Even while confined at home over the past week, lobbyist Glenn LeMunyon has had to put the relationships he’s built to work.
Photo: Michael Bucher/The Wall Street JournalMuch of Capitol Hill has gone quiet due to the new coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean lobbyist Glenn LeMunyon is short on work. Like many in Washington, the work of those involved with the government goes on.
Mr. LeMunyon’s email inbox has exploded since he last stepped foot on the Hill March 13. Congress is currently debating an infrastructure bill that affects his clients, and he is looking for opportunities.
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There is, however, an important ingredient missing from the daily grind: small talk. Videoconferencing and phone calls fill up his day, but these interactions can be impersonal and don’t always offer the right setting for a conversation that builds camaraderie and trust.
“The only way you get to know anybody is by setting up an appointment [and] going to talk to them,” Mr. LeMunyon said in an interview this week. He sets up 15- to 30-minute blocks of time to engage in “relationship building.” Those meetings are designed to give someone the confidence to count on him for good information, but are best in person.
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“You just can’t get that same feeling across over the phone,” he said, noting that “idle chatter” is actually very valuable in his business. “There’s no substitute for being on the Hill, walking around, getting to know staff.” In-person meetings are typically fast paced, but packed with details.
He typically talks to hundreds of people a week on behalf of his seven clients. He walks up to 10,000 steps a day, shuttling between meetings.
Those steps are now replaced with time spent responding or sorting the 300 to 400 emails he is daily receiving. He is taking more calls than usual and has to force himself to come up for air.
“I’ll take a quick break during the day, but I’ve been working more at the desk than ever before—into the evening.” Being chained to a desk is necessary, he said, but “not my M.O.”
He started the LeMunyon Group, a lobbying firm, 20 years ago after spending the first 15 years of his career as a legislative adviser at a law firm, and as a floor assistant in the House of Representatives.
Even while confined at home over the past week, Mr. LeMunyon, 59 years old, has had to put the relationships he has built to work.
On Tuesday, President Trump suggested that the fourth coronavirus relief package would include significant infrastructure spending. House Democratic leaders have said they would push for a $760 billion infrastructure plan that they unveiled earlier this year to be part of the next package.
“Where there are projects that are ready to go or close to ready to go,” Mr. LeMunyon said, “that’s what Congress is gonna be looking at.” His clients have significant interest in some of those construction projects, including highways, seaports and airports.
He is primarily focused on job creation, and his message for the decision makers who trust him includes this bill’s potential ability to address rising unemployment.
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“You can put people back to work pretty quick,” he said.
Mr. LeMunyon remains a novice with apps like Zoom’s video-chat service, but hopes to sharpen his approach. To get his small-talk fix, he will reach out to people he already knows well.
“I’ll ping them on a FaceTime, and they’ll pick up,” he said.
He can take solace in the fact that some of his clients also struggle to drum up small talk when chatting through a camera lens. He told the story of one contact who had gotten off a board meeting videoconference. The meeting worked out well, but it was all business.
“There wasn’t a lot of idle chatter. The meeting was all facts, no going off on tangents. It seems to be more work.”
Mr. LeMunyon has replaced his business suit attire with a bit more of a casual approach. To get into “office mode” while social distancing, he said, he puts on a dress shirt but no tie.
In addition to missing the small talk, he misses the walking. Excursions are kept at a bare minimum, not leaving the house other than “to hit the grocery store.”
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