Porter energizes colleagues to press for U.S. tourism fund

By Lisa Mascaro

Sunday, July 13, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Caucuses on the Hill operate sort of like extracurricular clubs in college. They are made up of lawmakers with like-minded interests, from the Out of Iraq Caucus to the Frozen Food Caucus.

Rep. Jon Porter is co-chairman of the Travel and Tourism Caucus, which counts more than 100 members — lawmakers from Cape Cod shores to the Las Vegas Strip.

Porter’s rise to leadership was a natural fit.

Porter represents the Las Vegas area. He understands the post-9/11 slump, with 2 million fewer foreign visitors annually nationwide. He brought fresh focus.

And he was not Mark Foley. The disgraced former congressman helped lead the group until he left Washington in late 2006 after allegations that he sent sexually suggestive messages to a teen boy in the House page program.

Since Porter filled the Republican slot in early 2007, alongside longtime co-chairman Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., industry insiders have gushed over the new energy.

One lobbyist points to a conference the caucus hosted last month as an assertion of its prominence. Bush administration Cabinet secretaries attended, as did Democratic and Republican leaders from the House, and powerful committee chairmen — practically an end in itself.

Porter wants to bring cohesion to an industry he thinks has been sorely overlooked in Washington as an economic powerhouse. Travel obviously fuels Nevada’s home-state enterprises, but also generates $1.6 trillion annually nationwide.

The industry has grand goals. The Travel Industry Association, the main lobby arm, has been running a sophisticated campaign this year to get the federal government to advertise U.S. travel to overseas markets.

It might seem unbelievable, but people pay good money to get tourists to come to Vegas.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spends $18 million annually to market the Strip internationally. It just opened offices in China, Brazil, India and Russia.

The bill gathering support in Congress would create a public-private corporation, with up to $200 million annually, to promote the United States abroad.

The quasi-government entity would be funded by a new $10 fee for foreigners visiting without visas, and matched dollar per dollar by private industry funds.

Geoff Freeman, a former pharmaceutical and managed care industry lobbyist behind the effort, even imagines the new slogan, something like: “A lot of things have changed since 9/11 but one thing hasn’t — and that’s that we still want you to come.”

Porter has signed onto the bill, as has Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley (also a member of the Travel and Tourism Caucus), helping to give it a House majority. A companion bill in the Senate has support from Republican Sen. John Ensign and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The Bush administration, however, is opposed, as is a key Oklahoma senator known for single-handedly blocking bills he perceives as government waste.

Opponents don’t believe the federal government should bring its resources to bear on What-happens-in-Vegas-stays-in-Vegas-style campaigns for the country.

The Oklahoma senator, Republican Tom Coburn, “thinks it’s absurd,” said spokesman Don Tatro, who confirmed Coburn is blocking the bill.

Porter and Farr had offered more modest legislation that would allow cities and states to tap into $10 million annually in State Department grant funds. An entity such as the LVCVA, for example, could receive up to $1 million a year from the government to advertise its hot spot if it agreed to a dollar-per-dollar match. That bill, though, seems unlikely to advance this year with just about 25 co-sponsors.

Porter, meanwhile, continues corralling the diverse players. He points to the National Rifle Association, with its highly effective lobbying umbrella, as a model. Just think of the strength in numbers that would come by getting airline, hotel, restaurant and related industries to lobby en masse.

But before Porter can get them on the same page, he has to get them to the table.

“Probably the biggest accomplishment this Congress,” said spokesman Matt Leffingwell, “was to reinvigorate the dialogue.”