Trade Groups to Draw On Current Lobbyists to Meet New GOP Members

Associations have their work cut out for them meeting incoming freshman GOP lawmakers now that the House has shifted to Republican control with Tuesday’s midterm elections, trade-group executives agreed. They said their groups will make a push with new lawmakers about their issues largely by using current lobbyists experienced working with both parties on Capitol Hill. The midterms represent an opportunity for the groups to tell new committee chairmen and committee members early on about their issues, association executives said.

Major trade groups said they won’t rush to hire Republican lobbyists, though several have job openings that they say could go to people of either major party affiliation. CompTel is looking to fill an open position with someone who “can work with both sides of the aisle,” and will be around for more than one election cycle, said CEO Jerry James. A “deep knowledge” of CLEC issues is most important, he said. CEA is “absolutely not” going to hire another Republican lobbyist because of the midterms, said President Gary Shapiro. “We do not hire on the basis of political affiliation, ever,” said Shapiro, who says he’s an independent. “We want people who are committed to innovation and technology. We don’t hire on the basis of people’s Rolodex."

Many of the major associations are either led by Republicans or employ, full-time, former GOP Hill staffers. CTIA President Steve Largent was a Republican representative from Oklahoma. NAB President Gordon Smith, also a Republican, represented Oregon for two terms in the Senate. NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow worked in President George W. Bush’s administration. USTelecom President Walter McCormick was a GOP staffer for the Senate Commerce Committee and later general counsel to the Transportation Department under President George H. W. Bush. NCTA and USTelecom representatives declined to comment for this story.

Many major telecom groups have high-ranking Democratic employees, too. James Assey, the No. 2 at NCTA, worked for the Senate Commerce Committee when Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, was the chairman. USTelecom Senior Executive Vice President Alan Roth worked for John Dingell, D-Mich., when he was the House Commerce Committee chairman CTIA Executive Vice President Bobby Franklin worked for former Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark. The Rural Cellular Association is headed by Steve Berry, a State Department official under George W. Bush. “Most associations have never had a problem with having too few Republicans,” said a long-time association executive. “At times when Democrats see a resurgence, like four years with Congress, the question becomes if you have enough Democrats."

Several communications associations say their issues aren’t partisan, but they will focus on meeting with new members of Congress. With “so many new members coming in, this is going to require much more effort in terms of direct personal contact,” said President Matt Polka of the American Cable Association. “Our job is going to be to help to educate those current members of Congress who are now coming onto the Commerce Committee and those new members who come into Congress,” including by having executives of small cable operators come to Washington to meet with their representatives, Polka said. “The first half of the year is going to require a lot of hands-on meetings.”

"We've got a huge educational effort to make sure people understand our issues and don’t pass laws that could do damage” to radio or TV broadcasting, an NAB spokesman said. “This year it will be a little harder, because there are a lot more new faces,” he said. “But my guess is we'll have a receptive audience, because many of them were in our newsrooms on candidate debates, on local news. We've got friends on both sides of the aisle.”

"Conventional wisdom dictates that when one or more houses switch parties, the people belonging to the new party in control get more jobs on K Street,” said a communications industry official who’s a Republican. “A lot of Republicans lost their jobs in 2006 when Congress went Democrat. I expect that employment for Republicans will be an easier goal to achieve because of the change in the House. … Balance is going to be a watch word just not for government but for business and its trade associations as well."

Political affiliation is “maybe a low part of the equation” in hiring at the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, said Vice President Tom Wacker. Political “perceptions” are “always in the back of our head,” but “we clearly have never really operated that way” or “had that as one of the main criteria” for new hires, he said. “We're not looking for one or the other” in filling a current job opening, he said. Rural issues are nonpartisan, so “as long as you have somebody that’s not an ideologue, that doesn’t matter."

TIA doesn’t plan to make new hires based on political affiliation, said President Grant Seiffert. He was an aide to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for five years. “We can work on both sides of the aisle, and we will continue to do what we've always done,” Seiffert said. “Nothing’s going to change here.” Democrats still control the Senate and the White House, and as a result the FCC and NTIA, so balance is important, another association official said. “From where I sit I don’t see” the election “changing anything."

The Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies “has no plans to make any new hires based on the election results,” said President John Rose. He worked for what’s now the Rural Utilities Service from 1977 to 1984, under the Carter and Reagan administrations. “We have members who are Democrats, and we have members who are Republicans."

The Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance “has never really advocated based on who’s in control,” said Vice President Paul Raak. He previously served as an aide to Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb. “We're not as large as USTelecom or CTIA,” and for staffing “have never really paid attention to party affiliation,” he said. Credentials on rural telecom issues are more important, Raak said.