Copyright 2000 The National Journal, Inc.
The National Journal
March 25, 2000
SECTION: FOREIGN AFFAIRS; Pg. 944; Vol. 32, No. 13
LENGTH: 1894 words
HEADLINE: K
Street Musters for the Middle Kingdom
BYLINE: Peter H.
Stone
BODY:
For as long
as Congress has been casting votes on
America's trade relations with
China-that's 19 consecutive years-
the corporate crowd has been using, by
and large, the same
tactics to attempt to sway wavering members: flying in
CEOs to
Washington to personally appeal to lawmakers; organizing business
allies back home to pressure the members there; and buying lots
of
national advertising time. And they'll do all of those again
this spring.
But this time around, with the stakes higher, the
corporate lobbyists are escalating their efforts by several
notches.
They are holding fund-raisers to thank and bolster
moderate Democrats who
are expected to vote for permanent normal
trade relations with China.
Business interests know that for some
Democrats, this will be a particularly
tough vote, one that can
cost them support from labor and environmental and
human rights
activists in a crucial election year, when control of the House
may be at stake. So to give those members an incentive, business
interests figured that cash can best offset the potential damage
from
casting an aye vote on China trade.
In late
February, for example, 30 or so lobbyists teamed
up with an influential bloc
of 64 moderate House Democrats known
as the New Democrat Network to host a
series of Washington fund-
raisers. The lobbyists, who are underwriting the
fund-raisers
with $ 5,000 each, represent many companies that have big
financial stakes in China. And the lineup of lobbyists includes
several
heavy hitters: Former U.S. Trade Representative Mickey
Kantor, who was
already chatting up members on behalf of Aetna
Inc. and America Online Inc.,
has added Boeing Co. and Citigroup
to his stable and is part of the
fund-raising group. Also part of
the drive is former Rep. Dave McCurdy,
D-Okla., who presides over
the Electronic Industries Alliance.
The first such event pulled in almost $ 37,000 for
the
campaign coffers of Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash. The New Democrat
Network and lobbyist alliance also recently held bring-your-
checkbook
bashes for Reps. Jim Davis, D-Fla., Baron Hill, D-Ind.,
and Anna G. Eshoo,
D-Calif., and has plans for four others. In
coming weeks, the network
intends to host similar dos for
undecided Democrats to encourage them to
vote the right way.
Said Simon Rosenberg, the
executive director of the New
Democrat Network: "We've taken the lead in
providing political
and financial support for pro-trade Democrats. This
shows that
the business community is really stepping up to the plate."
Before the lobbying fight is over, the business
community
will spend between $ 10 million and $ 15 million on their push,
which, if it's successful, would allow American companies to reap
the
benefits of China's expected entry into the World Trade
Organization. By
itself, the Business Roundtable, an organization
of more than 200 corporate
CEOs, is expected to provide between $8 million and $ 10 million for
advertising, grass-roots, and
related lobbying expenses.
Overseeing the business effort is an umbrella group-the
Business Coalition for U.S.-China Trade. The coalition includes
such
groups as the roundtable, the Emergency Committee for
American Trade, the
National Association of Manufacturers, the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and
dozens of large companies.
The roundtable is leading
the coalition's advertising
campaign. In early March, it bought a week's
worth of national
television spots worth $ 1.5 million. Next month, the
roundtable
expects to underwrite three weeks of national television, radio,
and print ads and to target members' districts when Congress
recesses
for Easter. In addition, a phalanx of three dozen
roundtable chief
executives is slated to spend April 5 twisting
arms on Capitol Hill.
At the grass-roots level, the roundtable and the
U.S.
chamber have divided up responsibilities for working dozens of
districts whose representatives are listed in the "undecided"
column.
The roundtable is focusing on 83 districts, home turf for
50 Democrats and
33 Republicans. The chamber is focusing on 66
districts. The chamber plans
to spend more than $ 1 million on its
lobbying and grass-roots efforts.
To prevail in the end, lobbyists estimate they'll
probably need from 75 to 90 House Democratic votes. At present,
lobbyists and Hill sources say between 50 and 60 votes seem
secure.
"Clearly we're going to work hard on Democrats who have a
broader view of
the economy and globalization," says former Rep.
Vic Fazio, D-Calif., an
outside lobbyist for Microsoft Corp.
Three Key Industries
Three
industries working the China issue hard reflect the
business community's
stake in the vote. The insurance industry is
especially bullish on the
market-access agreement that Washington
negotiated with Beijing in November.
The American Council of Life
Insurers, which represents 512 companies, has
initiated a major
lobbying push to nail down the deal.
On March 9, three dozen life insurance heavies flew into
Washington
for meetings with key Clinton Administration figures,
including Commerce
Secretary William Daley and White House Deputy
Chief of Staff Steve
Ricchetti. The executives also huddled with
House and Senate leaders, among
them House Speaker J. Dennis
Hastert, R-Ill., Senate Majority Leader Trent
Lott, R-Miss., and
Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D.
The insurance council is deploying its corporate
muscle
to win over undecided House members in states and districts where
its companies have major operations. Among others, insurers are
trying
to make believers of such members as Carolyn B. Maloney,
D-N.Y., and James
H. Maloney, D-Conn. The council president,
former Rep. Carroll Campbell,
R-S.C., who went to China with
Daley last spring, says that the insurers
will "target Democrats
to counterbalance labor. We'll use the companies and
the agents."
Citigroup, the nation's largest
financial services
company, is prominent in the banking industry's efforts.
Sandy
Weill, Citigroup's top executive, hosted a luncheon at corporate
headquarters in New York City in early February during which
Daley
discussed Chinese trade with about two dozen senior
industry executives.
Lionel C. Johnson, Citigroup's chief trade
lobbyist in Washington, says his
company is focusing primarily on
building grass-roots pressure. To that end,
Citigroup has hired
the White House Writers Group, a Washington public
affairs firm,
to help it hone and disseminate its message through newspaper
op-
eds and "informational" calls on editorial boards. "Members of
Congress have to hear from their constituents about the long-term
benefits of this agreement," said Johnson.
The Farmers
Agricultural
interests, too, are cultivating their vast grass-
roots networks as well as
working inside the Beltway to make sure
that Congress normalizes trade with
China. Scott Shearer, the
chief Washington lobbyist for Farmland Industries
Inc., is co-
chairing the Agriculture Coalition for U.S.-China Trade, which
includes almost 80 agribusinesses, trade groups, and other
organizations. Some of the bigger players are the American Farm
Bureau
Federation, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, and
the National Pork
Producers Council.
Last fall, to nurture its own
grass roots, Farmland,
which is the largest farm cooperative in America and
has 17,000
employees in 30 states, decided to print pithy, upbeat messages
about the value of China exports on the stubs of its employees'
biweekly
paychecks. For instance: "In the past six years,
Farmland's international
sales grew from $ 200 million to $ 4.1
billion. Farmland wins with trade."
"This is potentially the largest market-access
agreement
in U.S. agricultural history," said Shearer. "The issue isn't
whether China will get into the WTO, but will the American farmer
and
rancher benefit?"
The Farm Bureau, meanwhile, plans
to meet with all 435
members of the House, both in Washington and in their
districts,
before May. With some 4.9 million family-farm members, the bureau
has also been bringing many growers to Washington for Capitol
Hill
visits almost weekly since early February.
Complicating and possibly undercutting the agricultural
community's
efforts, however, is China's foot-dragging on
implementing a separate
bilateral accord reached last April with,
among others, beef, pork, and
poultry producers. "Ultimately, if
they don't fully honor the trade
agreement soon, pork, beef, and
poultry are going to have to determine
whether they'll continue
to push for PNTR," said Nick
Giordano, the international trade
counsel of the pork producers group.
High-Tech in the Game, Too
Also pressing hard for normal trade status
for China is the high-
tech community, whose stock on Capitol Hill these
days is as high
as it is on the NASDAQ.
Last
month, America Online organized a coalition of a
dozen-odd Internet
companies-including AT&T Corp., Microsoft, and
Motorola-to work
together. In early March, AOL's CEO, Steve Case,
joined with the other top
executives in writing all members of
Congress to argue for permanent normal
trade relations. AOL
lobbyists have also met recently with House Minority
Leader
Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo., an opponent of free-trade deals in
recent years, to encourage him to remain neutral and let
Democrats vote
their consciences. George Vradenburg, the senior
vice president for global
and strategic policy for AOL, said:
"The greater use of the Internet will
improve social
communications in China and help spur social reform."
Besides Kantor, of Mayer, Brown & Platt, the
coalition
also has the resources of Scott Parven, a colleague of Kantor's,
and other lobbying firms, such as Quinn Gillespie & Associates,
which represents TechNet, the Silicon Valley political action
committee.
Other key companies such as Microsoft are also
kicking up
the kilohertz of their China campaigns. "A vote for
PNTR is a
vote for the Internet," says Microsoft's Eric
Konig, a senior
corporate attorney who handles trade issues. Microsoft
recently
ran advertorials in several newspapers stressing the importance
of normal trade status for China.
Also flexing
its muscles for Silicon Valley is the U.S.
High-Tech Coalition on China, an
older organization of Washington
trade groups that includes the American
Electronics Association,
the Electronic Industries Alliance, and the
Semiconductor
Industry Association. On March 14, about 30 top executives
from
the Electronic Industries Alliance trooped up to Capitol Hill for
meetings with a targeted list of undecided members from both
parties.
The alliance has also developed a Web-based lobbying
tool kit, which allows
its 2,100 member companies to turn their
employees into cheerleaders and to
undertake grass-roots advocacy
on the issue. "It's obviously a pitched
battle," said McCurdy.
"Unfortunately, it's not a substantive or
intellectual debate.
It's pure politics."
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