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Council
Trawl
GEE: Council on International Educational Exchange
University of Oregon
• In the EMU Building
Eugene
1
877 1/2 East 13th Street
Eugene
(541)344-2263
for the Emerald
For more information
about freelancing for the
Oregon Daily Emerald
call 346-5511.
ASUO lobbying efforts lauded
Legislators on the state
and federal levels find
the ASUO well-prepared
By David Ryan
Oregon Daily Emerald
In the rough and tumble of
pushing political interests
through the Oregon Legislature
and the U.S. Congress, Democrat
ic lawmakers say the ASUO has
what it takes to survive as a lob
bying group, while Republican
lawmakers either remain silent
or refuse to comment on the is
sue.
There are lobbies for most
every political interest: the gun
lobby, the anti-tobacco lobby,
the environmental lobby, the
school prayer lobby. You name
it, there’s probably a lobby for
it.
Wright Andrews, a Washing
ton, D.C., lawyer/lobbyist and
former president of the American
League of Lobbyists, said lobby
ing is right under the U.S. Consti
tution.
“[Lobbyists] need to provide
information to legislators,” he
said. "Normal citizens don’t have
the time or the expertise to lobby.
They often hire a lobbyist, say a
lawyer like me. Your lobbyist is
your advocate.”
Jerry Medler, an associate pro
fessor of political science at the
University, said good lobbyists
get what their clients want.
“That [boils down] to two sep
arate questions: Does the client
know what they want? Can you
tell whether or not you got it?” he
said.
"These may sound silly but
they are often tough questions to
answer because clients are un
clear about the details of their de
sires and legislation is confusing
— even to the legislators — often
producing unintended conse
quences.”
The ASUO lobbies Salem and
Washington in conjunction with
two student lobbying organiza
tions.
It’s a member of the Oregon
Student Association, which com
prises students from colleges
throughout Oregon with an inter
est in student issues such as tu
ition freezes and child care for
students.
The United States Student As
sociation represents higher edu
cation students nationwide and
lobbies lawmakers in Washing
ton.
Ed Dennis, executive director
of the OSA, said the problems of
being a student lobbyist are not
unique.
“I think they’re the same ob
stacles everyone else faces —
having access to top lawmakers,
establishing credibility with
those lawmakers and establish
ing a relationship of trust,” he
said.
Dennis said money makes a
difference as well.
"Another thing is where that
[lobbyist’s] power comes from,”
he said. “You’ve got these huge
[professional] advocacy organiza
tions that do a lot of work.
"And so [student lobbyists]
can have a nice conversation
[with a legislator], but the legisla
tor knows you’re going to be
leaving that day as opposed to a
[professional] lobbyist who is
there every week.”
Matt Swanson, ASUO legisla
tive affairs coordinator, said the
ASUO’s main legislative goals
are getting a tuition freeze and
increasing the number of stu
dent families who can get child
care.
C.J. Gabbe, ASUO federal af
fairs coordinator, said the
ASUO’s congressional goals
were to increase financial aid to
students and allow students to
have more control over student
fees.
Swanson said there were prob
lems surfacing with the fight for
a tuition freeze.
"Word around is that other
groups are after the money [that
would be used for a tuition
freeze],” he said. “The budget is
always tight in the state, and
higher education takes the cuts.
It’s really hard to change the
mindset of the Legislature.”
Sometimes this mindset forces
the ASUO to fight interest groups
it does not want to fight.
“We are oftentimes pitted
against [kindergarten through
twelfth-grade education],” Swan
son said. “We feel that education
is a continuum. We don’t want to
fight against education at any
level, but sometimes we’re al
most forced to.”
Swanson said students also
have tight schedules which ham
per their lobbying efforts.
The true determination of the
ASUO’s lobbying success will
come at the end of the 1999 Ore
gon legislative session, when a
tuition freeze and increased child
care is either a reality or not.
However, lawmakers who work
with the ASUO say ASUO lobby
ists are making their case.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D
Ore.) gave the ASUO a clean bill
of health as a lobbyist.
"Well, actually I was just over
at the campus February and met
with the ASUO,” he said. "I meet
with them usually a couple times
a year.”
DeFazio said he met with the
ASUO once in Oregon and once
in Washington. He said he thinks
good lobbyists are people who
are well-informed, to-the-point
and able to put their issues to
Congress.
“The [ASUO] was able to do
that,” he said. “1 think generally I
find they’re articulate and out
spoken and they have an impact
because of the success of their ef
forts.”
State Rep. Floyd Prozanski (D
Eugene) was also impressed with
the ASUO.
“I would say I have had signifi
cant contact with the ASUO,
both [during legislative] sessions
and in the interim [between leg
islative sessions],” he said.
"I’d say in the past two months
I’ve had contact with them half a
dozen times. The people that
have met me have been prepared
with the questions they come to
I think generally I
find they're articulate
and outspoken and they
have an unpact because
of the success of their
efforts. ”
Peter OeFazio
U.S. Representative
ask me.”
Prozanski said information
was important to him.
“[The ASUO lobbyists] pro
vide me with the information as
to what [a particular issue]
means to students,” he said. “For
me as a representative, to do my
job I need to be informed. I need
to know if organizations are im
pacted [by a certain bill] how it
will affect them.”
Danny Santos, higher educa
tion advisor to Gov. Kitzhaber,
had more compliments for the
ASUO.
“I think it’s very fair to say that
the ASUO has dealt with a lot of
issues that have brought under
standing to student problems,”
he said.
State Sen. Susan Castillo (D
Eugene), a member of the Oregon
Senate’s Education Committee,
said she thought the ASUO
spent more time with other law
makers.
"I am very supportive of the
student agenda,” she said. “Be
cause of that, I don’t think they
spend as much time with me as
they do with people who don’t
necessarily support the student
agenda.”
The office of Oregon House
Speaker Lynn Snodgrass (R-Port
land), a conservative, said she re
fused to comment.
The Emerald was unable to
contact Rep. Ron Sunseri (R-Port
land), chair of the Oregon House
Education Committee.
Aides at the office of Rep.
Lynn Lundquist (R-Baker) said
they believed Lundquist had
contact with the ASUO. Sen.
Tom Hartung (R-Portland), chair
man of the Senate Education
Committee, said he could not re
call meeting with a representa
tive of the ASUO.
“Today I had contact with a
group from the [OSA], but that
was the first formal meeting [this
session],” he said.
Regardless of who claims to
have talked to the ASUO or not,
Dennis said, Swanson was doing
a good job with lawmakers he
has contacted.
"Matt Swanson is the one per
son whose job it is to be in Salem
and talk to legislators,” he said.
"And he does. There are several
legislators who trust Matt. He can
walk into an office and they will
listen.”
David Ryan covers University is
sues for the Emerald. Please con
tact him at
ragnor@glacistone.uoregon.edu
with any comments, criticisms or
ideas. He will thank you.
©regoi#€meraU>
The Oregon Daily Emerald is published daily Mon
day through Friday during the school year and
Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the
Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the
University ot Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. A member
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