Special Interests Pay $1.17 Billion to Lobby

WASHINGTON — From the mighty tobacco companies to the tiny Northern Mariana Islands, special interests reported spending $1.17 billion last year to lobby Congress, the White House and the federal bureaucracy, according to the first computerized study of year-end disclosure reports.

The annual price of persuasion in Washington is enough to cover the Food and Drug Administration’s budget. It’s also 16 times the annual payroll of the Baltimore Orioles, the highest-paid team in professional baseball.

In all, companies, labor unions, interest groups and municipalities reported hiring 14,484 lobbyists, an army that outnumbers members of Congress 27 to 1, according to the analysis of lobbying disclosure reports.

The 1997 figures are the latest on record. Next month, special interests are to report their lobbying expenses for the first half of this year.

The most heavily lobbied issues in 1997 were the federal budget, taxes, health, transportation and defense, the analysis showed.

With budget cutbacks increasing competition for federal money, more special interests are turning to professional lobbyists to make their case. About 42% of the lobbyists listed the budget as one of their interest areas.

The American Medical Assn. spent the most: $17.1 million. Second was tobacco, beer and food giant Philip Morris at $15.8 million.