According to a story by Matthew Boyle at The Daily Caller, the taxpayer-funded radio network hired the firm in the second quarter of 2011 to work on issues regarding “funding for NPR and affiliate stations.”
It will remain unclear how much NPR is paying for these lobbying services until second quarter lobbying forms are filed. But before NPR hired the firm to represent it on funding issues, the network spent $131,666 in 2011’s first quarter on an in-house lobbyist.
NPR’s hiring of a lobbying firm to preserve its funding has riled some of the network’s critics.
“It’s astonishing that at [a] time we are looking to get a grip on out-of-control Washington spending, NPR is using hard earned tax dollars to pay for a lobbyist to extract more tax dollars,” Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer said in an email to The Daily Caller.
Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado, who is among those leading the charge to defund NPR, told TheDC NPR’s new lobbying campaign won’t help them out in Congress.
“NPR’s misguided attempt to buy goodwill on the Hill will go nowhere,” Lamborn said in an e-mail to TheDC. “The simple truth is, our government is broke and the gravy train has run out of steam. NPR ought to focus its efforts on replacing federal revenues with private donations.”
Bracy refused to say how much NPR’s contract with his firm is worth.
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