American lobbyist Rolf Lundberg meets with Polish business leaders in Warsaw. It is not often that the United States Chamber of Commerce sends its chief lobbyist abroad to help facilitate a business community consolidation process. Power in unity of the business community can affect policy on the national level - said Lundberg.
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Rolf Lundberg (left) with Roman Rewald |
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„I think I made a strong case for the idea that the business community does have a unified message for Policy makers and elected individuals”, says Rolf Lundberg. “Regardless of the difficulties in coming together, in conveyinfg the message, in the receptivity of elected officials to that message and regardless of differences and forms of government.
The message that Lundberg has spread in Warsaw is that there is a common interest and a power in unity of the business community that can affect policy on the national level. And Lundberg is positive his mission will bear fruit. “What I took away from the meeting was that it was true and that we need to look at how we can make it happen.”
Yet, speaking with one voice is not enough. In order to influence policy-makers, business organizations need to know how to make an effective use of resources they may have at their disposal.
“If you accept that premise of the power of a unified voice, then you start to plot and plan your tactics and strategy and you accommodate to your environment, your business climate, for the political system that you have to operate within. You develop a system, a strategy and tactics to support that strategy”, Lundberg says.
The tradition of resolving issues and setting up agendas in the U.S. goes back to the beginning of the republic. In practice, it is a cultural issue that associations of common interest can achieve far more than an individual interest acting alone.
“This is a theme through American history”, says Lundberg. “What we have done at the U.S. Chamber is to take the idea of the unified groups together for a coalition for a particular purpose. We do it in a very targeted, sophisticated way. We combine resources, we leverage the contacts and the funding that we have. We combine all of that to advance toward our common goal and we do it in a very organized, a very specific way.”
One of the examples of how the U.S. Chamber works is the scoring system developed by the Chamber to evaluate Senators as of their stance vis-à-vis issues of key importance to the business community. As a trade association made of members companies, the Chamber has a structure in place to let the members voice their agenda.
“We have a committee process, and every issue has its own committee. If you care about labor issue you belong to our labor committee and that`s how our labor policy is set. It is via voting or sometimes it is unanimous”, Lundberg says.
Then, when the agenda is set the message is conveyed from the Chamber to the Senate.
“What we are saying is that senators can vote whatever they like. But we make it clear to all senators that their voting will be included in our scorecard. In fact we do that before the vote – well before the vote. Either I go in person or we send a letter that`s very detailed, describing why the bill is important and what vote we expect and in the end, due to the importance of this issue to the business community we will use votes on this issue in our annual scorecard so there`ll be no doubt in anybody`s mind that senators will be held accountable for that vote. Say it was a tax vote to maintain the 15 percent rate on capital gains, very important for the business community. We say how it is important for us ahead of time. We try to keep it very clear, very simple, as it encourages clear thinking by members of Congress either for the Chamber or against the Chamber”, Lundberg says.
The implication of that system are simple: A historical track record of how senators cast their votes having full knowledge of what`s important for the business community in the U.S.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce works to help its member companies with issues that arise inside the U.S. and also in foreign markets. It tends to be very specific but not to the extent where there is the sense of America representing things that some people or countries don`t like. And again, it is a question of effective use of resources.
“We try to look at things that we can influence. We can affect the way U.S. companies are treated. We can lobby foreign governments for better treatment of U.S. companies. We can work with foreign governments to treat foreign companies and their companies better in the U.S. So we focus on the things that we can influence. We certainly hope that in the long run the image of the U.S. will improve over time, “ says Lundberg.
In his opinion, at present, it is difficult to affect the image of the U.S. if it`s influenced by things such as the U.S. foreign policy and views that are deeply held on particular subjects, for instance, the war in Iraq.
“American citizens are deeply divided on particular issues and one of them is Iraq. But we try to do what we can to maintain the interests of the business community to ensure that all of our companies do understand that they need to cooperate in a completely transparent, open and lawful way in the U.S. and around the world. They need to set the example. They need to treat their employees well and focus what matters, which is creating jobs and contributing to economic growth. And those are the things that we can influence. And we continue what we should do around the world to improve the lives of the people who work for American companies, or who benefit from the presence of American companies in those foreign markets. The other issues, that create deep divides, we simply hope that at some point those will be resolved”, Lundberg says.
American Investor, September 2008
