Insider Info

The rain pelts the road. A steady stream flows down the street and rushes into the storm sewer. It may sound like the overflow water has been taken care of. But the labyrinth of pipes beneath the city isn't able to cope with the flow.

"When the first sewer and storm water systems were put beneath the roads, it worked just fine," says Neill Herring. He is a lobbyist for the Sierra Club.

At the turn of the century, domestic water use was low. As more and more people came into the city, the old storm and sewer systems were unable to keep up with increased water use.

Today, storm water and sewage flows down the pipes to a treatment plant. But when it rains, the system can't handle the amount of water rushing into the system. The overflow of untreated sewage spills directly into the creek system.

"The pollutants just go straight into the creek system and head downstream to where people live," says Herring. The situation infuriates him. Herring believes that the government has been ignoring the problem of pollutants in the river systems for years.

"Our [government] is pro-industry," he says. "They're not too concerned about pollutants." Herring has been working to change that.

Herring and other lobbyists have seen small successes in getting bills passed that will force the city to change its sewer system. But progress is slow. By lobbying, he hopes to convince legislators that the problem can't be ignored.

"I have to make sure the legislators know what's going on," says Herring. "They may not know what the bureaucrats are doing."

Herring has to get his ideas across quickly to a legislator in order to get his opinion heard. "If what you have to say takes more than three sentences -- forget it," he says. "Legislators may see three or four dozen lobbyists that day. You have to get their interest."

Despite his efforts, Herring believes the city is still avoiding the sewage problem. The city now sprays the overflow of untreated sewage with chlorine and screens out the garbage. "But it doesn't have any time to settle and it's pumped back into the creeks. It's as disgusting as ever."

Even though Herring hasn't had much success on the issue, he'll continue to lobby for a cleaner environment. He has had a few victories.

"We got the legislators to ban high-phosphate detergent because it was killing the lakes downriver," says Herring. The people downstream from the city were upset to see such environmental damage coming into their area.

You might think it would be easy to stop such rampant pollution, but there are always two sides to a story. "The chemical companies were upset that they couldn't sell their detergent," says Herring. After a long fight, a bill was passed that stopped the sale of damaging detergents.

Because Herring lobbies for a cleaner environment, he has to scrutinize many bills that pass through the legislature. Other lobbyists concern themselves with a single bill that will affect a client.

Kim West looks solely after the interests of her client. A client is usually concerned that a specific bill may affect their business. But this individual can't go up to a legislator and say that they're unhappy with the bill and want it defeated.

"That's self-interest," says West. "They won't be given the time of day." Legislators aren't concerned with individual cases -- they have to consider how a bill will affect the public at large.

So when West represents a client, she doesn't go to the legislator and tell him how a bill will ruin her client's business. She examines the policy, finds out how it will affect the public at large and then takes that concern to the legislature.

West is currently examining a policy that will bring insurance reforms. "My clients want to make sure that the new bill won't hammer their business," says West.

West doesn't go to the legislature with their concerns. "If I did, people would say, 'Tell somebody who cares.'" West makes a legislator care by examining the current insurance system and coming up with suggestions on how to improve it.

"In this case, we found that too few people were paying for too many claims," says West. She and a team of workers examined the system and devised a way to improve it without hurting her client. This is a proposal that a legislator might give a second look.

Jackie Kuchta is a lobbyist for the National Biomedical Research Association. She tries to convince legislators to pass bills that protect the research community. "One of our biggest successes was the 'Break-in Bill,'" says Kuchta.

In the late '80s, animal rights activists targeted several research institutions. "They attacked the institutions, firebombed them and made it impossible for research to continue," she says.

The new bill didn't dissuade animal activists from protesting research activities. "It simply stopped them from this dangerous form of protest," says Kuchta.

It's sometimes difficult to pass this kind of legislation. "There's a moral dilemma," she says. "But if activists attack the institutions, they aren't allowing any research to continue that could save lives."

There are also times when the association stands up to protect animals. "We support all regulations that are designed to protect animals," she says.

Like all good lobbyists, Kuchta tries to go beyond individual cases and concentrate on how bills will affect the general public.