Clinton Bashes Lobbyists, but They Like It Just Fine : The Capitol Hill advocates know that the President’s message of change means even more business for them from nervous clients.

President Clinton publicly identified them as the enemy: the high-priced lobbyists who represent “special interests.”

But ironically, though he never intended it, the President’s economic package will be the equivalent of a full employment act for the legions he calls the “defenders of decline.”

“On the one hand, he’s bashing the lobbyists. On the other hand, he’s creating more work for them,” said Wright H. Andrews Jr., partner in a Washington lobbying firm. “I’m busier than I have been in years.”

That is because Clinton is calling for change, and lobbyists know that change of any kind is always good for business.

When the George Bush Administration, in its final days, rewrote an obscure law on real estate settlements, Andrews signed on with a group of independent settlement firms to press the case for a reversal. When the Zoe Baird controversy brought new attention to the practice of hiring illegal aliens, the Federation for American Immigration Reform sought his services.

And now, with Clinton proposing the biggest economic overhaul in years, Andrews’ corporate clients, which include many financial institutions, are demanding to know just how they will be affected. “They are very interested in what’s going on, and they want to have their input into the process,” Andrews said.

Andrews is even being called upon to lobby for lobbyists. As vice president of the American League of Lobbyists, he plans to fight Clinton’s proposal to eliminate tax deductions for lobbying expenses.

All this activity has yet to produce much direct opposition to the President’s economic plan, however.

“Lobbyists are being careful, and are going to pick and choose their places to make battle,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of the citizens lobby Common Cause. “They lay back. They know that this is going to take place over a period of months.”

Moreover, Clinton has skillfully put them on the defensive, portraying the battle over his budget package as a struggle between the public interest and the special interests.

As one White House official described the strategy: “The longer we can keep them at bay while we develop the grass-roots support, the better off we are.”

Lobbyists say they are well aware that they represent easy targets. “The press picks on the politicians; the politicians pick on the lobbyists,” said Mike Johnson, manager of the Loeffler Group. “We’re going to have to turn on used-car salesmen.”

However, in their own opinion, they represent democracy in its essence. “You have the caricature of the cigar-smoking, pot-bellied lobbyist peeling off dollar bills,” Andrews complained. “Lobbying is an honorable profession. We are primarily advocates and communicators on behalf of people.”

Clinton has lashed out at critics of his plan as special interests, but many groups that fall into that category represent huge numbers of people. The Edison Electric Institute, for instance, says that it is speaking on behalf of 150 million utility consumers when it criticizes proposed energy taxes.

“We don’t look at it as a narrow interest,” said Peter Jump, a spokesman for the institute.

Moreover, the issues have brought together unlikely allies. The energy tax, for instance, has been criticized not only by the big oil and coal companies, but also by a number of consumer groups and representatives of oil-dependent regions.

The President also has warned that special interests are “lining the corridors of power with high-priced lobbyists.” But these days, there are far more effective tactics than standing around the halls of the Capitol hoping to buttonhole passing lawmakers.

“We place great stock in the power of information,” said Marty Corry, director of federal affairs for the American Assn. of Retired Persons. With 34 million members, it is one of Washington’s most feared organizations.

“If you can give your constituents good information, they will exercise their rights. They will write. They will call. They will stop their legislator on the street,” Corry said.

AARP already has criticized Clinton’s plan to increase taxes on Social Security benefits and reduce Medicare payments to health care providers. However, it has yet to issue a verdict on the package in its entirety.

“There are lots of important questions that nobody has the answer to,” Corry said.

Meanwhile, just around the corner is Clinton’s massive health reform campaign, which will have insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, senior citizens groups and a host of other interests out in full force.

In years past, many of them confined their efforts to trying to kill legislation; now they are resigned to the fact that something will become law, and they want to shape it as much as they can.

“There’s a high alert among all the lobbying groups,” said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s health subcommittee.

All of which means it will be a busy season for Washington’s lobbyists, who will probably come under more fire from the President before it is over.

“I don’t like the fact that Mr. Clinton is bashing lobbyists along the way,” said Andrews, “but then again, I just take that as a lobbying tactic.”