Only ICI Beats SIFMA in Lobbying Efforts

Other financial industry groups lobby Washington lawmakers and regulators about the issues that affect the municipal securities markets, but few can match SIFMA’s resources.

Among the industry groups focused on securities, investments, and derivatives, only the Investment Company Institute, which poured almost $4 million into lobbying through the end of the third quarter, has outspent SIFMA so far this year — and then by only $39,772, or about 1%, according to federal disclosure reports.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has plowed $1.64 million into lobbying so far this year — less than half the amount spent by either SIFMA or ICI, the reports show.

ICI and ISDA declined to comment, through spokespersons.

Like SIFMA, Bond Dealers of America maintains a political action committee — albeit until recently under the name of a predecessor, the Regional Bond Dealers Association. Unlike SIFMA, though, BDA does not ask members to fund it.

“BDA decided that we’ve got smaller firms around the country, many of whom give donations on their own,” said William Daly, BDA’s senior vice president for government relations. “For BDA itself, our focus was going to be on making the case here in Washington and not on political contributions.”

The BDA’s PAC has no cash on hand and makes no contributions to federal candidates, committees, or other political committees, recent Federal Election Commission disclosure reports show.

BDA also engages in lobbying, but has a smaller budget and staff with, for example, only two in-house lobbyists, compared to SIFMA’s 14.

BDA’s registered lobbyists include Daly, who has served in that capacity since the fourth quarter of 2010, and Jessica Giroux, a vice president, who registered with BDA for the first time last quarter.

This year, the group has lobbied House and Senate members and the SEC about Dodd-Frank implementation, Build America Bonds, bank-qualified bonds, and tax reform, according to disclosure reports.

Separately, BDA has spent $130,000 on outside lobbyists so far this year — 16% of SIFMA’s total.

Former SEC commissioner Richard Roberts, a principal at Roberts, Raheb & Gradler LLC in Washington, registered to lobby for BDA on “financial institutions regulatory reform” as of Oct. 7, 2010, according to his disclosure reports.

Roberts, a former chief of staff to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the ranking minority member of the Senate Banking Committee, has reported $70,000 in lobbying income from BDA this year, including $50,000 during the third quarter.

Roberts has lobbied in the House and Senate and at the SEC on issues related to financial services legislation and Dodd-Frank implementation, his disclosure shows.

In addition, Ellen Marshall of Marshall & Co. in Alexandria, Va., has received $60,000 from BDA this year to lobby in the House and Senate on Dodd-Frank and tax and finance issues, including: “the proposed fiduciary standard,” cost-benefit analysis for proposed rulemakings, bank-qualified bonds, tax-credit bonds, infrastructure bank proposals, and retaining the federal tax exemption for munis, her disclosure reports show.

Marshall also participated in “education sessions” with congressional lawmakers about state and local budgets, revenues, and their impact on the muni market, according to her reports.

“They help us out on the Hill with the lobbying, since there’s a lot to do,” Daly said. “And we have a small in-house staff.”

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