PROFILE / JIM SEELEY : Lobbyist Wins Bigger Slice of Federal Pie for L.A.

Jim Seeley was on his cellular phone, somewhere within the limestone confines of Capitol Hill, urgently reporting on a mini-legislative coup for Los Angeles.

“Hey, remember that percentage thing on the police officer money I told you about? We got the 50/50 split we wanted! It was slipped in at the last moment,” Seeley related in his buddy-buddy conversational style.

It was a small, fleeting moment of advantage in the heavily nuanced game of federal lawmaking, but to Seeley, who tends to Los Angeles issues as the city’s chief Washington lobbyist, it still went down on the plus side of the ledger.

After 17 years of battling for funds and regulatory relief--and against the prevailing notion that Los Angeles is just another big city always whining for federal bailouts--Seeley takes the long view and savors the little victories.

“I still think this is the best job in Washington,” said Seeley, allowing a slight pause, “although my kids don’t think I make enough money.”

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The man charged with selling Los Angeles on Capitol Hill is not your Central Casting version of a lobbyist.

He doesn’t have to be.

Seeley is part of a small coterie of big-city lobbyists--Chicago and New York also employ them--who see themselves more as public-spirited bureaucrats than well-heeled arm-twisters.

By dealing in the dry world of public policy, Seeley and his fellow city advocates can avoid hewing to the narrow band of legislative concerns that a private group--such as, say, the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Assn.--would embrace.

“We don’t have to buy access,” Seeley said. “We already have a definite avenue to Congress through our delegation.”

Thirteen California House members represent pieces of Los Angeles, and the state’s two senators can have important influence on legislation.

Because Seeley promotes only policies that have been approved by the City Council, most tend to be of general benefit.

Indeed, the city and state have long been regarded as being in the vanguard on most social and regulatory issues. In cases where California or city standards exceed federal law--auto emissions is the classic case--Seeley must ensure that new laws do not inadvertently conflict with or supersede stricter local laws.

But Los Angeles is not always ahead of the regulatory curve.

The city fought costly federal clean water mandates to improve its Hyperion sewage treatment plant. But once court rulings made that battle seem untenable, the city shifted gears and won $110 million in federal funds to bring Hyperion up to federal standards.

“Clean water was one of the toughest things I had to fight because we weren’t in sync with the rest of the country,” he said.

In his public-interest role, Seeley sees the city and U.S. government working cooperatively in the federal system. Despite the continual jousting over money and regulations, local, state and federal policies are often in general accord.

But sometimes his efforts look like an unabashed pursuit of every available federal dollar--with the fewest strings attached.

Seeley has been closely tracking anti-crime legislation in both houses of Congress that would dole out federal funds for more Los Angeles police officers. When the House bill was changed to allow smaller cities to apply for the money, Los Angeles pushed for and won an increase in the amount designated for big cities only. Fifty percent of the funds would now go to large cities, up from 40% in the original version. The Senate version, although doubling the size of the program, retains the 40% figure for larger cities. The differences in the legislation are being hashed out in a conference committee.

“The biggest problem,” he said, “is to carve out a niche for Los Angeles and to try to get around that big-city bias--that you made your bed, now lie in it.”

Even after last year’s riots, Seeley battled the big-city animus. “The feeling was, hey, you let things get out of control, we’re not going to help you.”

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When Seeley started work for the city in 1976, he was the lone lobbyist. Now there are four, and two support staffers. His salary has gone from about $35,000 to $96,500, and the office costs the city about $450,000 a year, according to Seeley’s Los Angeles boss, chief legislative analyst Ron Deaton.

Seeley and his Los Angeles lobbyist colleagues--located in a modern Pennsylvania Avenue office building between the White House and Capitol--deal mostly in information--gathering it and supplying it to Los Angeles officials and members of Congress.

Keeping track of all federal legislation that affects the city is the core work, but the heavy-duty face-to-face encounters with potent committee chairpersons are left to the elected city officials on their journeys east.

Exhibiting a well-honed sense of deference, Seeley is fond of saying: “We are nothing but facilitators.”

Seeley for the most part has escaped controversy in his role as lobbyist. One exception: He found himself under the gun for organizing a $3,221 dinner for 40 Los Angeles City Council members, Southern California local officials and federal bureaucrats convening in Washington in 1991 to discuss transportation issues.

A year later, the steep tab caught the attention of city Controller Rick Tuttle, who later imposed new spending limits for such affairs.

Today, Seeley says he agrees with the controller’s actions. Still, he could not resist noting that Washington is “where the power lunch was invented.”

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Seeley, 56, gets high marks from members of Congress, fellow lobbyists, former officials of Mayor Tom Bradley’s regime and his immediate boss for being hard-working, jovial, well-liked and respected. However, his associates stop short of calling him a man of bold action.

“True, he doesn’t have a real aggressive personality,” said Frank Shafroth, legislative director for policy and federal relations for the National League of Cities. “But over the long term, you want the Seeley type of personality: easygoing, funny, wonderfully insightful, impossible not to like.”

Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles), who has worked with Seeley for 15 years, concurred. “He is not the typical image of a lobbyist, but he’s very good with members. He is not a person who is out front, but since he represents a government agency, that is absolutely the correct role. Now, maybe if he were lobbying for the B-2 bomber . . . . “

Ted Stein, president of the Los Angeles Airport Commission and a senior policy adviser to Mayor Richard Riordan, said that Seeley is doing a good job and could use even more assistants in his battles against the highly paid special interest lobbyists.

Deaton, the legislative analyst, noted that “in getting from point A to point B, he sometimes drives you crazy wondering how it’s all going to turn out. But that’s one of the delights of working with him. He is a very loyal soldier.”

Seeley also lacks two of his private sector colleagues’ key weapons: campaign contributions and honorariums.

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Seeley and his wife, Jo Ann, have six children--and have adopted five others from multiracial backgrounds.

Because of a lively domestic life, Seeley wanted a 9-to-5 work routine--and he got one.

“That’s the best thing about this job. There’s no fund raising. I don’t have to take a lot of work home and the elected officials have been very supportive of my lifestyle. If I was a real lobbyist, it wouldn’t have worked.”

Times staff writer James Rainey contributed to this story from Los Angeles.