Good to know that IMNX's interests are articulated in Washington, D.C.
SPECIAL INTERESTS: The Washington Post Thursday, August 31, 2000; Page A29
By Judy Sarasohn
Everybody knows that August is the dead month in Washington. With Congress on recess, nothing's happening. So why are there so many lobbyists on the job?
"Our trade association is working 24-7. This is not the time for us to take our foot off the gas," reported Mark Merritt, chief of strategic planning for the American Association of Health Plans.
Many lobbyists, particularly in the health care arena, are busily working in anticipation of Congress returning after Labor Day and taking up Medicare and patients' rights legislation as well as appropriations bills and other measures.
Merritt says his association is pulling information on voters and the districts from the group's "aggressive field offices" and advertising campaign and talking to congressional staffers here. All of its work is going toward developing a strategy for lobbying the Hill immediately upon Congress's return.
"With some 18 legislative days left, you can't afford to take five of those days figuring out what's going to happen," said Merritt, a veteran Republican operative. Cynthia Berry, who with Jody Hoffman manages the Wexler Group's health care practice, has also spent much of August with congressional staffers.
"Everybody's drafting. Everybody's trying to meet with congressional staff," Berry said. Among Wexler clients are PacifiCare Health Systems, a managed care company, and Immunex Corp., a drug company.
She took some time off to work on speeches at the Republican National Convention and took a week to work from home. Said Berry, "We won't see ourselves clear until they [Congress] leave in October."
Rural Hospitals: More Medicare Money
Also busy during the dog days are the lobbyists at the law firm of Greenberg Traurig. They're lobbying on behalf of a coalition of three rural hospital groups: LifePoint Hospitals Inc., Community Health Systems Inc. and Province Healthcare Inc., all based in Tennessee.
Nancy Taylor, a Greenberg Traurig partner, says the hospitals are at a disadvantage as rural facilities and need their Medicare reimbursements increased. The hospitals are hoping that Congress will tap the approximately $80 billion more than expected that was cut from Medicare as the result of earlier balanced budget legislation.
The Greenberg Traurig team also includes Howard Cohen, former top health aide to the House commerce committee; Rob Garagiola, who formerly coordinated Democratic Health Care Task Force agendas; Russell J. Mueller, a veteran congressional staffer who worked on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and was a key designer of various health insurance measures; and Timothy Trysla, a former aide to Rep. Bill Archer (R-Tex.).
Orlando's Options
In the wake of Viacom Inc.'s acquisition of CBS Corp. and changes in the lobbying lineup in the Washington office, John S. Orlando, who had been a CBS vice president, Washington, is working out his options.
"I haven't officially set up my own shop," Orlando said in a brief interview yesterday.
But he did do a "quick consulting job" for the National Association of Securities Dealers so he filed a lobby registration recently with Congress. Orlando is a former aide to Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.).
Verizon Consults New Frontiers
Verizon Communications Inc., the nation's largest local telephone company, with 25 million customers from Maine to Virginia, is getting some Washington help from R. David Wilson of New Frontiers Communications Consulting. Wilson, an aide to then-Sen. Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.), is lobbying on behalf of the company's efforts to expand into long distance and data markets.
Verizon is the product of mergers between three old-line telephone companies: Bell Atlantic, Nynex and GTE.
Davis Parks at Edington, Peel
Delacroix Davis III retired from the House Appropriations Committee staff after about 22 years and joined the public affairs shop of Edington, Peel & Associates earlier this year. Considered an expert in parliamentary procedures, Davis specialized in Interior Department funding issues as well as Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development funding.
Davis recently registered to lobby on behalf of the National Park Conservation Association, which is pushing for full funding of the Clinton administration's Natural Resource Challenge Initiative for the National Park Service.
A New Link to Wexler
Patric "Paddy" Link, a Capitol Hill veteran and most recently a staff member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on commerce, state, justice, and the judiciary, joined the Wexler Group last week as a principal and senior director.
Before joining the Appropriations Committee staff, Link was chief of staff of the Senate commerce committee and chief of staff for then-Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.), now a lobbyist. She also served as congressional liaison officer at the Commerce Department and director of the office of legislative affairs for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
News or leaks about Washington influence? Send to Special Interests by e-mail to fedpage@washpost.com |
