Pressing business's goals for a healthy economy - U.S. Chamber of Commerce - Column

Historic change has marked Richard L. Lesher's 20 years as U.S. Chamber president.

Washington developments of the mid-1970s were discouraging, even depressing, for the business community. Political backlash from the Watergate scandal had ousted a Republican president and strengthened liberal control of Congress. The future appeared to hold little but continuing high taxes, runaway spending, and increasing regulation.

Against that background, one prominent business leader made a statement that appeared at the time to set a new high in optimism. The nation, said Richard L. Lesher in 1977, was actually on the brink of a conservative era that would see the achievement of many of the business goals crucial to a healthy economy.

Lesher, who had become president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce just two years earlier, recalls the forecast he made in an early morning radio interview with Larry King, which prompted thousands of people to attempt to call:

"It was very clear to me that we were going to have a rebellion and a rebound. If you looked closely, you could see the first wave of public dissatisfaction with the liberal mentality. People were fed up-- fed up with taxes, with spending, with regulatory zealotry."

Lesher, now observing his 20th-anniversary year as head of the Chamber, the nation's largest broad-based business federation, says the first phase of the new conservative era began with the first presidential election following his prediction-- the victory of Ronald Reagan. The second phase was launched, Lesher adds, with the 1994 election of a GOP-controlled Congress committed to pro-growth policies for which the Chamber had long fought.

The agenda of this Congress "is our agenda," Lesher says. "It is also the agenda of the general public, which is another way of saying that democracy really works."

The Contract With America, with which the GOP won control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November, and the U.S. Chamber's National Business Agenda, representing the views of the grass-roots membership, line up foursquare with each other, Lesher points out.

Watching the evolution of Chamber goals into national policy is probably the most rewarding aspect of his two decades as head of the organization, says the Chamber president.

Lesher came to the Chamber from the presidency of the National Center for Resource Recovery, and he was previously a member of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's management team for the first moon-landing program.

Among Lesher's innovations at the U.S. Chamber:

* A communications operation that is the most advanced and effective of any business organization's. It includes "It's Your Business," the weekly TV debate program, and the daily "First Business" TV news show.

* The National Chamber Litigation Center, which represents business in the courts.

* An international division in the forefront of U.S. efforts to remain competitive in world trade.

* The National Chamber Foundation, a public-policy research unit.

* The Center for Work. force Preparation, which seeks to improve the nation's education and worker-training systems.

* A powerful grass-roots system for getting business views to Congress at strategic points in the legislative process.

* The Small Business Center, a primary source of information on legislative issues and other concerns of smaller firms. It is a resource not only for Chamber members but also for Congress, federal agencies, and the news media.

* A broadened appeal to business that has seen membership grow from 52,000 when Lesher first took over to nearly 220,000 today.

* The Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative, which honors small-business people who have used particularly innovative survival techniques to bring their companies through crises. It is sponsored by the Chamber, Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., and Nation's Business.

The key to those and the many other achievements of the past 20 years, Lesher says, was creating a "really first-class" board of directors.

Lesher tempers his pride in what he sees as the premier achievement of his tenure--the transformation of Chamber goals into national policy--with a warning against complacency. As he begins his 21st year as head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, he says:

"The Contract With America is a wonderful start, but it's just that--a start. It is going to take a long time to correct 40 years of abuse. Those of us who believe that those abuses must be ended have to continue to work to make sure it gets done."

Robert T. Gray recently retired after 26 years with Nation's Business, 13 as editor.

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