Scope, power level, changes for leading business lobby

We all know there are three branches of government – executive, legislative and judicial – and the checks and balances attached to all three.

When I began covering the Idaho Legislature in the ‘80s (no, not the 1880s), there was a fourth branch that arguably had more power than the other three. There were no real checks and balances, only human bobbleheads that seemed to go along with everything this group wanted.

I’m referring, of course, to the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry. Democrats, who were upset about the Legislature’s tilt toward business interests, suggested that Republicans were “in the pockets” of IACI. Greg Casey, a retired businessman who was the IACI president at the time, remembers being referred to by then-Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus as “a Republican hack.”

The governor’s harsh assessment was not meant to be complimentary, but it served Casey, and the business lobby, well. IACI had a lot of clout in those days – in perception and reality. The lobby group also had some “earned” power, which Casey wasted little time getting when he took over as president in 1986. One of his first battles was saving the Investment Tax Credit, which was hailed by business interests, but scorned by Andrus, who thought the perk took away from education.

“So here I was, the new guy coming in and taking on the old-guy governor,” Casey said. “This was a battle royal that defined how I was going to do.”

Casey had a lot of friends on his side, specifically a heavy Republican majority that didn’t mind in the least creating some heartache for a Democratic governor. Casey and Republicans won that fight, and several more along the way.

It’s a different picture for IACI today. The group is involved in a variety of issues, including tax policy, workforce development, education, health care and environmental policies. But Republicans don’t embrace all of IACI’s ideas (the group’s support for Medicaid expansion is one example), and there is not as much fear and loathing about the organization coming from Democrats. Times, and circumstances, have changed.

Casey says that under his leadership, “We were about the only game in town as a business lobby. We were, in effect, the chamber of commerce for the state.”

Republicans realized that being a friend of IACI, and business interests in general, were good things to have on their side during election campaigns.

“We didn’t have a PAC (political action committee) at the time, because we didn’t have enough money,” he said. “But we had broad constituency of businesses interests, and that gave us the power of persuasion.”

Casey says today’s IACI, with its active PAC, has a greater influence on elections – “One would argue that IACI’s power to affect elections is greater than it’s ever been.” And most of the money goes to Republicans.

But as IACI’s president, Alex LaBeau, says now (and Casey said back then), IACI is not a partisan organization. “Whether you are Republican, Democrat or independent, it doesn’t matter to us if you have the approach that good business policy makes good sense for the state,” said LaBeau. “Things have to be good for business, because that’s our economic driver. That’s how we get to pay for everything else that we want.”

Tax policy continues to be a centerpiece issue. IACI favors lowering the corporate tax rate, which is among the highest in the nation, and has led the fight against abolishing the personal property tax on business equipment. He has seen some gains on the personal property tax issue. “We took care of about 80 percent of the problem, but unfortunately most of the folks still paying the tax are my members.”

LaBeau’s fights are not nearly as dramatic as Casey butting heads with Andrus, a living legend. A good number of Republicans continue to be sympathetic to easing the tax burden on businesses, and LaBeau understands the lawmakers’ concerns about having enough money to pay for education and other programs. Being “king of the hill” in the lobby world is not a priority for LaBeau.

“If we’re concerned about how much clout we have, we’re not coming to work for the right reasons,” LaBeau says.

IACI may not have the perceived clout that it had 30 years ago, but it’s still a force to be reckoned with in legislative politics.

Chuck Malloy, a long-time Idaho journalist, is a columnist with Idaho Politics Weekly and an editorial writer with the Idaho Press-Tribune. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com