Persuading politicians

Flanked by hundreds of visitors to the Missouri State Capitol, a building where emotions have run high the past few days, Steve Knorr sits on the steps in the rotunda eating his boxed lunch. He’s largely unnoticed by the many MU alumni who are in Jefferson City for a meet-and-greet with legislators and to hear remarks from UM System President Elson Floyd on Wednesday.

Knorr, who is 41, appears refreshed and unruffled. Earlier this week, he spent 24 straight hours at the Capitol while state Senate Democrats filibustered to block a vote on the Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative, Gov. Matt Blunt’s plan to sell student loan assets from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority to fund capital improvements at college campuses around the state.

The MOHELA plan, as the initiative is usually referred to, has gone through many stages since it was first proposed more than a year ago. At one point, the plan seemed to have few detractors, even among those who now oppose it. Then, in May 2006, the Missouri House of Representatives voted to ban the use of revenue from the sale to construct buildings in which stem cell research or cloning could happen. The plan is also the subject of a lawsuit by Attorney General Jay Nixon and led to the resignation of several members of the Loan Authority’s board, including its chairwoman. Most recently, a consulting firm advising the MOHELA board recommended that the sale be halted.

Throughout all the turmoil, it is Knorr’s job, as UM’s vice president of government relations, to convince Missouri lawmakers to support the governor’s plan. It is far from a sure thing. As Knorr sat on the steps in the rotunda, the Senate was weighing whether to postpone the debate until the General Assembly returns to work from its spring break March 26.

“If they can’t make a compromise,” Knorr said, “there will have to be a decision made on how to proceed and if to proceed.”

Knorr described the MOHELA plan as the “pulse” of the Capitol these days. It is also very important to Floyd and the UM System Board of Curators. They have expressed support for the plan, in all of its various forms, as the only way to fund much-needed capital projects at MU and the system’s other three campuses. In its current state, the plan’s focus is on roughly $21 million in agricultural projects; it would also mean $31.2 million for a new Ellis Fischel Cancer Center.

Two projects to do $100 million in new construction across the state were removed from the bill in early February after anti-abortion advocates protested the possibility that the buildings could be used for stem cell research.

From Knorr’s perspective, the matter is simple: The system needs capital improvements. That much is certain in a debate that largely depends on uncertain elements, including the lawmakers themselves.

“So, the first thing that we have to do is have an acknowledgement that as a public institution, a public university, that there’s an obligation from the state to help with capital projects and upkeep capital projects on public universities in the state,” Knorr said. “There just is.

“And when you have term limits,” he continued, “and you haven’t had capital projects funded in six years and term limits are eight years long, all but a handful of members have never funded capital projects.”

For Knorr, lobbying for the system is about preparation, flexibility, long days and frequent interruptions; he is stopped often as he makes his way from one end of the Capitol to the other.

Knorr is unassuming, soft-spoken and deliberate in his interaction with legislators. On Feb. 20, the lobbyist met with House Minority Leader Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, to talk about Harris’ sudden reversal on the MOHELA deal. Harris had supported the plan, but changed course after the consulting firm, Liscarnan Solutions LLC, questioned the validity of the asset sale.

In a polite but terse exchange in Harris’ corner office, the lawmaker told Knorr he wasn’t convinced students wouldn’t suffer from high interest rates on student loans if the bill passes.

“We are a public institution,” Knorr countered. “We feel like there is an obligation to help fund this.”

Harris wrote a letter to Blunt outlining his opposition to the governor’s initiative. Before sending the letter, he informed Knorr and Bill Crist, dean of the MU School of Medicine, another supporter of the plan, of his change in position.

“That was a courtesy,” Harris told Knorr. “I thought it was important that they hear from me first that I had sent that letter to the governor before they got a call from a member of the media, for example, and been blindsided. I tried to have as few surprises as possible.”

As founder and honorary chairman of the University of Missouri Caucus, Harris is a strong supporter of the UM System. But, it was clear that Knorr’s opinion wasn’t persuading Harris —nor was Harris persuading Knorr. It was also clear they respect each other and have a good working relationship, which is crucial to the ability of both men to do their jobs.

“It spoke volumes for him to be able to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, listen, I changed my position and here’s why,’” Knorr said later. “I think that’s all you can ask for in a relationship between a university and its elected officials.”

Harris described his relationship with Knorr, whom he has known for four years, as “good” and “solid.”

“He knows me well enough to know that when I make a decision that I’m going to stand by it,” Harris said. “And I want the Lewis and Clark Initiative to get done. I just don’t want it to be done using MOHELA assets. I think at this point it’s not fiscally conservative — it’s not fiscally responsible — to sell the assets of MOHELA to build these buildings.”

For Knorr, the lobbyist-legislator relationship is as important as his indirect relationship with the people of Missouri.

Knorr grew up on a dairy farm in northwest Missouri. He thought he might return there after graduating from MU in 1988 with an agricultural

economics degree. Instead, he joined the re-election campaign of then-U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth. Knorr was a legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, a dairy marketing representative with Monsanto Company in Minneapolis and, before joining the UM System

in 1998 as assistant to the president for federal relations, he was director of development for MU’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

Knorr said his roots in Missouri make him more astute in his dealings with state lawmakers and more capable of grasping the system’s needs.

“I know the state of Missouri. I know the people. I know the institution,” Knorr said. “I’m not an outsider. I’m not somebody who moved here from Ohio who’s incorporated themselves into the community. Look at me — I’m a Missourian — and I’m a Mizzou grad.”

In 2002, after Floyd became UM System president, the system revamped its way of lobbying the legislature. Instead of an approach that catered to specific campuses and was steeped in regionalism, Floyd took a unified approach that emphasized a single voice for the four campuses. Before that, Knorr recalled, a representative from one campus would visit a legislator just as another representative from another campus was leaving the same office — a situation Knorr said Floyd actually experienced first hand.

“He walked in and somebody else was walking out,” said the lobbyist. “And they had just given a different message than he was going to give as president.

And what he told us was this doesn’t make any sense.”

Knorr continued, “When he came in, he said, ‘Listen, we’ve got to be better, we’ve got to speak with more clarity.’ It’s tough budget times in the state, which means we couldn’t just rely on state funding or federal funding. We had to have a better partnership between the two.”

Columbia’s delegation in the General Assembly has come to rely on the lobbyist and his five-member government relations team almost as much as Floyd has.

Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, has known Knorr since 2004 when she was first elected to the House. Baker said lobbyists help lawmakers break down the issues and explain the system’s needs and positions in practical terms. “They’re important information gatherers,” Baker said. “I’m an information geek.”

Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, said lobbyists also provide consistency. Robb pointed out that new lawmakers are sworn in every two years, and they in particular rely on lobbyists like Knorr to get up to speed.

Knorr described the government relations team as is a “service organization” and a “sales force” for the university.

His mission is determined by the system president and the Board of Curators, which also change frequently. They rely on Knorr to sell the system’s needs and wants, even as lawmakers cut funding for higher education. These cuts force many colleges and universities — including MU — to raise tuition rates.

“I think if you approach it that way, as if the legislature is our customer — and they are our largest customer — that’s how we like to try to look at it,” Knorr said.

Along with the MOHELA plan, Knorr has been trying to sell lawmakers on the wisdom of boosting state health care spending. Specifically, Knorr said, the system put in a special request this year for $20 million to increase the number of health care professionals in the state.

“We have a health care shortage in nursing, pharmacy, doctors — all over the state,” he said. “And basically, in probably 100 of 114 counties in the state, we have a shortage in all of those areas. And so, what we’re trying to do is educate the legislative body about how we can help fulfill those needs around the state.”

Knorr hasn’t had much free time this session, but when he does, he enjoys watching his kids play softball and basketball with his wife, Wendy, who has her own marketing and communications business. The couple have three children, ages 9, 7 and 3.

Knorr said that during one especially busy week this session he only saw his kids for a half hour because he was gone before they woke up and didn’t return home until they were in bed.

“But it’s also a big part of this kind of year,” he said. “We’ve got a job to do, and we just got to do it.”

But legislators also keep long hours, and an increasing number of them find themselves on opposite sides of the session’s biggest bill, Senate Bill 389, which includes the MOHELA deal.

Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, is perhaps the most outspoken critic of the initiative.

Graham opposes the system’s willingness, expressed by Floyd in February, to accept limitations on stem cell research. Graham said the governor’s original vision would have been more beneficial to the university because the plan was without restrictions.

“It would have made us a leader in life science research,” he said. “The new proposal doesn’t do that.”

Graham said his personal relationship with Knorr is “fine,” but their professional relationship stopped being productive several weeks ago, when the two men stopped meeting regularly to discuss the MOHELA plan. However, Graham said he has been in recent contact with others in the government relations department.

Graham said Knorr represents a university system that is fearful of the “right-to-life” lobby and has conceded too much to Blunt and his wishes.

“I think at this point we have different views as to what this university should stand for,” Graham said. “I don’t believe his loyalty lies with what needs to be accomplished with the university.”

“I hope the new president will lead and stand up for science research and progress, and they won’t be frightened by this governor and his staff.”

Knorr counters that part of his job is to parse the MOHELA debate into something that reflects the wants of students, and that includes the desire for more and better facilities. Knorr said students have voted for additional fees for recreational facilities, a new student center and bookstore and for upgrades in residence halls.

“I don’t think it’s just an either or,” he said. “I think all those things are important and you have to be able to weigh the totality of it. And that’s my response to individuals whenever they want to just try to segregate this and say it’s either low-interest loans or whatever.”

Knorr said legislators like Graham have every right to ask the tough questions. But, he said, his job is to push the system’s priorities no matter how much criticism they receive.

“Clearly, we’d love to have everybody in the delegation marching right along with us and what our agenda is,” he said.

Knorr doesn’t speculate about the MOHELA plan’s chances for passage. His team worked on the governor’s plan most of last year and, he said, “we got nothing to show for it.” He seems to have already taken a step back from the debate, ready instead to evaluate what has been accomplished.

“At the end of a legislative session,” he said, “as unfortunate as this may be, you have to look back and go, ‘OK, what happened? Did we accomplish anything?’”