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Town Hires Mayforth Group As Lobbyist
BY Philip Marcelo
Journal Staff Writer
CUMBERLAND -- Wanted: Lobbyist/grant writer who knows the way around Washington and has strong ties with state representatives and senators to work for a Rhode Island municipality in securing federal and state money.
Must be willing to travel between Washington, D.C., and the state capital regularly on behalf of the town.
Tuesday, the town found its suitor in the Mayforth Group, a Providence lobbying firm run by Richard M. McAuliffe Jr., a career political adviser who has run successful election campaigns for Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty and U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, as well as fundraising for former presidential candidate John Kerry.
The Mayforth Group, which has offices in Providence and Washington, D.C., also lobbies and writes grants for North Providence.
Town administrators have been soliciting firms for what they describe as "a governmental relations adviser service" since March 28. Bidding closed at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The Mayforth Group was the lone applicant.
If the Town Council approves the administration's proposal, Mayforth would be paid no more than $60,000 annually, according to bid documents.
"To have a group like this on board, who knows what a town's needs are and who can prepare grants in a professional manner, brings a quantity of expertise that is needed in the town," David Fernandes, the mayor's executive assistant, said yesterday. "This goes above and beyond anything that we have now."
Town Finance Director Thomas Bruce III and town Human Resources Director Kathleen Stoddart drafted the request for proposal, or RFP, for the governmental relations adviser position. Requirements included:
Four years of experience, working relationships with the General Assembly and congressional delegations, services in the area of identifying and obtaining federal funds through grants and appropriations, and lobbying services at the state, regional, and federal level.
The request also required that candidates "provide federal grant application delivery to Washington in person," "provide services to work with each department or federal agency to ensure followup of the grant application," and "provide services in Washington as well as locally."
The town required that applicants show experience dealing with specific governmental agencies, including Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Commerce, the Economic Development Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and, according to the bid request, "private foundations and corporate sponsors."
Fernandes said the bid request was drafted with the company in mind. Mayforth representatives had met privately with town officials in January.
"Not many organizations have the knowledge that they have," he said. "You can say they are industry-specialized."
According to bid documents submitted to the town, Mayforth is a five-year-old company that represents Rhode Island companies, nonprofit groups, and unions and associations, including the American Sail Training Association, Johnson & Wales University, the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, United Food and Commercial Workers, and the Black Contractors Association of Rhode Island.
McAuliffe, the company chairman, has spent more than 11 years in state and national politics.
McAuliffe was a legislative assistant for U.S. Sen. Jack Reed and ran then state Sen. Charles J. Fogarty's campaign for lieutenant governor before becoming Fogarty's chief of staff and senior adviser.
McAuliffe then became Kennedy's district director and helped run his reelection campaign in 2000. He sat on John Kerry's national finance committee during his 2004 presidential campaign.
The town has never had a full-time grant writer and would be one of the few towns in the state with a paid lobbyist in Washington.
"This is a big step for us as a town and it is something we will not take lightly. We need to do more research on the matter," Bruce said.
The Town Council will consider hiring the Mayforth Group in its first meeting in May, he added.
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