Copyright 2002 The Washington Post


The Washington Post
February 28, 2002 Thursday
Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; SPECIAL INTERESTS JUDY SARASOHN; Pg. A21

LENGTH: 894 words

HEADLINE: A Blossoming Lobbying Effort

BYLINE: Judy Sarasohn

BODY:


A team of three officials of the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters (Asocolflores) and a representative of Dole Fresh Flowers came to Washington this week to lobby U.S. lawmakers to reauthorize the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA).

The 10-year-old trade act, designed to help Colombians turn away from illegal drug trade, expired in December, reinstituting U.S. tariffs on Colombian flowers. Reauthorization of ATPA has bogged down in controversy over proposals to expand its benefits to other products such as tuna and textiles.

"We feel we're at the mercy of many other currents. We're afraid we'll get lost," said Augusto Solano, president of the flower group.

Solano noted that with increasing civil violence, the end of peace talks with rebel leaders and the kidnapping of a presidential candidate, Colombia needs strong trade with the United States more than ever.

"We want to transmit the urgency in getting ATPA passed. We're heading to difficult times," Solano said.

The group is being helped in Washington by a Manatt, Phelps & Phillips team: Irwin Altschuler, Eric Farnsworth, Steven Mulder and Susan Schmidt.

Solano said the Washington lobbyists have helped his group do a more "effective job here. Otherwise you could really get lost." They also have helped the Colombians avoid "unrealistic expectations," he said.

Earlier this month, President Bush suspended the duties for 90 days to get the Colombian flower industry past Mother's Day. But Farnsworth said the decision actually just defers the payment of the duties to the 91st day, unless Congress reauthorizes the act. So "as a practical matter, the majority of flower growers are not participating in the duty deferral. . . . Without assurance that the program will be reauthorized, most growers are unable to take that significant business risk," he said.

What does actor Harrison Ford have in common with former Reagan national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane or former CIA director R. James Woolsey? Or with former GOP governors Tom Kean (N.J.), William Milliken (Mich.) and Russell W. Peterson (Del.)?

Indeed, why is news icon Walter Cronkite hanging out with this crowd?

They and others, including a bunch of former Republican senators, are members of the national organizing committee of Americans for Energy Security, a new group that is pushing for raising fuel-economy (CAFE) standards and opposing the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling for oil.

With the Senate possibly taking up energy legislation today, the group is running an ad in Roll Call with Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeves in front of a car and the headline: "We Want You . . . to Boost America's Mileage." The group's public relations is being handled here by Peter Mirijanian.

With energy security a priority, President Bush has proposed allowing drilling for oil and gas in ANWR as central to his energy plan, focusing largely on domestic development of oil and other traditional sources of energy. The energy bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) would increase the fuel-economy standards and continue to bar drilling in the Arctic refuge.

Americans for Energy Security apparently came together somewhat spontaneously.

"It was a collective effort," said Larry Rockefeller, a lawyer, member of the board of the Natural Resources Defense Council and member of the organizing committee.

Some of the members of the organizing committee come to the issue with environmental concerns, while others are more focused on national security. Woolsey, who acknowledges some investments in "a couple of alternative energy companies" and has been vocal on energy issues for many years, said he is not so concerned about the environmental impact on ANWR -- he believes modern drilling technology can prevent environmental damage -- as he is about the "security side."

"The [Alaska] pipeline is 900 miles long" and vulnerable to attack, Woolsey said.

Boosting the fuel efficiency of motor vehicles, Woolsey and Rockefeller said, makes sense and would significantly help to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Glenn Kelly, previously chief executive of the now-disbanded Global Climate Coalition, has joined Qorvis Communications LLC as managing director, focusing on the firm's energy, natural resources and environmental public affairs practice. The coalition represented businesses that fought the Kyoto climate change treaty, which never won ratification.

Earlier, he was a senior adviser to Rep. Bill Emerson and then deputy chief of staff for Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), who succeeded her husband when he died in office in 1996.

Bank One Corp. is banking on Victoria P. Rostow, a lawyer at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher who has signed up as senior vice president, head of federal government relations and Washington counsel. Rostow earlier served as a deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for legislative affairs and public liaison.

Scott Otteman, previously director of the Inter-American Dialogue's Trade Policy Project, is the new director of trade policy in the international economic affairs department of the National Association of Manufacturers. He is responsible for monitoring and analyzing U.S. trade negotiations and disputes and working with legislative offices on the Hill to promote the manufacturers' trade priorities.

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