[Mb-civic] Women, Minorities Make Up New Generation of Lobbyists - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Women, Minorities Make Up New Generation of Lobbyists
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By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
The Washington Post
Monday, May 1, 2006; D01

When Anne Wexler was fresh out of Jimmy Carter's White House, the Old 
Boys Network on K Street was not always kind to her. During one 
particularly brutal meeting in the 1980s, Wexler and her partner Nancy 
C. Reynolds were laughed at by a roomful of male lobbyists when the 
women predicted the White House would embrace the telecommunications 
position they were all working to advance.

But the men were not laughing at them for long. Soon afterward, 
President Ronald Reagan did exactly what Wexler and Reynolds said he 
would, and the newcomers were granted the respect they deserved. As a 
token of esteem, one of the men in the room gave each of the women a day 
at an Elizabeth Arden spa as a reward.

Wexler is a Washington pioneer. In 1981, she became the first woman to 
own a lobbying firm and was among the first to make a business out of 
combining disparate interests into coalitions as a basic advocacy tool. 
"When I started, there were very few women in lobbying," Wexler 
recalled. "It was completely male-dominated."

Now women are a significant part of the lobbying scene. In fact, 
lobbying, which for years was almost entirely a white man's game, has 
become increasingly diverse as women and people of color have attained 
more positions of power and influence.

Women-owned firms are proliferating, and a few are, at least for now, 
all female. Women also hold important positions in both lobbying and law 
firms. They direct the Washington offices of major corporations for such 
industries as oil and communications.

There are many reasons for the change. The biggest is the rising number 
of women who have entered government at the highest levels. The number 
of women in Congress has exploded in the last generation. In addition, 
presidents have placed special emphasis on hiring women in senior White 
House and cabinet positions since Richard Nixon's day.

Those freshly minted, high-ranking women hired lots of other women to 
help them. And when they all started to look for post-government jobs, 
lobbying became as natural a place for them to turn as it was for the 
men who came before them.

Lobbying trends have also benefited the cause of women in lobbying. The 
Old Boys Network, when it was in full swing in the 1960s and earlier, 
made it easy for the long-established men in power to rely on personal 
ties to win official favors. But those insular days are long gone.

Today lobbying is less about back scratching than it is about case 
making. A lot of lobbying involves researching and presenting facts and, 
at those things, men and women are on equal footing.

"This town has shifted business models from the Old Boys Network to a 
focus on substance, competence and credibility," said Stephanie E. 
Silverman, a principal of Venn Strategies LLC, a woman-owned lobbying 
firm. "In the old model it was difficult if you were a woman. In the new 
model you can be a man or a woman and it doesn't matter."

Women are particularly prominent in lobbying firms that trade more on 
their expertise than on their access. Linda E. Tarplin, for example, is 
considered one of Washington's top health-care lobbyists and is part of 
an all-woman, all-Republican, all-health-care lobbying company called 
Tarplin, Downs & Young LLC. Silverman's firm specializes in tax matters. 
Women are also pervasive in lobbying on international trade.

"You do have different industry segments that are more dominated by 
women than others," Tarplin said. "In the health-care world, there are a 
lot of strong female lobbyists."

Women have also banded together in their own lobbying firms to foster 
work environments that better fit their family lives. Nueva Vista Group 
is owned by three Democratic women with young children (the oldest is 
7), and they set their schedules based on their personal needs.

"That's why a lot of women get into this," Nueva Vista partner Andrea 
LaRue said. "It's carving out a niche that you feel comfortable in and 
being able to define the space completely on your own."

Women have had such positive experiences as lobbyists that a few are 
into their second generation on the job. Silverman's mother, Anita K. 
Epstein, has been a lobbyist since 1978 and, like her daughter, loves 
the profession. "This is an important job that we do," she said. "It's a 
shame that some people don't hold it in high regard."

Patricia Griffin of Nueva Vista is also the daughter of a lobbyist -- 
Patrick J. Griffin, the former top lobbyist for President Bill Clinton 
on the Hill. Like her dad, the younger Griffin is adept at her work. But 
she also notes that women lobbyists still have a long way to go. "You're 
often still the only woman in the room, or only one of two or three," 
she said. "The culture is still very aggressive and white-male-oriented."

Lobbying is more diverse than ever, but the evolution to equality is not 
yet finished.

We Told You So

The Food Products Association and the Grocery Manufacturers Association 
are, in fact, going to merge, as this column predicted last November. 
And in what might be a sign of the times, the president of the merged 
entity will be a Democrat -- former congressman Calvin M. Dooley of 
California, who has been head of the food products group. The Republican 
who directs the grocery manufacturers, C. Manly Molpus, will be retiring.

Eventually the name of the combined organization will be, simply, 
Grocery Manufacturers Association, according to a news release. It will 
represent nearly 300 companies from the food, beverage and consumer 
products industries.

But maybe more is happening here that is in clear sight. Is it possible 
that the foodies are telling us something about the future control of 
Congress by choosing a Democratic chief executive? Who knows, maybe K 
Street is a leading political indicator. Stranger things have happened.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/29/AR2006042901723.html
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