More Hill Freshmen Required More Telecom Education by Lobbyists

More freshmen meant “opportunities for lobbyists to forge relationships and teach offices about their issues,” said Michael Beckel, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics. However, the amount of lobby spending done by interest groups typically “ebbs and flows” with Congressional focus on their issues, he said.

Lobbying on telecom “can be tricky as is,” but this year has been “unique” because of the number of freshmen and “complex” telecom issues like USF revamp, said Scott Lively, government affairs representative for the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. Many of the freshmen represent rural districts, and so were of particular focus for NTCA and its members, Lively said. The switch to Republican leadership in the House, which led to major shifts in committee assignments, made things even more nebulous at the beginning of the year, a telecom lobbyist said.

Teaching members coming in “with no frame of reference” on telecom issues “is incredibly difficult [and] takes a lot of time,” said Glen Echo Group President Maura Corbett. But Congress always has other priorities and there’s “not enough time,” she said. Corbett helped organize several Capitol Hill briefings on spectrum this year for Sprint Nextel and others who sought an auction of the 700 MHz D-block. The events were intended to bring engineering perspectives to the Hill and to be learning opportunities for Hill staffers not familiar with the issues, she said. But turnout was not always high, in part because the staffers had so many other issues on their plate, she said. Big events like Hurricane Irene or the recent earthquake can also suddenly arise and create political elements that should not belong to telecom issues, she said.

Many of the new members arrived in Congress with the perception that government should pull out of people’s lives on all issues, said Rural Cellular Association President Steven Berry. RCA has tried to show them that rules of the road are needed for spectrum, which is managed by the government, he said. Another challenge has been getting attention on telecom issues while Congress was worried about keeping the government open and preventing the country from defaulting on its debt, Berry said. The large amount of turnover and changes to committee lineups meant there were more offices to reach out to this year than last year, Berry said. And the issues -- spectrum, USF and the AT&T/T-Mobile deal -- have been complex, he said.

There has been a larger workload this year because there are more fresh faces to see, said Brad Ramsay, general counsel of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. NARUC begins each Congress by identifying new legislators and encouraging NARUC members to contact them, he said. It’s been difficult to get lawmakers’ attention because other issues have dominated Congress’ calendar, he said.

There was also a large influx of freshmen in 1976 after the Watergate scandal, said Danielle Coffey, vice president of the Telecommunications Industry Association. Taking the advice of her mother-in-law, who lobbied on telecom during that time, Coffey set up meetings with every freshman to explain the history and technical aspects of telecom issues, she said. TIA’s efforts have included meet and greets, Hill briefings and a reception, Coffey said. TIA spent about the same amount of time on the Hill last year, but then had focused its energy on fewer members who were already familiar with the issues, Coffey said. Education for new members is a must because spectrum, cybersecurity and other telecom issues are so complex, she said.

USTelecom makes “a particular effort … in the first year of every new Congress to reach out to new members, their staffs, and those serving for the first time on the committees of jurisdiction overseeing telecom issues,” USTelecom Vice President Bill Deere said. “The mission of USTelecom’s government affairs staff is to educate Hill staff on the complexities of the telecom industry, what it means to the economy and jobs, and the impact of the related laws and regulations. This is especially important when there are large initiatives under consideration such as the proposed reform of the Universal Service Fund.”

When the 112th Congress opened, NTCA reached out to all the new offices and dropped off material about rural telco issues, Lively said. Some freshmen requested followup meetings, he said. NTCA also had a broader Hill briefing on rural telecom issues and NTCA members from freshmen’s districts invited legislators for visits, he said. An early sign of progress for rural telco lobbyists was a March 31 letter urging the FCC to protect Rural Utilities Service loan borrowers when it revamps USF. The letter was signed by several freshman members, including Reps. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., and Corey Gardner, R-Colo. But another telecom lobbyist said some freshmen members and their staffs still may still be in the dark on complex telecom issues like USF.

That spectrum legislation actually seems to have a chance of passing shows “definite progress” by telecom lobbyists in a year with so many freshmen, Coffey said. Berry thinks RCA has made progress familiarizing new members with the nuances of telecom, he said. “Even new members have been very welcoming … and given us time to tell our story.” But Corbett said “a lot of work still needs to be done.” There is a risk that Congress will solve larger economic problems with bad spectrum policy, she said. “We will go up [to Capitol Hill] as many times as we have to.”