Private lobbyists make difference in Olympia

OLYMPIA -- In back rooms, legislative negotiators often call the higher-education community whiny -- especially the UW.

Struggling to convince key legislators to commit to higher education, Dick Thompson, director of the UW's Office of Government Relations, hired a husband-wife team of two lobbyists from the private sector to openly diffuse that notion.

The extra help may have been why everything the UW administration wanted was passed into law. Laws on the UW's wish list included niche bills allowing the University to sell alcohol by the glass in campus museums, and legislation allowing the campus to hire its own elevator technicians and to lease buildings along South Lake Union for medical research.

Even though budget matters are still undecided, the UW administration scored its greatest victory by having Boeing insist the Legislature extend the Board of Regents' tuition-setting authority for out-of-state, graduate and professional students for six years.

But at what price?

Of the 811 registered lobbyists, who were paid a combined total of more than $14 million, the UW has so far spent $26,000 on private lobbyists. In doing so, the UW became the only state university to hire well-known lobbyists from the private sector with public money.

The University paid Michael Woodin $10,000 for the past four months, plus more than $250 in expenses. That money, combined with funds from AT&T, AT&T Wireless and the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers, totaled $25,000, making him the 67th-highest-paid lobbyist, according to public-disclosure reports.

His wife, Amy Bell, was paid $16,000 for the past four months by UW, as well as about $100 in compensated expenses. At the same time, she was also working for YMCA of Washington state, making her the 100th-highest-paid lobbyist, raking in $20,000, according to the public reports.

Thompson's assistant resigned early last year to take a state Senate staff position. He said the salary from the assistant's position was used to hire the private lobbyists.

The extra help was needed, Thompson said.

"It was sort of odd to hire out, but the circumstances in hiring them were sort of odd, too," he said.

Thompson was in talks with the University to retire last year when former UW President Richard McCormick suddenly resigned. McCormick and Thompson were key figures in the UW's strategy in Olympia to convince legislators to commit to higher education, Thompson said.

And if Thompson were to also resign according to plans, the University's presence in Olympia would have been muted or become nonexistent.

UW interim President Lee Huntsman asked him to stay on, Thompson said.

Thompson said he is looking to retire at the end of this year. His experience may be hard to replace. Thompson served as Gov. Gary Locke's top financial adviser for three years before changing jobs with Marty Brown, current chairman of the Office of Financial Management, who had been the UW's top government-relations official. Prior to his experience with Locke, Thompson served for eight years in former Gov. Booth Gardner's administration as chair of the Department of Social and Health Services.

Sen. Dino Rossi, R-North Bend, is not convinced Thompson's position is even needed. Rossi, who wrote and helped pass a budget out of the upper chamber, is insisting all agency liaisons be removed. Thompson's office is costing the state at least $437,000. Senate figures show if all government liaisons from departments without elected leaders were cut, the state could save almost $7 million. That's money Rossi said could be used to keep tuition rates as low as possible.

"I would rather see more directors and assistant directors sitting in front of me than lobbyists," Rossi said to the Senate Ways and Means Committee last month while Thompson was sitting in the audience.

"I don't disagree with that at all, but they can't be there everyday," Thompson said this week. "On almost a daily basis, legislators are looking for information, and that's why we're here."

As budget negotiations take place in Olympia, removing the liaisons and allocating that money elsewhere is reportedly still one of Rossi's priorities.

Thompson predicts his position will not go away, but the funds for it will come from somewhere -- such as research dollars the state cannot decide on or grants from the UW's Alumni Association.

The Washington State University Alumni Association president, for example, is much more visible to legislators than UW Alumni Association's president.

How successful Thompson and the lobbyists have been beyond key legislation they helped pass is still unclear, and will not be known until budget figures are released.

"Until we knew about the budget and capital budget, we had a good year," Thompson said.

Secretary of the Senate Milt Doumit said legislators were to be called back this week for a vote on the budget, but suddenly announced yesterday that no deal was reached. Still, he warned in an e-mail to reporters that something could happen as early as Monday.

Still to be decided are the billions in higher-education construction funding needed to repair decrepit buildings such as Johnson Hall. Another undecided issue is exactly how much tuition will increase, although legislators said it would rise by no higher than 9 percent for next year.

The special session ends June 10.