fbpx

FBIA Speaker Blasts Major Trade Associations

By Beacon Staff

At a time of deep economic despair and significant changes in public policy at the federal level on everything from health care to finance, frustration at America’s enduring institutions – both public and private – is widespread. But at the recent annual meeting of the Flathead Business and Industry Association, keynote speaker Roger Fleming pointed out another source of frustration: the major trade associations lobbying in Washington D.C. that he believes are failing to advocate on behalf of their membership across the country.

Fleming should know. An attorney, he worked previously as counsel to the judiciary committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, as counsel for Florida Republican Congressman E. Clay Shaw and in the administration of President George H.W. Bush in the 1990s. He also lobbied for the U.S. Telephone Association and for other telecom interests. He is currently a principal in Northfork Strategies, a consulting firm with an office in Montana. (Beacon Advisory Board Chair Liz Marchi is also a principal in Northfork Strategies.)

In Fleming’s view, as times have gotten tough and policy initiatives by the Democratic-controlled federal government have put lawmakers at odds with several major industries, the associations purporting to represent those industries have made major concessions, more in the interest of “preserving their own longevity” than a commitment to representing small businesses in far-flung areas like Montana

“They’ve tried to kind of cover their own backsides,” he said during a May 4 speech at Kalispell’s Red Lion Inn. “They felt intimidated by the new Obama administration.”

On the health care overhaul, Fleming believes the American Medical Association, “caved almost immediately,” and as a financial regulatory bill enters its final stages of deliberation, financial associations are doing the same thing.

“Doesn’t the ABA (American Bankers Association) collect money from banks all over the country?” Fleming said. “Aren’t they supposed to advocate on behalf of people out here, instead of covering their own base in Washington?”

It’s a tendency endemic to the insular, Washington-centric perspective that Fleming sees as increasingly common in the nation’s capitol.

“The big guys have panicked and they’ve caved to some of the political strong-arm tactics inside the Beltway,” Fleming said. “They’re supposed to fight, instead of just go-along to get-along.”

The solution, as he sees it, is a return to the fundamental relationship between a constituent and their federal delegation that bypasses a third-party trade association. Fleming advised the businesspeople in the room to join with like-minded colleagues and figure out what they need from their congressman and senators.

“Figure out a message and the goal and then go deliver that message to your Congressional delegation yourself,” he said. “It’s not that hard to do.”

It’s a particularly effective tactic for Montanans, who only need to get their message to three lawmakers.

“You have a lot of punch with your three members,” Fleming added. “You might find them a lot more interested in what you have to say than you may think.”

But he cautioned the FBIA members that they must avoid getting entangled with the major trade associations, once those associations catch wind of what their trying to accomplish.

“The first thing they’re going to try to do is to co-opt whatever it is you’re working on into their agenda,” Fleming said. “Try to keep your advocacy as pure as you can for as long as you can.”

He emphasized that both the associations, and elected representatives derive their power from the Montana business people sitting in the room, conferring an influence by those constituents that lobbyists who walk the halls of Congress every day simply lack.

“If there was ever a time when our representative democracy was supposed to work the way it was intended, it is now,” Fleming said. “It’s complicated but you can still make it work: If you’re from Montana and you’re in that room in Washington, I guarantee that representative is going to look at you.”