City Lobbyist Is a One-Woman Firm, Go-Getter for S.D.

It is difficult to imagine Kathy Rees “stumbling” into anything.

Yet that’s how Rees, the City of San Diego’s diminutive yet hard-charging Sacramento lobbyist, describes her entry into the profession.

Rees got her first lobbying job the old-fashioned way--through a classified ad in the local newspaper. Looking for work in 1976 after her husband’s job brought them to Sacramento, Rees--who then had only limited experience with the Joliet, Ill., planning department and as assistant director of a federal education project--was hired by the California Optometric Assn.

“I had just enough experience to get my foot in the door,” she recalled.

Over the next decade, first as an in-house lobbyist for the optometrists and the California Hospital Assn. and later on her own, Rees steadily built a stable of clients from the health care industry into a $100,000-a-year lobbying firm. Then, earlier this year, Rees doubled her annual income overnight when Mayor Maureen O’Connor chose her to represent San Diego’s interests in the Capitol.

For Rees, it is another case of delving into unfamiliar territory.

Rees, 41, has never lobbied in any other field but health care. She has little background in the dozens of complicated issues affecting cities. And in an era when big, multi-partner lobbying firms dominate in Sacramento, she prefers to work alone. Yet Rees is not bashful about reciting credentials that she believes qualify her to be the hired gun for the second largest city in the state.

“It’s important for people to realize that you can have the most in-depth technical expertise in the world, but if you do not understand the legislative process and possess the trust of those on whom you must rely, you won’t get anywhere,” she said. “You can always bring in the proper expert at the proper time.”

Rees insists that a one-woman firm, properly organized, can do the job just as well as a bigger office, if not better.

“One of the hallmarks of my style is that I want the hands-on relationship with my clients,” she said. “I don’t want to delegate that to additional lobbying staff or an administrative assistant. The city is getting personalized interaction and the assurance that on the major issues, I’m the one that’s doing it.”

Saw Interaction Firsthand

Assemblyman Larry Stirling (R-San Diego) saw that interaction firsthand earlier this year when Rees was successful in halting his effort to transfer a larger percentage of court-fine revenues from the city to the county.

Stirling, a former San Diego city councilman, describes Rees as a “competent, capable and experienced lobbyist.” He said she is more “pro-active” than her predecessor, John Witzel, a low-key, soft-spoken lobbyist who held the job for 15 years. Witzel, who was close to U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson when Wilson was mayor, gave up the city contract shortly after O’Connor took office.

“John was well-entrenched and well-experienced and he used his long friendships and knowledge as opposed to a large amount of activity,” Stirling said. “It’s always that way. The older fellows have wisdom and experience and can anticipate, while the younger people lack that but make it up in energy and effort.”

Energy is exactly what Mayor O’Connor was looking for when she interviewed applicants for the city lobbyist job, said Paul Downey, O’Connor’s spokesman.

“The mayor was looking for someone who would really hustle,” Downey said. “The thing that impressed her about Kathy was her ‘go-getterness,’ her enthusiasm for going out and finding grants, finding pocketfuls of money, which is what the city desperately needs.”

Tactic Helps Ensure Access

Having represented an Alzheimer’s disease group, county hospitals and the American Academy of Pediatrics, among others, Rees is used to working on behalf of clients that do not contribute to legislators’ political campaigns, a tactic that can help to ensure access to lawmakers at key moments.

To compensate, Rees said she has always put faith in the power of grass-roots lobbying efforts in lawmakers’ hometowns.

With the Optometric Assn., she combined a well-funded political action committee with an active grass-roots network of optometrists to further that group’s interests. Statewide pressure brought on by the group Rees helped organize was later credited with helping optometrists win a key battle against the eyeglass industry, which was seeking to repeal legislation regulating the relationship between companies that manufacture glasses and the optometrists who prescribe them.

“When everything is equal, when you’ve got one competent lobbyist against another competent lobbyist, or one large political action committee against another, you’ve got to look at what gives you the edge,” she said. “Obviously, a legislator’s mission is not only to get elected but to get reelected, and they’re very concerned about what their constituents think of them. I find the grass-roots approach is a great equalizer.”

Rees also indicated that she’s not afraid to plead her client’s case directly to the public.

‘Ability to Wreak Havoc’

“I have got the ability with certain members of the media to wreak a lot of public havoc,” she boasted. “That speaks just as loudly, sometimes more loudly, than contributions.”

Rees, citing her experience representing county hospitals, believes that she will be able to apply the same techniques in her newest job. She might advocate, for instance, establishment of one or more groups of San Diego residents who will pressure lawmakers on key issues affecting the city.

Among the issues at or near the top of the city’s legislative agenda for 1988 will be the Tijuana sewage problem, funding for homeless programs, and money to improve Mission Bay and Balboa Park. Rees will also be trying to obtain for San Diego a share of a proposed bond issue for library construction and renovation.

“Most issues affecting the city clearly affect the population of the city of San Diego,” she said. “Whether it’s for local government or a business or industry group, that kind of participation by people who are impacted certainly makes the legislative process more responsive.”