October 20, 1999 - Original article published on the Hill News web site:

Second battle of Gettysburg pits Santorum against Rep. Klink

By John Kruger

In a legislative battle as pitched as the legendary Pickett's Charge, the fate of facilities at the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania remains obscured by the fog of congressional politics.

The bid to build a new $40 million visitors' center on private land within the park has created a political firestorm in the southern Pennsylvania town. But it is also seen by the National Park Service as a prototype for using public-private partnerships to save the nation's underfunded parks from Yellowstone to the Smoky Mountains.

The plan to build a new visitors' center has been bolstered by strong support from the National Park Service and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.).

That support, and a public relations campaign waged by image-makers Hill & Knowlton, was apparently enough to kill an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill, introduced by Rep. Ron Klink (D-Pa.), requiring congressional review and approval of a management plan for the park.

"Unless the president vetoes this bill, you are going to have a small mall in the crown jewel of the battlefield park system," said Frank Silbey, a consultant who has taken up the cause against the proposal.

The political battle between Santorum and Klink, who is vying for the senator's seat next year, is only one aspect of a fight that has been waged on several fronts and could have a lasting impact on the park system.

Last week, a new skirmish flared when Rep. Bill Goodling (R-Pa.) drafted a bill maintaining the current site of the center. However, he refused to formally introduce it.

Goodling also confirmed rumors that his wife had considered a job with a real estate company owned by the bidding developer. Goodling and the developer's legal counsel convinced Hilda Goodling not to take the job because of the conflict of interest.

The struggle centers on the Park Service's General Management Plan to rehabilitate park facilities. The plan includes building a new, privately run facility on land within the park. The center would house a large cafeteria, museum, shops and a movie theater showing films about the park. If the plan goes through, the National Park Service could use the public-private partnership as a model for other parks that have been underfunded in recent years.

Local businesspeople and Civil War buffs charge that the proposal lacked congressional oversight or public input. It was made by York, Pa., developer Robert Kinsley under a Park Service bidding process.

These opponents also say that Santorum, the plan's chief congressional supporter, has taken up Kinsley's cause in exchange for fundraising support. Kinsley is scheduled to co-host a Santorum fundraiser in November.

Barbara Sardella, vice-president of the foundation that will run the proposed visitors' center, denied any connection between Santorum's support of the project and Kinsley's support of the senator.

"Mr. Kinsley has been a supporter of Santorum's since before his first campaign," Sardella said. "The project has nothing to do with his support."

Klink's amendment was approved in the House version of the Interior Department bill in July despite Santorum's opposition. Klink charges that the senator actively lobbied against his proposal.

"I got calls from people saying, `We're going to support you on this, but he's trying to crack arms on this thing,'" Klink said. "This has been portrayed strictly as politics. It's never been viewed on the merits."

Santorum's office would not comment on the amendment's fate other than to say it is too early to tell and they would wait until the conference bill was reported out.

But, said Communications Director Robert Traynham, "Political stunts have a short shelf life in the Senate, and this was clearly political."

Goodling was also criticized by opponents of the center for withholding a draft bill he drew up at their request. The draft proposal leaked to the press authorized $15 million to "renovate or replace the existing visitors' center ... so long as the visitors' center remains in the current location."

The lawmaker did not introduce the bill despite expected widespread support for it.

"I believe it is a good idea to have another option available ... in the event that the current General Management Plan does not come to fruition," Goodling explained in a statement. "I am prepared to introduce such legislation should the need arise."

He added that the draft that was leaked has since been changed but has not indicated how.

The Park Service's Management Plan has bipartisan opposition. Reps. James Hansen (R-Utah) and George Miller (D-Calif.), the respective chair and ranking members of the Resource Committee's National Parks Subcommittee, have both resisted the proposal.

"[Hansen] would be supportive of Rep. Goodling's bill," said an aide. "He's definitely still opposed to the Management Plan and building the visitors' center where they want to."

Last year, Hansen called for a General Accounting Office study of the park's management practices. The results are due at the end of the year.

For its part, the Park Service says it will retain full control over the content of the visitors' center's museum and stores, as it does currently in other parks. The agency also argues that the process has taken place in the open with the full knowledge of the public and Congress.

"We held over 40 public hearings," said Dave Barna, a spokesman for the Park Service. "People know. Members and staff are aware."

If members and their staffs are aware of the issues, it is in part due to a lobbying campaign waged by Hill & Knowlton. Kinsley hired the firm in September 1997. Since then, between 50 and 60 members and staffers have traveled to Gettysburg to view the site. In January 1999, the firm drove about a dozen staffers to the battlefield for a first-hand look at the site and the deteriorating condition of many of the artifacts maintained by the Park Service.

According to disclosure records, the firm spent $25,000 in the last year lobbying members and their staffs on the Gettysburg issue.