Lobbyist’s Charity Paid for Lawmakers’ Trips

A nonprofit group started by a longtime Washington lobbyist with several Massachusetts clients has been paying for members of Congress to attend annual Fourth of July seminars at an exclusive Cape Cod resort with industry representatives, reports The Boston Globe.

Critics say the arrangement—in which the nonprofit Invest to Compete Alliance spent more than $22,500 to pay for Massachusetts congressmen to attend the sessions over the past decade—skirts federal lobbying rules.

Invest to Compete is legally separate from Campbell-Crane & Associates, a lobbying firm run by Jeanne Campbell, but the two entities share Washington office space and a fax number. The charity also uses a Campbell-Crane e-mail address. Campbell started Invest to Compete 22 years ago.

Ms. Campbell told the Globe she has previously talked with people on the House Ethics Committee about the trips and sees no ethical problems with the arrangement. The seminar will go on as planned this summer, but Invest to Compete is not paying for any trips, Ms. Campbell said.