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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1997)
Voices that carry: Lobbyists say it all LOBBYISTS from page 1 on his district, he might ask a lobby ist for his or her opinion. In fact, he said, about half the time he talks to lobbyists, it’s because he has ap proached them. Lobbyists can be ex perts on certain bills and constituents’ opinions about the bills, he said. But he hasn’t always felt that way. During his first year in the Legisla ture, he had a much different attitude about lobbyists. “I was told that lobbyists were all slimy,” Pederson said. “There are a few arm-twisters, but more are educators.” Just meeting lobbyists and under standing what their job was really about changed his mind, he said. Besides, he said, there’s nobody in the state of Nebraska who doesn’t have a lobbyist. On charges that lobbyists buy off legislators with little perks like free food, Pederson said the only reason the food was around was they were talk ing about business during lunchtime. “If there’s a meal, there’s a bill to talk about,” Pederson said. Living for the law There are 290 lobbyists registered in Nebraska, and every day the Legis lature is in session, about 30 of them —sometimes more, sometimes less— mill around the Rotunda, peering through the glass wall that separates them from senators, waiting to get a few minutes to talk to senators about how a bill might affect their client. Lobbyists are not allowed on the floor of die Legislature, so they spend a lot of time sending messages to sena tors through the red-coated guards of the Legislature doors—the sergeants at-arms. The lobbyists are often seen escorting senators down long corrida's of the Capitol; providing resdafBi on constituents’ possible views on a bill. And they do present both negative and positive effects of a bill, Radctiffe said. But it’s the spin they put on a bill that counts. you oaiance u in sucn a way mat the scales tipin your direction,” he said. Lobbyists seem to be into the busi ness for two reasons: money and the sense of being involved in government. Radcliffe is blunt about most of the bills he lobbies for; he wants them to pass not because he believes in them, but because he’s getting paid by some one to push them. “Nobody pays me to implement good public policy,” he said. “If some one has a financial interest in legisla tion, I expect to get paid.” 7 And no one’s hiring him because he is an expert on something the bill might deal with. When he was hired by St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, for in stance, it certainly wasn’t because he had a medical degree, he said. “They didn’t hire me because I knew a ... thing about surgery — they hired me because I know how to talk to people,” he said. “It’s up to the client to tell me what their interest in a bill is.” But occasionally, Radcliffe will volunteer to lobby for bills he believes in. He lobbied pro-bono last year for a bill that would have repealed the death penalty, he said. Only about a dozen lobbyists are the “hired-gun, contract” lobbyists like Radcliffe. The rest are volunteers or they do it part time. This means cor porations or groups that have more money to hire full time, professional lobbyists get better representation of their interests in the Legislature. And although Radcliffe admits several groups are under-represented, lobbyist-inequity is all a part of the job. “Life isn’t fair,” he said. Other lobbyists profess more ide alistic views. Richard Lombardi took his first lobbying job for the Sierra Club in 1979 for $ 1,000 a year. He said he spends much of his time talking to the people of Nebraska, try ing to motivate them to get involved in ftni/ammonf ... -.... “The major thing I do is give hope that if you get involved in the legisla tive process, you can make a differ ence. Lobbyists don’t have power, people have power,” Lombardi said. Radcliffe agrees. “The most effective lobbyist in the world is the constituent,” he said. “It’s the people at home.” Shark-like solicitors? Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha suggested during a floor debate that the official state lobbyist be named the Carcharodon carcharias, or the great white shark, described in the dictio nary as a man-eater. “They’re voracious predators," Chambers said. If a senator has any oppositions to a certain bifl, Cham bers said, a lobbyist would try to “con sume” their arguments and get them to vote for the bill. v-namoers saiu loooyisis anemaieiy “bully,” then “stroke” senators to get them to vote their way on a bill. But “stroking” doesn’t always come in the form of campaign contributions from the lobbyists’ principal, Chambers said. “They might buy (senators) some meat loaf or a chicken sandwich,” Chambers said. “Sometimes you can make a person feel obligated by do ing them little favors even if they would never give a vote if ypu put money in their hand.” Chambers said be didn’t like to use lobbyists for information, but if they came to him, he would listen. “I treat them tike human beings, but I don’t seek them out and I don’t take favors from them.” But Lombardi and Radcliffe don’t agree with Chambers. They both feel they have a job to do, and believe it is a necessary occupation. 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