A divided Statehouse may be a boon to lobbyists

Dale J. Florio, a lobbyist and founder of Princeton Public Affairs Group, stands in front of the Statehouse in Trenton. [Christina Mazza]
Lobbyist Clark Martin, president of MBI-GluckShaw, sees a new administration in Trenton as an opportunity to advance his clients’ causes and to build relationships.
“It’s an exciting time for people on West State Street,” Martin said.

He’s not alone: Trenton’s lobbying community is beginning to learn new faces and rekindle old contacts. Some of the state’s leading lobbyists said there will be benefits from having a divided government, where there will be at least two opportunities to affect legislation.

Martin said Republican Gov.-elect Chris Christie could veto bills passed by the Legislature, which maintains a Democratic majority in both houses. “It does give a lobbyist one additional chance” to lobby for a veto, Martin said.

Dale J. Florio, a lobbyist and founder of Princeton Public Affairs Group, said a divided government makes it easier to stop legislation because there are more opportunities for lobbying. “If you’re trying to pass a particular bill, you’re going to have your work cut out for you.”

Florio said he expects the business community to fare well in lobbying Christie’s administration, which is focusing on job growth in the private sector.

Lobbyist Roger A. Bodman, of Public Strategies Impact, however, is skeptical that party affiliation will make much of a difference to lobbying when the new administration begins.

Bodman is more interested in the rules that Christie could establish for lobbyists once he enters office. “There are all kinds of unknowns,” Bodman said, adding that he believes it is a positive sign that Christie was an “equal-opportunity prosecutor” as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

Jonathan Holt, of Holt & Germann Public Affairs LLC, also sees more opportunities to bring his clients in front of people with a divided government.

Holt said the partisan change shouldn’t be too important to lobbying, since lobbying techniques remain the same: represent your clients and bring facts to the attention of officials.

While the party doesn’t matter, it does matter that the officials are new, Holt said. Also, decisions that have been made at a party level for the past eight years now must be negotiated.

“There’s going to be more opportunity for open discussion, open debate,” Holt said.

Martin said his firm has made building bipartisan ties central to its growth over the past decade. Along with political diversity, the firm also has built diversity in its members’ ages, races and genders, Martin said.

Bill Caruso, Assembly Democratic executive director, said the legislative branch will remain important to lobbyists as the initiator of news, laws and the place where they will “at least start their efforts.”

Rick Wright, Caruso’s Republican counterpart, said business lobbyists should be happy with Christie’s election, noting that he highlighted the importance of improving the business climate in his campaign.

Certain industries are in a strong position because their agendas line up with Christie’s, said Arthur Maurice, senior vice president of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association. For example, he said manufacturers share Christie’s interest in reducing regulation.

Maurice recalled the lobbying atmosphere in Trenton in the 1980s, when then-Gov. Thomas H. Kean faced a Democratic Senate and, for his first term, a Democratic Assembly.

Source:njbiz.com/