Thank you for smoking
As a senior vice president at Cassidy & Associates, James Hirni '95 is one of Washington, D.C.'s top lobbyists. He talks with Quarterly editor Jayne M. Iafrate about long days in and out of the office, Republican politics and Jack Abramoff.
What does a lobbyist do?
A lobbyist helps corporations, local and state governments and
non-profits find solutions to government problems.
For example?
A corporation might have a problem with a particular section of the tax code that is preventing them from being innovative and growing, from getting into new areas or business plans. So we have to figure out a way to eliminate or change that section of the tax code. A nonprofit might have problems with treasury rules and regulations relating to charitable giving that need to be fixed. State and local governments might have a hard time getting funding for important programs like transportation or homeland security. They need someone to guide them through the process. What lobbyists do is find solutions to problems that are either created by government or threatened by government.
Do you primarily represent for-profit companies, or do you have a mix of different organizations?
I do mostly corporate lobbying, but I do work in the nonprofit side of corporate lobbying as well. My expertise is in taking complex, corporate public-policy problems, and helping them meander through the government process. And it could be the largest company in the world, the largest mutual fund company in the world, the largest insurance company in the world, the largest smokeless tobacco company in the world. I have a number of clients, and they≠re all dealing with the same problems or same issues.
What are some of the companies for which you lobby?
Wal-Mart, Fidelity Investments, Blue Cross Blue Shield, UST, which is U.S. Tobacco Company. Those are my four biggest. I also do work on Verizon, Bell South, Freddie Mac and the State of Texas. I do work on behalf of five of the largest community foundations in the country dealing with charitable giving and tax issues.
What are some of the primary skills necessary for a career in lobbying?
The primary skill is that you have to be trustworthy. In this town your word is the single most important asset you have, so you can't overcommit. You have to deliver. You also have to be able to problem solve, work with members of Congress in a heated environment, and also be able to face failure. I think that is one of the bigger problems. In a perfect world, you win 80 percent. Eighty percent is victory.
Eighty percent is huge.
You never get 100 percent, so if you get 80 percent, you've got victory. But then you have to take that 20 percent and turn that into a victory. When you're dealing with corporations, going from 80 percent to 100 percent is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. So you've got to work hard, be dedicated and trustworthy. You have to be aggressive; you've got to be straightforward.
So where's the schmoozing? Pop culture tells us that schmoozing is a huge part of lobbying.
That's the worst part of what people perceive as lobbying. I will tell you, there is a role that plays. Whether it is at political events, at charitable events, golf tournaments, etc., there is schmoozing. But the majority of lobbyists who are successful in this town do it through hard work, friendships, relationships on the Hill. At the end of the day it doesn't matter. Schmoozing is still what everybody thinks lobbying is about. In reality, we have strict rules in this town about meals you can purchase, gifts, contribution limits, and you have to abide by those. So schmoozing can happen, but it has to fit under these strict rules.
Let's talk about those relationships. Are they dependent on which party is in power?
No. The general rule is that I, as a conservative Republican, I want 100 U.S. senators to love Wal-Mart, or I want 100 U.S. senators to love Fidelity. Now, I would love that to be 100 Republican U.S. senators, but I'll take 51, as long as the Republicans and Democrats all love Fidelity. That's the goal; I'm hired to target outreach to Republicans. My job is to work with those individuals to make sure the companies' issues are taken care of. We have the opportunity to work with Democratic lobbyists on the same corporate client. At the end of the day, as long as 100 of them love Fidelity, it's a victory. Administrations change, Congress changes every two years. You have to keep renewing your friendships every year. People cycle in and out of this city pretty quickly.
You've worked for Senators Bill Frist, Tim Hutchinson and Jeff Sessions. Those relationships must give you an edge.
I think the most important part of lobbying is spending time on the Hill. I had the great privilege to work for three outstanding United States senators - three of the best members who have ever served in the Senate - and I think I've learned something different from each one of them. Most importantly, I've learned the legislative process. Serving as a legislative director for Senator Hutchinson from Arkansas, I was able to meet the legislative directors for the 99 other members of the Senate. If you don't serve your time on the Hill, you are at a disadvantage. Being able to tell a client how a bill originates, how it goes through the committee process, how it's amended, how to object to it, how to filibuster, how to amend the bill - those are key assets that you only learn by being on the Hill.
And it goes back to those relationships. Senator Frist is a close friend and a great senator, and he's retiring; I'm going to have to build a new relationship. Senator Sessions is my only former boss who's still going to be on the Hill come January. So the goal is not just to hang onto those member relationships you develop on the job, but to build new relationships with members of Congress in both the House and the Senate.
Is that one of your biggest challenges?
It's a huge challenge. But at the end of the day, members appreciate lobbyists who are straightforward, who are honest, who are trustworthy, who respect their views. It's an education process, and members of Congress appreciate lobbyists that are honest.
Let's talk about those relationships. Lobbyists raise campaign money for the same politicians that they approach on their clients' behalf. Is there a conflict of interest there?
I think ethics is the single most important part of my job. Once you violate ethics in this town, once you break that code, you break the trust. My firm, Cassidy & Associates, has a very strict standard for ethics. We have an outside counsel that clears all of our ethics issues. We take a course in ethics annually. Ethics is a very important issue for the firm. On the fundraising side, there's nothing wrong with raising money for members of Congress who are good members and good friends. You make sure that you don't do it in a way in which people will perceive it as quid pro quo.
In this town, people jump on any opportunity to say there's an ethical violation, so I make sure I follow the Federal Election Commission rules. You never want the appearance of any ethical misconduct; it will devastate you in this town. Raising money for members of Congress is very difficult.
Why is that?
Raising money for Congressional campaigns has gotten to be expensive. Look at the Pennsylvania Senate race; that'll be a $30 million hard-money campaign, not counting what the 527 groups and special-interest groups will put in there. We have a great United States senator, Rick Santorum, running for re-election. My job as a friend and as a lobbyist is to make sure my corporate clients know the work that he's done on behalf of them, on behalf of other corporations, his role in leadership, and to engage them in the political process to help him get re-elected. That's one race; there are 19 races this year. Next year there will be 21 Republicans up. It is a nonstop process. I have to make sure that I'm engaged politically for those members. If I'm not, I'm just that much further behind others in the game.
That pressure can be perilous. You worked for a short time for Jack Abramoff, the former lobbyist who was convicted of fraud. What lessons are to be learned from his experience?
It's sad to see what has happened to Jack and to his family. It underscores the point I made previously about appearances and ethics. You have to be straightforward in how you do business. You always want to make sure you follow the rules that are in place, and you make sure you do things on the most ethical, up-and-up level. I hate to see what's happened to him; it has been an ugly three years. This town is still going through the reverberations of what has gone on. It's a valuable lesson.
What's a typical day look like for you?
In these two weeks before Congress goes out of town, I literally feel like I'm burning the candle at both ends. I've either got a breakfast with a client, a fundraiser for a member of Congress or conference calls at 8 a.m. And that's two or three times a week. When I get to the office, it's a meeting on the Hill for a client with a member of Congress or staff talking about client issues. And then it's usually another meeting. And lunch is either a fundraiser, a meet-and-greet for a member of Congress, or it's a client lunch or a prospective client lunch. Afternoons are often in the office doing team meetings on client strategy - breaking down complex issues, where we need to go with our clients. And then it's back to the Hill for meetings. I might jump from one client to the next, meeting to meeting. You've got to be on the game because you've got to go from issue to issue all the time. In the evenings it's always the same thing. It's a fundraiser, or it's a dinner with a client, or a dinner with a member of Congress or staff, and usually home by about 11 p.m. This week it's been midnight every night.
I know what people always say about lobbying: It's about schmoozing and it's kicked back. It is a literally seven in the morning ‘til midnight job, and you have to be on call on the weekends. On weekends I travel a lot for clients or for members of Congress, or it's phone calls on the weekends. I love everything about it, but it wears you down, seven days a week, almost 12-14 hours a day.
How do you do this? How do you find the balance with family life?
If I'm lucky - and this is the most important thing to me - I actually get to take my daughter Caroline to school each morning. It's the highlight of my week. I also have the most wonderful wife [Tzeitel Hirni '96] in the world; I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today without her. She has been with me from day one, since my first job on Capitol Hill. She is better with members of Congress than I am! If you have a family that is understanding of politics, we all sort of fit into it together.
You and Tzeitel met at Wheaton, right? Were you both political at the time?
Nope. I was political; she was not. After we started to date, Tzeitel took one of Jay Goodman's classes, and has been in love with politics ever since. Today she's a stay-at-home mom, but runs an event planning business. She done events for President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and she's done events for my clients. She also runs the Wheaton Washington Alumnae/i Club. She's now active in politics and has very strong views, like I do, on members of Congress. I'm glad to say she's on the Republican side.
Do you ever think about public office for yourself?
When I was at Wheaton I wanted to run for office. In fact in my Commencement address I said that I was going to run for president, because Christine Todd Whitman '68 was on the stage. I thought. "I'm going to run for president, so I'll let her know." The problem is, I live and work in the District of Columbia, and there are no Republicans in this town; about 10 percent of the voting population is Republican. On top of that, I was born and raised in New Hampshire, and I'd have to move from Washington, reposition myself in New Hampshire, do the groundwork on the ground, and then run. It's a great idea. I think public service is the noblest job in the world. I just don't think I could do it. I don't think that I would want to put my family through what members of Congress have to go through now in terms of the negative advertising and attacks.
What would you tell aspiring politicians or lobbyists at Wheaton today?
The first thing to tell them is to take a class with Jay Goodman. I also would tell them to intern in D.C. The only way to enter this town is to intern in D.C. I'll give you an example: I interned at the Heritage Foundation, where I met my first boss, Rick Dearborn, and Bill Frist. Dearborn hired me from Bill Frist to Sen. Jeff Sessions. To get into this job you want to get involved in the political process, make connections, work hard - whether it's on the Hill or it's in a nonprofit or trade association - and then move your way through. If you want to lobby, you can get there. But you've got to build the relationships. In this town, it≠s not about how much you know, but about who you know.
