BusinessTN

Public opinion polls weighing respected professions often rank the institution of lobbying near the bottom, alongside used car salesmen, journalists, lawyers, politicians and government bureaucrats.

The public's already low regard for the work of Tennessee's Capitol Hill lobbying corps sunk even lower earlier this year when one of its peripheral members got stung in Operation Tennessee Waltz. That undercover FBI investigation made clear Tennessee has at least a handful of elected crooks serving in office. But it also revealed how effortlessly an improperly registered lobbyist could descend on Capitol Hill with rolls of $100 bills and paper envelopes and swiftly gain unrivaled and improper access to lawmakers on behalf of the narrow interests of a "client"—in this case an FBI shell company.

The "Waltz" reinforced the stereotype of lawmaking and lobbying as ethically challenged professions. One silver lining is that the push for greater disclosure of lobbyist spending in Tennessee looks more promising as a result. Talks on Capitol Hill taking place now and scheduled for the upcoming legislative session will likely lead to new restrictions and requirements to guide lobbyist conduct.

That's not to say all or even most lobbyists are bad apples or that the work they do is in no way a valuable public service to Tennesseans. The Tennessee General Assembly is a part-time legislature; as such, lobbyists play an integral role as sources of information on the thousands of bills that lawmakers grapple with each session.

Given the current focus on the profession, and by contrast, the relative anonymity of the individuals who exert the most influence on Capitol Hill, Business Tennessee turns its spotlight on the state's 10 most effective lobbyists. The list derives from dozens of background interviews with political insiders, lawmakers, journalists, staff members and fellow lobbyists, combined with Business Tennessee's own perspective of the Hill. Interestingly, at a time of heightened ridicule of the profession, the list is comprised largely of individuals who could give the profession a good name in the Volunteer State.

"The Vault"
Tim Amosh

As lead lobbyist for the powerful Tennessee Bankers' Association, Tim Amos is the go-to guy on Capitol Hill for any issue related to financial institutions. Banking is a complex area of law ranging from general loans to predatory lending that lawmakers wrestle with annually. Amos knows it cold. Nobody challenges him on it.

In a feat well remembered by fellow lobbyists, Amos once had passed a massive 90-page bill revising various articles of the Uniform Commercial Code. A highly specialized and technical bill, it sailed through the committee system and both chambers virtually without an amendment. It takes someone competent and trustworthy to get a 132-member legislature to show the political will not just to get something done but also to trust a lobbyist enough to refrain from screwing around with legislation as it passes by. But as one colleague says incredulously of that particular bill, "there wasn't a red light on it."

Amos repeated that feat this past session with a similarly clean passage of a 100-page Uniform Trust Code revision. In fact, so thorough is Amos that he already has amendments prepared for legislation slated to be introduced on Capitol Hill next year.

"The CON Artist"
Dan Elrod

Hands-down the most knowledgeable and effective insurance and health care lobbyist in Tennessee, Dan Elrod possesses the uncanny ability to boil down very difficult issues so that legislators can understand them. Lawmakers trust him. They know his information is fair and accurate.

A top partner at the law firm of Miller & Martin, Elrod could be the state's undisputed top lobbyist if devoted exclusively to the profession. Though his daily presence on the Hill has waned of late, Elrod still heavily steers his group's strategy and remains an effective closer on Capitol Hill.

Elrod's hands-on work in the recent legislative session included representing hospitals in negotiating a codified definition of outpatient diagnostic centers. He has a stellar record of success representing clients before the state's Health Services and Development Agency in the politicized and outdated certificate of need (CON) process. And Elrod is the chief lobbyist representing Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and West Tennessee Healthcare, aiding its success in maintaining a multifaceted competitive edge over neighboring Regional Hospital, owned by Community Health Systems of Brentwood.

"The Jack of All Trades"Bo Johnson

Now that Smith Johnson & Carr founding principal Cleve Smith has retired from the day-to-day grind on the Hill, Bo Johnson is the senior lobbying member of the state's largest and oldest government affairs firm, long a breeding ground for the profession in Tennessee. As a firm, SJC not only boasts the Hill's most impressive client list, but its staff literally has the plaza covered. Very little gets through that they don't know about. As a team, partners Johnson, Nathan Poss, Anne Carr and Estie Harris are a legislative machine. All have good relationships with leaders.

Wickedly smart and as savvy as any lobbyist on the Hill, Johnson uses a lot of strategy, knows the ins and outs and the machinations on the Hill, and is very thorough in thinking out the next step—intuitive about how people will react. He's known for representing tough clients like Tennessee's billboard industry, a group persistently under attack by local governments wishing to eradicate what they consider unsightly roadside clutter.

A few years ago, Johnson brokered a compromise on proposed legislation to remove billboards from grandfather clause protection in Tennessee land use policy. Over a two-year period, Johnson held together a constructive dialogue that eventually led to a deal allowing billboards to remain, the only concession being that if one was destroyed or brought down voluntarily its replacement could not greatly exceed the size of the original.

"Mr. Nice Guy"
Dick Lodge

A former Tennessee Democratic Party chair, Dick Lodge stepped aside from a planned 1994 gubernatorial run when Phil Bredesen announced his own aspirations. Lodge's wife, Gina, is the state's human services commissioner. At Bass Berry & Sims, with whom Bredesen has strong ties, Lodge leads one of the more formidable lobbying presences on the Hill. Well-placed outside of the Bredesen administration, his practice is flourishing under it. All told, Lodge has a greater ability to lobby both the legislature and the administrative ranks than any other single lobbyist on Capitol Hill.

For a decade, Lodge has commandeered organ donation legislation strengthening the rights of the deceased for their wishes to be heard. This past session, Lodge passed a bill requested by single premium credit life insurance provider Plateau Insurance that clarified the consumer's responsibility to notify the insurer about a rebate. Despite championing an insurance product that always gets close committee scrutiny, Lodge got the bill passed swiftly late in session amid all the focus on the budget and TennCare and the distraction of FBI arrests on the Hill.

Lodge also successfully spared a client, TennCare pharmacy benefit manager First Health, from getting axed by the Bredesen administration, which considered the measure after documented data mishandling that led to higher program costs. In fact, the company wound up with a contract extension worth three times the previous amount. It's an example of how Lodge's sterling reputation makes him effective as a lobbyist. When he attaches his name to a company or issue, the people who run government can assume the cause rises to a certain standard.

"The Fox"
John Lyell

As a lawyer, John Lyell has represented many state legislators and their family members in their personal affairs. As a lobbyist, Lyell has acquired the unrivaled trust of some of the state's most influential lawmakers through fierce loyalty and a proven track record of never putting lawmakers in a compromising position with their constituents back home.

Lyell's clients include the Tennessee Titans and the state's pawnbrokers. He also steers strategy for the Tennessee Health Care Association (THCA), which represents the state's nursing homes. Like a dog that doesn't bark in the night, THCA is seldom seen but their handiwork is always evident in legislation after the fact. Even against a foe as large and powerful as the AARP, THCA's successful preservation of the status quo is why Tennessee ranks near the bottom in the nation in home-based alternatives to nursing homes. (Lyell also deftly shielded the industry from a piling on by lawmakers in the aftermath of a Nashville nursing home fire that killed 16 people in 2003.)

Lyell's prowess as an influence peddler was perhaps best evidenced this past session when he sat down shoulder-to-shoulder with lawmakers at the table of a Senate subcommittee meeting. There he interjected into the debate his disapproval of a proposal to ban lobbyists from seats on state boards and commissions. Lyell currently sits on the 17-member Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission, which recommends to the governor appointments to the state's benches, including the Tennessee Supreme Court.

"The Rooster"
David McMahan

Lobbying just seems to come easy for David McMahan. Close associates say he's as comfortable in camouflage in a dove field as he is (or rather, was) discussing Brioni suits with former Sen. John Ford.

Democratic House Speaker pro tempore Lois DeBerry, leader of the powerful legislative black caucus, refers to McMahan as her "son" and provides him key access to House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh. Conversely, the Republican surge in the Senate recognizes McMahan's Republican credentials as the son of former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker's chief of staff. McMahan's family also was close to former Sen. Ben Atchley, the man who assured Lt. Gov. John Wilder his speakership in the Senate. As such, McMahan may be the only lobbyist on Capitol Hill who effectively works both sides of the political aisle. Awash in major clients, McMahan's stewardship of PAC money is another factor in his popularity among both Democratic and Republican leaders.

Among McMahan's clients is tobacco giant Phillip Morris, which pushed this year for a new law imposing $500 fines on deliverers like FedEx that fail to get an adult's signature on the delivery of discount cigarettes purchased online. From its own backyard, FedEx strongly opposed the fine. Similar legislation in other states had failed. And it is not unprecedented for FedEx founder and global business icon Fred Smith to call Naifeh and Wilder personally to address legislation slated to impact his company. Pitted against the largest employer in the state, and a huge PAC, it was no small feat that McMahan garnered the votes necessary to pass the bill intact.

"The Farmer's Daughter"
Rhedona Rose

A farmer's daughter, Rhedona Rose is perhaps more captivated by the issues she works on than any other lobbyist. She also has a firm understanding of her own power. As lead lobbyist for the Tennessee Farm Bureau, the most powerful special interest on Capitol Hill, she doesn't need to issue threats or point fingers in people's faces. Neither hard-nosed nor obtuse, Rose is instead transparent and courteous, even earnest.

Rose protects the multitudinous sales tax exemptions in Tennessee law that cover just about every purchase a farmer would ever make. She grapples annually with a broad swath of farm-related legislation that can range from how to define agriculture to whether or not a dog can ride in the back of a pickup truck to how to shelter farmers from nuisance lawsuits brought by new suburban neighbors. She also contends with a full-time environmental lobby, a lobby that has matured in the last decade or so and that was much less of an obstacle for her predecessors. Again this past session, Rose masterfully felled attempts to increase regulation of aerial spraying, a perennial issue, arguing convincingly that Tennessee law already adequately provides safe barriers to neighborhoods.

Anthony Kimbrough lobbies effectively for the bureau's related insurance operation. Both get help from their boss Julius Johnson, a Capitol Hill institution, who drops in occasionally to apply the squeeze to wayward lawmakers.

"The Silent Assassin"
Bob Weaver

Many lobbyists forge their reputation in "Hill Fights," public battles that grab newspaper headlines. Bob Weaver, Capitol Hill's quiet giant, has earned his reputation for doing the opposite. So good at working out compromise behind the scenes, Weaver's battles over legislation never see in the light of day.

Formerly Gov. Lamar Alexander's legislative liaison, Weaver has for many years lobbied for the powerful automotive dealers association, a group feared on Capitol Hill given that in every community, rural and urban alike, car dealers are wealthy movers and shakers and big political contributors. State officials also are attuned to Weaver. In a sales-tax-dependent state, Tennessee financial gurus closely follow month-to-month automobile sales and worry about maintaining a climate ripe for steady business.

This past session, Weaver quietly smothered legislation intended to make Tennessee emissions standards more closely resemble California's stricter code. He also blocked a push by Nissan for legislation mirroring other states that would have allowed factory employees to buy employee-leased vehicles without going through a dealership. And he continues to well protect the state's single article sales tax cap ensuring Tennessee car buyers pay sales tax on only the first $1,600 of their purchase.

"The Velvet Glove"
Anna Windrow

Tennessee Commerce & Insurance Commissioner Paula Flowers recently audited Maury County-based banking powerhouse First Farmers and Merchants Bank. In the course of that work, Flowers made an obscure interpretation of a 1917 law regarding pecuniary interest prohibitions that she felt barred members of fellow Columbia-based Tennessee Farmers Insurance companies, a subset of the state Farm Bureau, from owning stock in the bank, with whom the bureau does business. Putting Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen in a tough spot, Flowers issued an order stating bureau members had a conflict of interest and had to give up their stock in their successful hometown bank or cease doing business with it.

Anna Windrow had only recently departed her post as chief lobbyist for Gov. Phil Bredesen's administration. Back in private practice, she had quickly assembled a top client list, including First Farmers. Windrow promptly lined up the votes for a bill (getting 131 votes out of 132 votes in the General Assembly) making Farm Bureau executives disclose their stakes in the bank before Flowers' order took effect, averting a nasty public lawsuit.

It's just the latest example of Windrow's long-lived prowess on Capitol Hill, a place where she always knows what's really going on. Obviously close to Bredesen, Windrow also has strong ties with Tennessee Democratic Party patriarch Ned Ray McWherter.

"The Dynamo"
Mandy Haynes Young

Mandy Haynes Young is known for her superior ability to evaluate and calculate on the spot. She's also well known for her enormous personal energy. Benefactors of her high-octane style include health insurance clients Aetna, Cigna and United.

Young has tremendous political contacts as well. The daughter of Democratic State Sen. Joe Haynes and Nashville judge Barbara Haynes, Young is very close to the Bredesen administration. She's taken over the day-to-day lobbying for Miller & Martin from Dan Elrod (see above), a testament to her capabilities to have such big shoes to fill.

This past session, an administration-authored bill included a provision that would have granted the state broad authority to audit any company in the discount pharmacy card business. Young recognized the potentially harmful exposure to several of her clients, namely CareMark Rx, and successfully educated lawmakers and the governor's office on some of the unintended consequences of the bill moving forward as broadly written.