JEFF ZELENY
I democratici affermano che il cambio della guardia
procura grandi opportunità, seconde
solo alla conquista della Presidenza.
Gli studi legali si attendono un aumento degli affari se i
democratici mettono in atto la promessa di investigare sull’Amministrazione
Bush.
L’industria farmaceutica ha assunto democratici già prima
delle elezioni, sperando di ridurre il contraccolpo in caso di perdita
elettorale dei repubblicani, e per scongiurare che i democratici assecondassero
le richieste di far negoziare al governo i prezzi dei farmaci.
- Con
il passaggio ai Democratici della maggioranza al Congresso anche i lobbisti
cambiano: - I
gruppi economici stanno sgomitando per rafforzare le squadre di lobby con
democratici ben connessi, - e,
vice-versa, ex membri del Congresso, ex funzionari propongono i propri servigi
alle società di lobbying (specie di società di intermediazione che mettono sul
mercato “forza lavoro” lobbistica – n.d.t). - tocca
ora ai lobbisti democratici patrocinare le richieste delle compagnie
farmaceutiche, dell’industria del petrolio e del gas, degli armamenti, società
immobiliari, prima abituate all’appoggio dei repubblicani, - e
i repubblicani stanno cercando di non perdere gli affari delle lobby, (la
cosiddetta K Street, il corridoio divenuto sinonimo di industria delle lobby). - Le
società di lobby hanno fatto studi di mercato per scoprire cosa i clienti si
aspettassero da una vittoria democratica. - le
società di lobby sono in genere
“bipartisan”, come l’American Continental Group; ma anche quelle repubblicane,
come la Tongour Simpson Holsclaw si offrono per vendere ai gruppi economici i
servigi di lobby dei democratici. - ad
un assistente democratico del senato sarebbe stato offerto un “salario” di
$500 000, quattro volte lo stipendio parlamentare; - I
partito repubblicano sta eliminando migliaia di posti, per la prima volta da 12
anni. - Ma
i politici repubblicani con buone entrature non rischiano di perdere il posto
di lavoro come lobbisti, sia per la stretta maggioranza al senato, che perché
molte società di lobby offrono la continuità del personale di lobby come
principale valore.
Nyt 061115
As Guard
Changes in Congress, Lobbyists Scramble
By JEFF ZELENY
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — Republicans do not cede control of Congress for
nearly two months, but money, power and influence are already beginning to
change hands. The political economy, at least here in the capital, is
humming for Democrats.
– Democratic lobbyists are fielding calls from pharmaceutical
companies, the oil and gas industry and military companies, all of which had
grown accustomed to patronizing Republicans, as the environment in Washington
abruptly shifts.
Take, for example, Vic Fazio, a California Democrat who rose
through the ranks of Congress and reveled in the majority for all but 4 of his
20 years in office. In his second career as a lobbyist, Mr. Fazio did
not experience the pleasures of Democratic rule — until now. Suddenly he is in demand.
– For Mr. Fazio, who is
close to Representative Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who is set to
become House speaker, the power switch is, quite simply, good for business.
Companies are scrambling to fortify lobbying teams with well-connected
Democrats.
While Mr. Fazio declined to divulge his
still-evolving list of prospective new clients at the law firm Akin Gump
Strauss Hauer & Feld, he said he intended to bring in Democratic
reinforcements to cover the load. “I’ll just have more to do and have a little
more help to do it,” he said.
– The Republican Party
lost its grip on Congress and is now bracing to lose its hold over K Street,
the bustling corridor that has become synonymous with the lobbying
industry. The so-called K Street Project, an effort
engineered by Republicans to dominate the trade, is unravelling, and Democrats
say they intend to pass sweeping reforms rather than reverse the project for
their benefit.
– Democrats say the changing of the guard provides a raft of
opportunities, second only to winning the presidency.
Former members of Congress who left Washington
have placed confidential calls to headhunters, wondering whether firms are
hiring. (They are.) Former
staff members have fielded inquiries from lobbying shops that have an urgent
need for people with current contacts and old relationships with Democratic
leaders. One prominent lobbyist said a former Senate aide was offered
a starting salary of $500,000.
Though this is the moment Democrats have been
craving — winning a majority so they can help shape politics and policy —
– some senior aides are now tempted to leave Capitol Hill to become
lobbyists and potentially quadruple their salaries.
– At the same time,
some Republicans began receiving materials on unemployment benefits this week
as the party sheds thousands of jobs, relinquishing staff committee assignments
and leadership posts in both chambers for the first time in 12 years.
“If you’re a Democrat, it’s a good time to be
looking for work,” said David Urban, a Republican who is the managing director of American
Continental Group, a bipartisan lobbying firm. “For Republicans, there
is a little bit of panic that sets in when people realize they have to move out
of their office into a cubicle.”
At the offices of Tongour Simpson Holsclaw, a Republican
firm, an
unusual number of Democrats have been calling in recent days. The phones began ringing after
the company’s founder was quoted in Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper,
saying it was “a seller’s market for Democratic staffers.” It was, said
Mike Tongour, as though he had placed a giant help-wanted ad.
“Several
Democrats said, ‘I hear you are interested in expanding your firm,’ ” Mr. Tongour said, recalling his post-election conversations
with several senior Democratic aides. “You got the sense that they are going to
be asking for premiums.”
– Even though most
firms are bipartisan, the shift in the balance of power
has resulted in a shift of responsibilities between Republicans and Democrats.
“I’ve told my Democratic partners it’s time for
them to buy some suits,” said Wayne Berman, a well connected Republican
lobbyist. “I went out and bought two new fishing rods and looked into yoga
classes.”
He was joking, sort of.
– Even before Election
Day, the pharmaceutical industry hired Democrats to bolster its public
relations efforts, hoping to ease the blow if Republicans lost their majority
and Democrats followed through on pledges to let the government negotiate
prescription drug prices.
“You literally have to create war games to
plan for worst-case scenarios,” said Ken Johnson, the vice president for government affairs at the leading
trade association for drug companies. “We’ve got a lot of friends on the Democratic side, but
clearly we need some more.”
Acquiring
those friends, however, may not be easy.
Steve Elmendorf, a longtime senior adviser to
former Representative Richard A. Gephardt who began working as a lobbyist at
Bryan Cave Strategies in 2005, said Democrats in the House and the Senate
would operate differently.
“The Republicans’ view of lobbying is we give people money, we buy them lunch and then go up
and tell them what to do,” said Mr. Elmendorf, whose client roster
included Shell Oil and Ford before the election and has grown since then. “We
go in and make public policy arguments. The business community is going to have to reorient their
view.”
As Democrats prepare for January, implications
of a change in power extend across Washington.
– Lawyers say they
expect their business to increase if House Democrats follow through on their
pledge to investigate the Bush administration.
– Real estate agents
paid careful attention to the election results, too,
sending welcome packets to newly elected Democrats.
“Because both the House and the Senate went to
the Democrats, there will be a new wave and new energy,” said Michael Rankin,
managing partner of the Washington office of Sotheby’s International Realty. “A
lot of people from around the country will be coming to Washington.”
Ivan
Adler, who oversees lobbyist headhunting in the
Washington office of the McCormick Group, an executive search firm, said he had received calls from
former members of Congress and others outside Washington “inquiring what the
job market is like in the new Democratic world.” Mr. Adler declined to
name them, citing confidentiality requirements, but he conceded that not all
would make good lobbyists.
“They
are all popcorn in the pan — some pop and some don’t,” Mr. Adler said.
“Hopefully you pick ones that would pop.”
– Though the supply and demand of lobbyists is shifting, well-connected Republicans have
hardly been put out of work, particularly given the narrow majority in the
Senate. Many lobbying firms, recoiling from a year of controversy and
scandal, sell continuity as the most valued asset.
“As we move into a new Congress, people are
wiser and they learn to distrust quick fixes,” said Nick Allard, a Democratic
lobbyist at Patton Boggs, the city’s largest firm. “That’s one reason why the
lobbying scandal fell apart like a political Ponzi scheme: it oversold the
notion of political access.”
Two days after the election, when it first
became clear that the levers of power were shifting, a team of lobbyists at Patton Boggs prepared an
analysis of what its clients could expect from a Democratic takeover.
To place the change of power in perspective
and to lighten the mood, they opened with the timeless tale from Dr. Seuss: “If
I ran the zoo.”
Jim Rutenberg contributed reporting.
New York Times