Needle-Movers and Deal Closers
If only Richard Nixon had Web access, the history books might tell a different story. Whereas spying once proved the most effective means of tracking the competition, the Web today has "increased the transparency of public affairs.permitting competitors to keep tabs on what their counterparts are doing online."
This is one of the conclusions of an Oct. 6 report issued by the Foundation for Public Affairs (FPA) that gauges the impact of the Internet on public policy-making. In the report, "Creating a Digital Democracy," FPA President Douglas G. Pinkham argues that the Internet is revolutionizing "idea-commerce" with as much vigor as e-commerce.
The Webification of Capitol Hill and state legislatures has meant new rules regarding who can access lawmakers and when - as evidenced by several nuggets in the FPA report. As of last spring, every U.S. senator and 94 percent of House members had Web sites, and nine out of 10 congressional offices were using email. Many lawmakers now tap new media to reach out to their constituents. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont hosts regular online chat sessions with school-aged kids in his home state. Meanwhile, House Republican Whip Tom DeLay (Texas) has flattened internal reporting hierarchies by giving his staffers equal time via email.
And while Leahy and DeLay still have to check their laptops at the door of the Capitol (the U.S. Congress continues to convene e-free sessions under the dome), state legislatures across the country are serving as "laboratories of democracy" - allowing, for the first time, the use of computers and modems during sessions inside legislative chambers.
It goes without saying that Internet communication has proven a boon for lobbyists boasting personal connections with lawmakers. Email circumvents voice mail, cuts through bureaucracy, and puts issues squarely in front of decision-makers - often before the media steps in. "Email helps people on the Hill get more insight.that they otherwise couldn't get [quickly] through the Library of Congress," says James Meek, president and CEO of the DC-based consulting firm HMI, Inc. Communications.
Today, advocacy groups armed with keyboards are lobbying at lightening speed, and record numbers of elected officials are kissing babies on QuickTime video. But one timeworn tradition remains unchanged in Washington: personal relationships still count. As overworked Hill staffers wade through the rivers of emails from cyber-savvy average Americans, DC power-brokers are still pitching the "who you know" angle.
This point will be driven home in the next few weeks as the fall congressional session comes to a close. "If campaign finance reform or some tax issue comes up, you're going to have mark-ups taking place, and you'll have just as many people, or more than you ever had, [talking face-to-face with legislators] and asking them to make good on their promises," Meek says. "There's still no substitute for shoe leather when it comes to success on Capitol Hill."
"Washington is a place where people advocate big issues, and a lot of the skills are similar to the skills of being a trial lawyer," says Gerald S. J. Cassidy, chairman and CEO of DC-based Cassidy Companies Inc., and soon to become CEO of the newly formed entity, Shandwick Washington. "You won't ever see trials [conducted] via the Internet. People judge a presentation and its content by the person giving it, and the dialogue is different when you're [face-to-face]. Washington is a community that's built on trust and relationships." And in this environment, electronic messages (whose origins may be circumspect) have a harder time establishing credibility, he says.
Of course, Cassidy is in pole position to stake this claim. His firm will officially merge with Shandwick International on Nov. 1 to produce the most powerful public affairs and government relations conglomerate in the nation's capital to date. "We suddenly have resources to carry our message forward that we just didn't have in the past," he says.
Tortoises and Hares
For the rest of the country, however, electronic mail still beats snail mail in the fight for lawmakers' attentions. According to the FPA report, many activist groups - from human rights organizations to labor unions to religious coalitions - have logged victories by leveraging the power of the Web. The National Education Association, for example, credits an email campaign (at least in part) for a 1999 federal budget increase in allocations toward education.
If any group is trailing behind in electronic advocacy, it's the business community. The report quotes Faye Gormal-Graul, director of Dow Corning's DC government relations office: "I think public interest groups have done a fantastic job of utilizing the Internet.whereas business is way behind. Look at company Web sites and you rarely see public policy positions."
(Foundation for PA, 202/872-1750; Cassidy, 202/347-0787; Meek, 202/210-6335; Ogilvy PR, 202/331-3478)
Political Market Share
Given that Shandwick's impending acquisition of the Cassidy Companies Inc. (slotted for Nov. 1) will result in DC's largest-ever full-service PA firm, it's no surprise that incoming CEO Gerald Cassidy is touting the firm's "relationship equity" as a selling point.
Of course, if that angle ever falls through, he's also sitting on a prime piece of dotcom real estate. Cassidy Companies (and now Shandwick) is master of the domain "washington. com." And while the domain is currently relegated to email accounts and has yet to blossom into a Web site, Cassidy says that new revenue streams resulting from the merger could eventually be used to build a portal for politicos, activists, government agencies and the media. "The address is a natural one for people to type in if they're looking for information about [public policy]," he says. "It could be a [neutral] place where people in government could meet for discussions with the general public."
A great idea - and one that's already being acted upon. Last week, Politics.com, a newly formed Internet media company, went public with counsel from Ogilvy PR in DC. The site is expected to evolve into a network serving the interests of voters and taxpayers - and it's arriving just in time for election year.