and a protege of state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, with roots in Prince George's County politics.
Stierhoff had been Miller's legislative assistant for a dozen years and was respected around the State House for his attention to detail and his grasp of legislative issues.
The firm's connections didn't end there. Partner Joel D. Rozner had been chief of staff for Parris N. Glendening when he was Prince George's County executive, and he maintained close ties to many in the newly elected governor's administration.
The last two partners were Charles A. Dukes Jr., a Republican lawyer from Prince George's County, and Ellyn L. Brown, the former state securities commissioner.
The firm set up shop in a comfortable office on Duke of Gloucester Street in Annapolis and scored an immediate coup by landing the Washington Redskins as a blue-chip client.
Its client list came to include a casino company, pharmaceutical manufacturers and health-care providers.
By 1995 Evans had become the State House's highest grossing lobbyist.
In 1997, the firm brought in about $2.1 million in lobbying fees and an additional $150,000 for a variety of other legal work.
Internal strife
But there were growing pains.
Brown left the firm in fall 1995, and Dukes departed in late 1996 after a dispute with the remaining three partners about his compensation.
Dukes filed a $2 million lawsuit against the firm seeking a bigger severance package, a suit that went to trial last summer.
Charles County Circuit Judge Christopher C. Henderson, brought in to hear the case, has yet to rule. (In the meantime, Rozner also left last year on less than amicable terms and joined a rival Annapolis lobbying firm.)
Among the complaints raised in his lawsuit, Dukes questioned the free spending of his former partners, particularly Evans.
Dukes declined last week to discuss his suit against Evans and Stierhoff, but he made his opinion clear in a deposition taken before last summer's trial.
"You can look yourself at the monthly expenses," Dukes said in the deposition. "Money was being spent like water, specifically by Mr. Evans and, to some other lesser degree, by my other partners."
Even a cursory look shows that the firm spent a staggering amount of money lubricating the Annapolis entertainment scene and living up to the image of the tasseled-loafer lobbyist.
Thousands for entertainment
The firm spent thousands of dollars taking various General Assembly committees out to dinner or throwing receptions for the entire legislature on behalf of clients.
Evans collected a salary of more than $500,000 in 1997, while his partners both topped $295,000. By 1997, his expenses during the 90-day legislative session had grown to $30,400.
Over the three-year period, the lobbyists spent more than $20,000 at a Montgomery County sport-themed store, $1,700 on cigars, $17,000 for golf at Old South Country Club, and $5,500 on Christmas cards, gifts and candy, records show.
The firm seems to have been relentless in picking up the tabs.
Over two nights during the 1997 legislative session, for example, Evans spent $2,300 for late-night jam sessions at an Annapolis hotel featuring a band in which he played drums for legislators, staffers and other lobbyists.
At the end of the 1995 session, the firm sent over to the State House more than $1,200 in bagels and other food for legislators, records show.
In 1996, it spent more than $2,300 for a reception in Cumberland in conjunction with the Rocky Gap music festival spearheaded by House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr.
At the end of the 1997 session, the firm celebrated with Senate President Miller's staff, picking up a $1,103 dinner tab.
Source for tickets
Evans and his partners also became known around Annapolis for their ability to land good tickets to sports and music events, thanks to their representation of the Redskins and Evans' close ties to the University of Maryland, College Park.
The firm's records identify only those who purchased tickets, not those who received them gratis.
State budget Secretary Frederick W. Puddester bought tickets from the firm to a 1997 Rolling Stones concert at the Redskins' new stadium, as did Baltimore Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg, according to the records.
Dels. Ann Marie Doory of Baltimore and Obie Patterson of Prince George's and former state licensing Secretary Eugene A. Conti Jr. purchased hard-to-get Redskins tickets.
Maryland Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell, the chairman of the influential Finance Committee, arranged for a Baltimore County restaurant to buy $2,150 worth of tickets from the lobbyists to the sold-out 1997 game between the Redskins and Baltimore Ravens at Redskins stadium.
Bromwell said he turned to the lobbyists after Ravens officials were unable to provide seats to the game.
"I said, 'Hey listen, I want to bring a busload of people to the game,' " Bromwell recalled telling one of the lobbyists. "They got me tickets."
It is no secret that lobbyists and their corporate clients have long been key sources of campaign contributions for state elected officials, and the Evans firm was a willing participant, sending checks to both state and federal candidates during the three-year period.
Contributions to charity
But the firm's records detail for the first time the extent of a now-forbidden phenomenon: legislators pressuring lobbyists for contributions to their pet charities.
From 1995 to 1997, the firm gave at least $148,000 to a host of nonprofit causes, much of it at the urging of legislators or other elected officials. Among these gifts:
The Clinton Boys and Girls Club, in Miller's home district in Prince George's County, received a $5,000 check from the lobbyists, while charities backed by Speaker Taylor received $17,500 over three years.
High Bridge Elementary School near Bowie received $2,500 at the request of Del. James W. Hubbard, according to the firm's records.
The lobbyists sent checks totaling $1,500 to the Cecil-Kirk Recreation Center in East Baltimore, a favored cause of some Baltimore legislators.
Annual contributions totaling $5,100 to the New Caring Brothers, a loosely organized group founded by former Sen. Larry Young.
Under the leadership of Young, who is under indictment on federal corruption charges, the Legislative Black Caucus asked the Evans firm to help subsidize its annual meeting in summer 1996. The firm obliged with more than $5,000, money that helped pay reception expenses, including a string ensemble and photographer, according to the firm's records.
Another group called Take Back Our Streets, backed by Del. Nathaniel T. Oaks of Baltimore, received $500 contributions during both the 1995 and 1996 legislative sessions, the firm's records showed.
The firm helped finance the political strategy building of the Democratic caucus in the House of Delegates, sending a $1,000 check to the House Democratic Research Group in 1997.
Glendening also tapped the lobbying firm.
The lobbyists kicked in $5,000 to the governor's 1995 inaugural fund and $8,000 to the Government House Foundation, a fund-raising effort that Evans headed, with the proceeds paying for, among other things, official portraits of Glendening and his wife.
Part-time work
Moreover, the court documents show, Evans' office found part-time work for a number of former legislators shortly after they left the General Assembly.
Former Sen. John A. Pica was paid $5,000 for consulting work on behalf of a liquor store client in 1997, while former Del. Timothy F. Maloney received consulting fees of $15,000.
Former Sen. Catherine I. Riley picked up work totaling $6,675 from the Evans firm during the three-year period, while former Del. Michael Arrington collected $36,000 in fees, the records showed.
On at least two occasions, the lobbyists hired friends and relatives of current legislators.
Lisa Vallario, daughter of Del. Joseph F. Vallario Jr., the head of the House Judiciary Committee, was given an internship in the Evans office in 1997.
And the lobbyists hired Roderick Willis, the campaign manager for former Sen. Decatur W. Trotter and a member at one time of his legislative staff, as a consultant on the Redskins stadium project, paying him $54,000 in fees.
'Life in the fast lane'
Kathleen S. Skullney, executive director of Common Cause/Maryland, which pushes for stricter ethics laws, said the Evans firm's huge spending and its coziness with current and former legislators is disturbingly effective.
"What is reflected in all of this money and all of this life in the fast lane is that obviously it works or the clients wouldn't foot the bill," Skullney said.
"It's a two-way transaction.
"This laundry list gives you a sense of the huge channels of money that the public never sees. This is 'influence' with a capital I."
Big fees, expenses
In 1997, the lobbying firm of Evans, Rozner and Stierhoff raked in fees totaling $2,270,040. Here are some of the firm's expenses that year:
Payroll: $1,369,707
Entertainment: $222,282
Contributions to charities and other causes backed by legislators: $45,755
Political contributions*: $3,700
Porsche lease expense: $14,924 (partial year)
Consultants: $32,000
Receptions: $23,720
Rent: $92,315
Mobile phones: $28,031
Flowers and gifts: $3,866
NOTE: * Maryland law limits state campaign contributions by an individual or company to $10,000 during a four-year election cycle.
SOURCE: An Evans, Rozner and Stierhoff balance sheet, filed in lawsuit against the firm in Prince George's County.
Pub Date: 6/22/99