Government Relations, Legislative & Regulatory Affairs

It is virtually impossible to ‘do business’ today without encountering government regulations. Whether measured by time and cost of compliance, by the pound of perspiration or the blood-pressure monitoring your exasperation, government regulations are increasingly ‘weaponized’ by economic actors and industrial competitors to shape, make — and even distort, markets — especially in the energy & natural resources sectors! Rather than be passive victims of regulation, businesses need to shape their environment by being proactive in contacts with elected officials and regulatory agencies. Government officials are increasingly ‘career politicians’ or credentialed ‘experts’ in a narrow field with no other knowledge or background in the industries they regulate. Members of Congress pursue seats on Congressional Committees because of its importance to their district or ability to raise campaign funds — not based on their expertise in the subject-area. Establishing two-way communications can head-off problems or mitigate against the agendas pursued by their business competitors and activists.

Integrating Political Strategies with Policy Analysis

Our consulting services center on the intersection between political analysis and public policy strategies. Your objective may also require lobbying Congress or state legislators. But simple economics teaches that before you ‘write your Congressman,’ you should try to understand the political environment in which they operate and frame your issue within that context: you want them to be able to say, “yes” to your request. A realistic public policy strategy is to shape the relevant laws or regulations to make them most favorable for your objective requires an understanding of the prism in which legislators and the Courts will look to the stated policy objectives of applicable laws when applying them to your case. This may involve amending the law or shaping the legislative history that guides regulatory agencies and courts in implementing the law. Whether your objective requires a long-term strategy to change the law, or can be advantaged by quietly inserting statutory directives or report language into a ‘must-pass’ bill or simple a letter from key legislators stating their views on how an agency should interpret its authority, requires both political analysis and lobbying.

The Campo Group, Ltd. can integrate the substantive, policy and political analysis to inform that legislative strategy.