Shutdown Changes Some Firms’ Lobbying Approaches, Bottom Line Impact Unclear

Holland & Knight hasn’t experienced much of a hit despite adjusting its activities, said the firm’s top Senate Democratic lobbyist, Paul Bock. “So far as I know, the numbers look pretty good.” He attributed the global firm’s steadiness -- “as busy as normal,” with no staffing adjustments -- to its “diversity of clients,” interested in many different bills. “You're in a much better position to weather this type of thing,” he said. Bock also said Holland & Knight has many clients who have been with the firm a long time, and that the firm’s lobbying focuses on many longer priorities.

The shutdown and broader economic uncertainty is “something that our clients want to know about, but hard to get information on,” Bock added. It “had had a lot of effects,” he said, describing how lobbyists are struggling with many of the same things staffers are. Some client lobbying priorities are put on hold due to the shutdown, which has forced many Hill offices to focus only on that, he said. To ask about other subjects is to ask staffers “for a favor” these days, Bock explained. Clients understand the shutdown is likely short term, but have also begun focusing on tax reform and other broader issues that may come up as the government resolves the crisis, he said. Logistical problems have also arisen, with uncertainty surrounding access to Hill offices -- where staffing numbers now vary office to office -- and even which doors on Hill buildings to use, he said. “There’s hardly any place to eat now on the Capitol.” Bock expressed sympathy for the situation facing Hill staffers. “Not being paid creates a lot of stress,” he said.

Clients look for professional help regardless of the shutdown, said lobbyists. “What clients are really looking for right now is either [the] inside scoop or the ability to read the tea leaves and provide analysis of where things are going -- which is what we are trying to do to the extent we can,” said Jim Manley, a director at Quinn Gillespie & Associates. A Democrat, Manley said he has no idea on how the shutdown may affect the firm’s bottom line for the year, saying it has spent slightly more time on public affairs than lobbying recently.

The shutdown has hurt telecom and media lobbying specifically, one lobbyist said. “Just as there are nonessential federal employees, there are also nonessential federal issues when it comes to lobbying Congress or the agencies, and telecommunications qualifies as one of them,” said Telemedia Policy Corp. President Justin Lilley. “Things have been quite slow.” There are a number of items in the pipeline, he said. “But essentially they're all on hold.” He expects that to change once the shutdown ends. “Once they do resolve these bigger issues, we will go from 0 to 60, both in Congress and at the FCC,” said Lilley, a former House Republican staffer.

The DCI Group has experienced a “negligible” impact from the government shutdown, said CEO Doug Goodyear of the firm that does some lobbying but mainly handles public affairs. “Our workload is kind of spread out.” It’s generally split between legislative and regulatory work and takes place across the states as well as at the national level, he said, noting the larger size of some of DCI’s clients and that they want the company to work on issues for them over a longer period of time. A shutdown of eight or nine days will not greatly affect them nor affect DCI’s bottom line, he added. But given the size of DCI’s client companies, “anything that roils the market” will get their attention, he said when asked about AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson’s statement calling on Congress to raise the debt ceiling (CD Oct 7 p9).

The collapse of securities markets in 2008, when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, didn’t affect DCI’s revenue or volume of work in any way, and a market event would likely have to be worse than Lehman to affect DCI, said Goodyear. “Naturally, we hope they get things resolved,” he said. “We're Americans.” (jhendel@warren-news.com)