IN THE NEWS
As published in the Fall 2006 edition of Capitol Report Wisconsin magazine, Trails Media Group
Broydrick built largest lobbying firm over 25 years
By Stan Milam
The odds of success were stacked against Bill Broydrick.
His lobbying firm, Broydrick & Associates, represents the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. In the mid-1990s, MMSD was in a battle with an organization called FLOW, Fair Liquidation of Waste.
MMSD charged customers a fee based on property values while FLOW, an organization of suburban communities outside Milwaukee County, demanded to pay for services based on use.
“The owner of a $1 million home in River Hills was paying 10 times what the owner of a $100,000 home in Milwaukee was paying,” Broydrick said. “FLOW wanted to have both homes charged based on use, not on valuation.”
At the time, Republicans ruled state government, and Gov. Tommy Thompson could count on his fellow Republicans in the majority in both houses. Clearly, the Republican-dominated Legislature and East Wing would side with FLOW.
“The only chance we had was in the Senate where Republicans had just a one-vote majority,” Broydrick said. “As we looked at MMSD’s territory, we saw that it included a small subdivision, Caddy Vista, in Racine County. Republican Sen. George Petak represented the subdivision.”
Broydrick organized a door-to-door campaign, informing the owners of the modest homes in that Racine County subdivision how they would be financially harmed if FLOW prevailed.
“We encouraged them to contact Sen. Petak and demand that he not go along with pending legislation to give FLOW what it wanted,” Broydrick said. “When Petak said he would not go along with FLOW, Majority Leader Mike Ellis decided to shelve the bill to avoid a floor fight.”
The sewer wars episode is an example of finding a legal and ethical way to win.
“Our clients do not hire us to lose,” Broydrick said. “We are hired to win, and we will do anything that’s legal and ethical to accomplish that goal.”
Persuasion is another valuable tool, Broydrick said. His wife, Cynthia, who serves as the firm’s manager, once turned around the Assembly while representing one of the firm’s past clients, the state’s dental hygienists.
“She simply persuaded enough members by sheer willpower and a command of the facts,” Broydrick said. “In effect, the dentists lost and their representative was over at our house the next day to work out an agreement.”
Broydrick & Associates, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary later this year, is the largest lobbying firm in the state according to the State Ethics Board report. Broydrick leads in the 2005-06 legislative session with $2.2 million in revenue, has the most lobbyists at 13, and lobbies for the most organizations at 61. The firm has 20 employees and has offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago and Washington D.C..
Broydrick’s current client list includes four organizations that have been with him since he started lobbying on Nov. 1, 1981: We Energies, Waste Management, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and MMSD.
“That’s something I’m very proud of,” said Broydrick. “This firm was founded on a couple of simple principles — work hard and do a good job.”
After graduating from Cornell in 1970, Broydrick attended the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University before working for the late Congressman Les Aspin in Washington. He was a policy adviser in Gov. Pat Lucey’s office before being elected to the Wisconsin Assembly in a 1978 special election.
The 57-year-old Broydrick is not contemplating easing off but is looking forward to the time when he can spend more time with his four children and three grandchildren.
“I can honestly say that for the past 25 years, I get up in the morning and say I love what I do,” he said. “I’ll continue to work hard for my clients every day as long as I continue to wake up every morning loving what I’m doing.”
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© 2006 Trails Media Group. All rights reserved. Used with permission to Broydrick & Associates only.