Insiders Talk Winning with Lobbyists, Readers Edition: How to Navigate Lobbyists and Capitol Cultures

By Robert L Guyer

The next level of advocacy builds upon the primer, "How to Successfully Lobby State Legislatures: Guide to State Legislative Lobbying, 4th edition: Revised, Updated Expanded." The Readers edition (for students, 248 pages) is the lite version of the Professional edition (for practitioners, 488 pages). Suitable for general readers, undergraduate s

• Language: English
• Publisher: Engineering THE LAW, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781732343115

Robert L Guyer

Robert Guyer lobbied at the state, federal, and international levels both as an in-house and contract lobbyist. He has taught professional lobbying skills for 20 years. A graduate of the University of Florida he holds degrees in political science, civil engineering, and law; and is admitted to the practice of law in Florida and the District f Columbia. You may learn more about him, his Lobby School, and effective advocacy techniques at www.lobbyschool.com.

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INSIDERS TALK

WINNING

WITH LOBBYISTS

INSIDERS TALK

WINNING

WITH LOBBYISTS

Readers EDITION

ROBERT L. GUYER

Copyright © 2018 by Engineering THE LAW, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, digital scanning, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please address:

Engineering THE LAW, Inc.

13714 N. W. 21 Lane

Gainesville, Florida 32606, USA

Published 2018 by Engineering THE LAW, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

20 19 18 1 2 3 4

ISBN 978-1-7323431-1-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018947554

Dedication

Oh the joy when the son surpasses the father,

dedicated to Benjamin M. Guyer, Ph.D.

Table of Contents for Readers Edition

Preface

Expected Criticisms

Acknowledgments

Attributions

Disclaimer

Chapter 1. Overview of Lobbying

Lobbying Defined

Reasons to Lobby

Who May Lobby

When to Register as a Lobbyist

Whom to Lobby

Media

When to Lobby

Where to Lobby

Trust Is the Foundation of Effective Lobbying

Agencies Require Trust, Too

Legislative Procedure and Lobbying Are Similar in All States

Lobbying Is Mostly about Money

Follow the Money

When Lobbying Is Less about Money

Summary Chapter 1

Chapter 2. Understanding Contract Lobbyists

What Lobbyists Do for Clients

What Lobbyists Offer

What Lobbyists Do Not Offer

The Home-Folk Trump All Lobbyists

Culture Trumps Strategy

Unregistered Government Affairs Counselors: Unlobbyists

Do Not Use an Unregistered Lobbyist

Registered Lobbyists

Spectator and Minor-League Lobbyists

Clients Make the Lobbyist

Advantages of Minor-League Lobbyists

Major-League Firms Are Not Always the Best or Most Cost-Effective Choice

Major-League Lobbyists and Important Personality Traits

Relationship Reciprocity

Pressures on All Lobbyists

Lobbyists and Candor

Summary Chapter 2

Chapter 3. Understanding Lawmakers

Personalities of Lawmakers

Election Campaigns Reveal Lawmakers’ Characters

Uses of Power

Lawmakers Want to Keep the Power They Have and Get More

Sometimes It’s Not All about the Power

Tiers of Lawmaker Power

Lawmakers May Not Be Powerful Enough to Vote the Way They Want

Some Lawmakers’ Votes Are Unattainable

Summary Chapter 3

Chapter 4. When Facts Matter and When They Don’t

Lawmaking Is Logical but Irrational

The Legislative Process Is Based on Political Self-Interest

Bills Still Need Factual Support

Legislatures Are Swamped with More Information Than They Can Process

Technical Studies as Political Tools

Technical Studies Are Politically Risky

Technical Studies Are for Agencies

The Lobbyist’s Role in Deciding upon a Client’s Study

Summary Chapter 4

Chapter 5. Power and Corruption

Hazards of Power

Acquired Situational Narcissism

Criminal Corruption among Lawmakers

Blurry Lines between Criminal, Unethical, and Unseemly

Corruption among Senior Legislative Staff

Corruption of the Governor, Staff, and Agencies

Corruption Exists but Don’t Expect It

Power Tests Character

Summary Chapter 5

Chapter 6. Ethics Laws for Lobbyists and Clients

People Want to Trust Their Leaders

Need for Ethics Laws

State Ethics Laws

Noncompliance

Ethics: Lobbyist to Lawmaker

Ethics: Lobbyist to Client

Professional Lobbyists’ Associations Ethics

Ethics: Client to Lawmaker

Client to Lobbyist Duties

A Client May be Liable for the Wrongdoing of Its Lobbyist

Term Limits

Summary Chapter 6

Chapter 7. Campaign Contributions

Perceptions and Realities

Significant Campaign Contributions Buy a Measure of Political Benefit

Buying Access

Access Is More about Image Than Getting Votes

How Candidates Spend Campaign Dollars

Campaign Finance Laws

Making Campaign Contributions Is Risky Business

Smart Money Goes to Incumbents

The Campaign Giving Season

Campaign Fundraisers

A Good Name May Be More Valuable Than Money

Effective Campaign Contributions Don’t Have to Be Financial

Contributions Show Donors’ Love

Influence of Big Money on Lawmakers

Summary Chapter 7

Chapter 8. Lobbying Special Interests and Coalitions

What Special Interests Do

Lobbying Allies and Opponents

Coalitions Aggregate, Apply, and Control Power

Coalitions Exist for Advantage, Not Love, Loyalty, or Debt

Holding a Coalition Together

Legislatures Expect Consistency from Coalitions

Antitrust Issues

Summary Chapter 8

Chapter 9. Lobbying Legislative Staff

Staff Levels Vary Among States

Staff Can Run the Legislature

Types of Legislative Staffs

Disrespect for the Ill-Informed

All Staff Are Important

Summary Chapter 9

Chapter 10. Lobbying Executive Agencies

Overview of Agencies

Agencies Are Powerful Legislative Players

Agency Influencers

An Agency May Undermine Itself with Lawmakers

Summary Chapter 10

Chapter 11. Lobbying Legislators

Roles of the Legislature

Rules for Selling a Bill

Sales Packages Must Be Customized to Each Lawmaker

Sales Venues

Committees and Committee Testimony

Caucuses

Leadership Influences Committee Votes

Don’t Rely on One-Party Control of the Legislature

Compassion and Appreciation for Lawmakers

Summary Chapter 11

Chapter 12. Lobbying the Governor

Roles of the Governor

Vetoes

Predicting a Veto and Veto Letter

Don’t Ignore the Governor’s Office

Summary Chapter 12

Chapter 13. Executive Agency Rulemaking, Appeal, and Enforcement

The Headless Fourth Branch of Government

Agencies Regulate

Agencies Implement Statutes through Rulemaking

Agencies May Veto Statutes

Advocates Need to Be Involved in Rulemaking

Ethics Laws and Lobbyist Registration

Rulemaking Process

Overcoming a Final Rule

Agency Staffs

Agency Enforcement

Best Lobbyists for Agencies

Summary Chapter 13

Best Wishes

About the Author

Endnotes

Preface

Insiders Talk: Winning with Lobbyists Readers Abridged Edition overviews the lobbying process and roles played by lobbyists, clients, governors, lawmakers, agency staff, legislative staff, and special interests. Our Professional Edition goes into much greater detail showing consumers of lobbying services how to find and work effectively with contract lobbyists, negotiate better fees, manage their lobbying campaigns, and improve their chances of legislative success. The Professional Edition includes hiring documents and job performance evaluation instruments.

Whether from my own lobbying as in-house government affairs staff and as a contract lobbyist in both state and federal legislatures, from the thousands of lobbyists, both beginners and experts, who have participated in my Lobby School, and from the many contributors to this book, all the lessons and examples herein are real and applicable to anyone who works with contract lobbyists.

Expected Criticisms

Critics may correctly point out they know specific exceptions to almost every one of my general observations. Others will accurately note I’m a lawyer and a lobbyist, not a political scientist, and some of my broad technical overviews as to formal processes and political understandings are deficient or inapplicable to their particular legislatures.

However, as to lobbying practice, this book is spot-on because it is based on the collective experiences of contract and in-house lobbyists and consumers of lobbying services. Our experiences include state, federal, and international advocacy. These consumers of lobbying services have hired hundreds of lobbyists at the U.S. state and federal levels.

Acknowledgments

A book is seldom the work of one person. First, I want to thank the thousands of lobbyists who have attended my Lobby School. Approximately 70 percent of the anecdotes and lessons herein come from them and their experiences.

Next, I thank the dozens of lobbyists who each contributed a point, clarification, or a brief comment to this book. Finally, I especially want to thank those who reviewed the manuscript for their criticisms and suggestions. Several quotes herein come from The Lobbying Handbook by John L. Zorack.

Finally, I thank Katherine Lee Amy, my wife and greatest supporter, for her patience during the four years I spent writing this and other books. She calmly tolerated my preoccupation with writing, let me explore ideas with her, edited my dozens of drafts, and accepted the immediate financial losses that came from me writing rather than giving income producing Lobby School seminars. Being herself an extremely successful managed health care consultant, her experiences and insights with consulting in general contributed to key sections of the book.

Attributions

As readers of this book must doubtless notice, two behaviors which are highly prized in the world of legislatures and lobbying are maintaining confidentiality and practicing trustworthiness. Clients, lobbyists, legislators, and government personnel may require certain conversations be kept private and must feel confident they can trust the person with whom they are speaking to uphold privacy. At the same time, however, those readers who want to understand the complexities and challenges of the lobbying world need to hear the voices of people intimately involved with the activities described in the following chapters.

Contributors provided valuable information but not at the price of their jobs. To illustrate, one reviewer observed, I have forgotten what horrible confessions I made, but they are all true, and it is likely for the best that they not be attributed to me. A western states government affairs director wrote, "Please do not directly cite my name on these . . . some would get me into some hot water. (Emphasis in original) A mid-Atlantic in-house lobbyist after considering the potential impact his candor could have on his career concluded, After much thought, I’d say let’s stay with anonymous." For that reason, this book contains a number of direct quotations which do not have full attribution (specifically, name of speaker) typically required in situations where authors interview individuals. In other cases, attributions are given with permission. Attributions listed as Lobby School participant are from classroom discussions, but I don’t recall which participant said it.

When the frankness that makes this book useful would needlessly harm a source, I unilaterally withheld attribution. For example, a lawmaker’s words to me in private useful to you should not result in him or her losing campaign contributions or ending up with lower rankings in voter guides.

Disclaimer

None of the contributors or organizations with which they are linked necessarily agrees with, endorses, or otherwise has chosen to be associated with anything I have written or with my observations, revelations, or conclusions. I alone am responsible for the content herein.

Chapter 1

Overview of Lobbying

Lobbying Defined

Lobbying may be defined as, trying to influence or gain goodwill. One seeks to influence and gain goodwill in order to sell. This book is about selling legislative products, that is, reasons to support or oppose bills. Lobbying is legislative sales.

Reasons to Lobby

Lobbying is driven mostly by self-interest. James Madison considered economic self-interest to be the most powerful political motivator. His views may be summarized as self-interest is the engine of government, a theme which runs throughout this book. Groups advancing self-interests in Madison’s day were called factions; today we call them special-interest groups or simply special interests. Special interests try to achieve nine goals:

1-4. Gain better laws, protect favorable laws, repeal unfavorable laws, and stop adverse bills;

5. Instruct the Governor and courts as to the state’s public policy;

6. Affect state executive agencies’ rulemaking and enforcement;

7. Build lawmaking momentum among states;

8. Build lawmaking momentum to affect Congress; and

9. Fill holes in Federal law.

Gain better laws, protect favorable laws, repeal unfavorable laws, and stop adverse bills. Using general bills and the proposed state budget, the legislature creates laws regulating individuals and businesses. For all practical purposes, the legislature can do anything it wants to do, good or ill.

Instruct the Governor and courts as to the state’s public policy. The state constitution authorizes the legislature by means of statute to assign to the executive, that is, the Governor, and judicial branches broad guiding principles of statutory interpretation and application.

Affect executive agencies’ rulemaking and enforcement. Executive agencies are constitutionally required to implement faithfully laws enacted by the legislature. The legislature directs them by enacting or repealing their authority and by budget appropriations. However, in practice, legislative authority over agencies may be much less significant than the constitution suggests.

Build lawmaking momentum among states. States fall into genres of interest such that when one state in the genre enacts a particular law, sister states follow creating momentum for other states to adopt similar laws.

Build lawmaking momentum to affect Congress. States’ legislation motivates their states’ federal delegations to support similar lawmaking in Congress.

Fill holes in Federal law. States plug holes in federal regulations. For example, federal regulations may not affect activities below a certain size, dollar amount, number of employees, and the like, thereby leaving the states free to regulate these activities—in effect, to plug the holes in the regulatory framework.

Who May Lobby

Everybody is the answer. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states, Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the right of the people to . . . petition the government for a redress of grievances. This means the U.S. system of government is designed to allow the people to lobby. The result is a procedurally transparent system.

The legislative branch is so accessible that W. Allen Moore said, Do not hire a professional lobbyist unless all else fails. A great deal of money is wasted on lobbyists to open doors that are already open. Senators and their staffs like to help the ‘little guy’ with a good cause.¹ While legislatures are open to everyone, lawmakers’ supporters, voters, and constituents are especially welcome.

However, in exchange for government benefits—especially tax benefits—organizations may choose to accept limitations on their right to lobby, or they may voluntarily surrender advocacy opportunities altogether. States also may limit certain individuals from lobbying including recently retired legislators, certain felons, and persons banned from the legislature for bad conduct.

When to Register as a Lobbyist

An attempt to influence government directly or indirectly, orally or in writing, may be statutorily defined as lobbying. However, an advocate does not need to register as a lobbyist until reaching the statutory threshold. Money is the most common, but not the only, trigger. When a client spends money, including hiring a contract lobbyist, there is a good chance it must register.

Do not presume because a lobbyist is registered, the client doesn’t need to register. We discuss this in Chapter 6, Ethics Laws for Lobbyists, and Clients, section Ethics: Client to Lawmaker.

Whom to Lobby

Lobby persons and organizations who can influence a specific bill. In order of relative political importance, persons and organizations affecting legislation include:

Special interests;

Legislative staff;

Executive agencies;

Legislators;

Governor;

Lawmakers’ supporters;

Lawmakers’ voters; and

Constituents (i.e., general public living in electoral districts).

Seventy percent of winning in the legislature takes place before talking to the first lawmaker. This includes working with 1 through 3. The remaining 30 percent of winning takes place after the legislature receives the bill. Expect 1 through 4 must be lobbied; and perhaps 5. Lobbying 6 through 8 greatly increases chances of success; but the dynamics surrounding a bill may make working with 6 through 8 unnecessary. All this is explained as we work through the book.

Special interests. Special interests direct most legislative activity. They write most bills, build coalitions, line up sponsors and co-sponsors, secure and keep favorable votes, mobilize constituents, gain executive agency support (or at least lack of agency opposition), and build the political momentum to enact statutes.

Legislative staff. The legislature’s staff is the second most important group to lobby because these individuals advise legislators on whom to support and how to vote. Legislators normally vote as suggested by staff.

Executive agencies. Agencies are the third most important group to lobby because for all practical purposes they are the legislature’s technical advisors, and legislators seldom vote contrary to agency advice. Agency support, or at least lack of opposition, is indispensable for most bills.

Legislators. Although first in constitutional importance, lawmakers politically are quaternary when deciding the fate of a bill. This is because when special interests, legislative staff, and agencies support it, and