Lobbyists wage battle at Capitol

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Monday, March 4, 2002

OLYMPIA -- When House Democrats saw last week that their transportation tax package might draw opposition at the polls from auto dealers and transit activists, Speaker Frank Chopp and Majority Leader Lynn Kessler brought in some familiar faces to hash out a compromise.

They brought in the lobbyists. The hired guns.

Jim Boldt, the former Tri-Cities legislator who now represents state auto dealers, was on one side. On the other were Craig Engelking of the Sierra Club and representatives of two other groups advocating for more public transit funding.

In the end, the parties cut a deal that would add a 1 percent surcharge to the sales tax on car sales, raising extra money that could be spent on transit programs. In exchange, car dealers would be allowed to collect a $35 fee for handling vehicle title paperwork. The parties also agreed to back off threats to fight the transportation tax package if it goes to the polls in May or June.

Kessler, a Hoquiam Democrat who hopes to solve state transportation pro- blems by assembling a tax package agreeable to voters, said the meeting with the transportation lobbyists was a classic example of how lawmakers can't do their jobs without consulting the hired guns who roam the Capitol.

The idea of lobbyists so close to the action makes some voters nervous, but it's a fact of life at the Capitol. In fact, the 908 registered lobbyists outnumber legislators 6-to-1 and often are close to the elbow of lawmakers who write legislation.

New figures from the Public Disclosure Commission show the price of lobbying activities last year ran to $30.1 million, a bit less than in 2000 but far more than the $19.1 million spent in 1994. The expenses mainly were for lobbyist salaries, but some lobbyists also spent a bit to entertain lawmakers or to pass along contributions to campaign funds.

"It's what lobbyist employers are willing to pay for access and to make sure their message is heard," said Vicki Rippie, executive director of the PDC, which monitors reporting of expenses.

More money for pressing issues

This year, expenses could run higher because of hot issues that range from transportation tax increases to a battle developing over efforts to rein in the costs of state-paid prescription drugs.

The labor-backed Washington Citizen Action group scoured PDC reports and released data last week showing that pharmaceutical-related groups had upped their ante, putting no less than 29 lobbyists on the payroll this year, to fight proposals that might lower prescription drug costs.

That could drive up spending by the drug-making sector beyond last year's total of almost $933,000.

"They're pulling out the stops," said Sen. Pat Thibaudeau, D-Seattle, who chairs a health-care committee and sponsored a bill to create a preferred drug list to help rein in costs for the state's Medicaid patients.

But while Thibaudeau and other cost-control advocates say that rising caseloads and drug costs are causing the medical services portion of the state budget to spiral out of control, drug manufacturers say the changes will actually create a new bureaucracy and keep patients from getting the medications that work best.

"We think it's bad medicine," said Cliff Webster, who reported $20,000 of lobbying expenses for January alone on behalf of one client, the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America. Webster warned that "indirect price controls" will hurt "the very ability of our industry to discover medical breakthroughs that treat illness and cure diseases."

Drug lobbying

Lobbying on the pharmaceutical issue this year is intense and less than constructive in many instances, said Rep. Eileen Cody, D-Seattle, sponsor of a measure similar to Thibaudeau's in the House.

"It's not that they want to change it or improve it (the bill). They just want to kill it. They just go about spreading fear and mayhem," Cody said.

Despite the pressure, lawmakers are not getting bent out of shape by it. Cody said there is sort of a balance of power in the lobbying corps that keeps the fight a fair one.

"This bill would be dead by now if it weren't for the fact that there is a lot of groups that represent a broad base of voters that want to see it passed," she said, noting that the state Medical Association, the senior lobby, AARP, the Lung Association and other groups support what she is doing. "They all have lobbyists."

Many lawmakers say lobbyists are a necessary evil, more help than hindrance most of the time.

"They're a good source of information when I've looked for background information on an issue," said Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Thurston County. "They're an extension of the citizen and advocacy groups. I don't know if there's too many."

"They're just an information source. They're someone who can give you that one side of an issue," Kessler said. In the case of the transportation lobbyists, Democrats were trying to head off the possibility that either group might mount a campaign to torpedo the tax referendum.

Staying on the scene

But there's almost an arms race that has developed over the years. "The biggest thing -- if you don't have somebody down here every day, your constituents will have no idea what's going on," said lobbyist Bill LaBorde of the Transportation Choices Coalition, which met with Kessler, Chopp and the auto dealers last week.

"Most every group has a lobbyist these days," said Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach, whose career at the Capitol spans more than 50 years. "They've got to just to protect themselves."

Still, Snyder remembers a simpler time when only 50 lobbyists were around.

He also remembers a sloppier time, when those same lobbyists wined and dined legislators and it wasn't uncommon to see two- thirds of the Legislature eating at the former Tyee Hotel in Tumwater.

"There's a whole lot less wining and dining than there used to be," Snyder said.

To Paul Barry of the Children's Alliance, an advocacy group that pushes for programs that help children and families, the heavy spending by well-heeled industry and trade groups is a pretty alien concept. But he says he gets listened to just the same "because we have a large membership."

Barry reported about $2,600 in lobbying expenses for January, essentially his pay for trying to protect children's programs from being cut. Like the labor lobby, his group relies a lot on grass roots assistance and put on a rally at the Capitol a few weeks ago to dramatize what budget cuts might do to children and families.

"There are hundreds and hundreds of lobbyists down here, but only a handful who represent the human services," Barry said. "Since I can't take them (lawmakers) out for lunch, we have to rely on the passion of residents" to get the message across.

In some ways, the richer and poorer lobbyists are in the same boat, tracking a legislative process that is slow, frustrating, contradictory and often slippery to hang onto.

Asked whether lobbyists have too much power over the process, Jim Boldt of the car dealers' lobby said, "To tell you the truth, I feel every day like I'm playing chess in the dark. You never know day to day."

Brad Shannon, political editor for The Olympian, can be reached at 360-753-1688 and at beshanno@olympia.gannett.com.

At a glance

Year Registered Employers Total spent

lobbyists

2002 908 1,097 n/a

2001 912 1,097 $30,128,839

2000 954 1,173 $31,255,558

1999 909 1,007 $27,538,456

1998 892 1,079 $23,521,351

1997 807 1,006 $25,480,775

1996 919 1,056 $23,532,573

1995 830 982 $23,657,511

1994 880 933 $19,158,750

1993 806 919 $21,859,595

1992 803 948 $N/A

Source: Public Disclosure Commission

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Money and politics

About $30.1 million was spent last year on various lobbying activities, the majority of it going to salaries for the nearly 912 registered lobbyists at the Capitol. Smaller amounts of the spending went to contributions to campaigns, advertising campaigns, entertainment of lawmakers and other expenses.

Top expenses by lobbying firms in 2001 include:

- $1,096,247 by four lobbyists with Carney Badley Smith Spellman. Clients include North Coast Life Insurance Co., Abbott Laboratories, Associated Builders and Contractors, General Motors Corp., the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Pacific NW Ski Areas Association, Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America, Verizon, State Medical Association.

- $764,779 by two lobbyists with Boldt/Thatcher (with some work given to a third lobbyist). Clients include American Ecology Corp., Asarco, Auburn Regional Medical Center, Port of Tacoma, Segway LLC, Washington State Auto Dealers Association, Association of Washington Public Hospital Districts, Opticians Association of Washington, Washington State Hospital Association.

- $449,475 by two lobbyists with Hull & Austin Inc. Clients include Air Transport Association, Apple Computer Inc., Merck & Co. Inc., Providence Health System, Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, Washington State Dental Association.

- $457,586 by two lobbyists with Bogard & Associates. Clients include 24 Hour Fitness USA, American Forest & Paper Association, Physical Therapy Association of Washington, 1/2 est, Seattle-King County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Washington State Hotel & Lodging Association.

- $441,399 by two lobbyists with Gano & Associates. Clients include Cingular Wireless, Goodrich Corp., Keybank of Washington, Philip Morris Inc. (including Miller Brewing Co.), Trendwest Resorts, Wells Fargo Bank.

Individual lobbyist expenses

- $411,990: David Michener, clients including Waste Management Inc., Washington Dental Association, Washington Soft Drink Association and Polaroid Corp.

- $398,282: Danny Coyne, clients including Far West Agribusiness Association Hewlett-Packard Co., Simpson Investment Co., Westfarm Foods, Williams Co.

- $336,157: Robert Makin, clients include Weyerhaeuser Co., Agbar Technologies, Associated Grocers, Chelan PUD 1, Washington Wholesale Druggist Association, Sabey Corp.

- $335,054: Jean Leonard, clients include Glaxo SmithKline, Puget Sound Energy, State Farm Insurance Cos., VoiceStream Wireless Corp., Washington Insurers, Washington Wine Institute.

- $317,752: Gregory Pierce, clients include Alcoa, AT&T, Laidlaw Transit, Port Blakely Tree Farms, Six Flags, Washington Forest Protection Association, Vulcan Northwest, Washington Roundtable.

- $277,632: Alan Ralston, Boeing Co.

- $274,157: Joe Daniels, clients include Philip Morris Inc. (and Miller Brewing Co.), Barr Laboratories Inc., city of SeaTac, Holland America Line Westours, San Juan County, United Food & Commercial Workers, Washington Association of Sewer and Water Districts.

- $262,152: Betty Means, AARP.

- $245,825: Kathleen Collins, clients include city of Shoreline, Pacificorp, Spokane Transit Authority, Tenaska Inc., Washington Self Insurers Association, Washington Water Policy Institute.

- $230,048: Cody Arledge, Washington State Council of Firefighters.

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