To hear a lobbyist tell it, finding new clients and learning about new issues is one of the best parts of the job.
As the next legislative session inches closer, new organizations and companies that have signed lobbyists and registered with the state have begun to trickle in. Since September, roughly a dozen entities have entered the lobbying arena and that number is sure to increase by February.
“The most important thing when you get a new client is to learn as much as possible about what they do and what their issues are,” said Keith Stover, with Robinson & Cole. “It’s really one of the cool things that makes our jobs interesting. New things tend to be more interesting, for us and for legislators.”
Joining Robinson & Cole’s long list of clients is Galasso Materials, LLC, a trucking company based out of East Granby.
The reason that the education of lobbyists is so crucial to success is because, simply, the company’s officials cannot always be around to answer questions.
“You can’t constantly have the client with you to give those answers,” Stover said. “We really spend a lot of time getting to know every little detail about their business so we don’t have to keep going to them for answers.”
Meeting with clients in person is the preferred method of transferring information, but sometimes that could involve some travel time.
For example, Carahsoft Technology Corp., an information technology company based in Virginia, has secured the lobbying services of Jim O’Brien for the upcoming session. To meet in person, O’Brien would have to hop on a plane.
There is also a tremendous amount of research that is involved with new clients, or even current clients that have new pressure issues, asserted Betty Gallo, with Betty Gallo & Co.
Currently in negotiations with three prospective new clients, Gallo said that her current focus has been on the subprime loan crisis that is now on the radar of the Fair Housing Center.
Financial Figuring
“Just like with a new client, it’s an entirely new issue to me because we don’t normally do a lot with banking,” she said. “It means a lot of research and a lot of reading, but it is to some degree the best part of this job. I’m learning about something new that I didn’t know about.”
The initial wave of newly registered clients run the gamut, from health care organizations like the Rushford Center or the Connecticut Alliance for Subacute Healthcare to Lehman Brothers, Inc., a global investment company.
Though lobbyists agree on the importance of educating themselves on new clients, they were unsure if the blank slate is a positive or a negative when it comes to the actual lobbying.
On the one hand, the legislators have no perception of a client making its first in-roads at the state capitol and there is an opportunity there to make a solid impression. Conversely, legislators may not be as aware or educated on the new client’s issues because they haven’t come up before.
“When I go in to meet with a legislator on same-sex marriage, there is a sense of what’s going to be said,” said Gallo.
A new client can mean interactions with legislators that a lobbyist may not deal with on a regular basis. Gallo noted that one obstacle can be forming working relationships that were not there in the past.
For Stover, he would not describe pushing the issues of new clients as more difficult or better, but simply as different.
“We’re at a different stage with new clients than we are with clients that have been around for years,” he said. “But it keeps our business interesting because it’s a matter of finding out solutions to new problems.”
Sean O’Leary is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
