PHOTO BY JO HN M. DISCHER

Outside In

A former longtime legislator is launching a company
that will help organizations get a leg up in Lansing.

JULIE EDGAR SENIOR WRITER

E

very afternoon, Maxine
Berman pores over a daily
legislative newsletter that
comes over the fax in her
Southfield condo.
Although her days as an elect-
ed official are behind her — Ms.
Berman left the state House of
Representatives in January after
a 14-year career as one of the Leg-
islature's most respected liberals
— her affinity for state politics
hasn't slackened a bit.
After a two-week vacation on
the beach in Hawaii and a few
months of reflection, Ms. Berman
decided to launch a business in
which she'll lend her expertise to
well-meaning "civilians" who sim-
ply don't know how to access the
power centers of Lansing.
Her new company, Capitol
Strategies Inc., aims to help out-
siders avoid common mistakes,
the most egregious one being a
failure to frame their issue in leg-
islative parlance.
Maxine Berman:
Then there's tim-
Building bridges ing. Many organi-
to Lansing.
zations can't get

their pet project noticed because
they've presented them during ap-
propriations hearings or other par-
ticularly hectic moments in the
Legislature.
Other organizations, Ms.
Berman continued, have a false
sense of security in the process;
they figure if their representative
is on their side, all they need to do
is make a call or write a letter in
support or in opposition to a pro-
posed law. They fail to recognize
that any bill goes through myriad
changes before it reaches a final
vote.
"One thing organizations don't
realize is [that] you can't just deal
with your friends," Ms. Berman
said. She recalls receiving letters
and phone calls from members of
a Jewish organization that was
advocating for an education-re-
lated bill. The problem was, she
wasn't the state representative for
many of the people who petitioned
her for support.
Still others fail on their own end
by not programming legislative
data, including simple informa-

tion like names and phone num-
bers, in their computers.
"A lot of people understand pol-
icy but not process, which is where
you succeed or fail," she said.
Then there's plain ignorance
that tends to raise the hackles of
lawmakers: people and organiza-
tions do not educate themselves
well enough about an issue and
legislators end up deluged with
misinformed letters and calls.
Ms. Berman, a board member
of the Jewish Community Coun-
cil of Metropolitan Detroit, real-
ized she could provide invaluable
infoi illation to those on the out-
side while she was working on an
article for a business about inter-
facing with lawmakers in Lans-
ing. It seemed so obvious a void;
as far as she knows, nobody is of-
fering a like service.
She's already fielded a few in-
quiries but hasn't accepted a client
yet. What she envisions is work-
ing for groups on a retainer basis,
and running workshops on how
the Legislature works. It's a par-
ticularly critical time in Michigan's
legislative history. Ms. Berman
pointed out that 1998 is a pivotal
election year: 75 seats will open
because of term limits. It behooves
organizations to know who's run-
ning for what and what they're
likely to vote for .
"My sort of business becomes
more necessary," she said. ❑

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