By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Monday, May 1, 2006

When Anne Wexler was fresh out of Jimmy Carter's White House, the Old Boys Network on K Street was not always kind to her. During one particularly brutal meeting in the 1980s, Wexler and her partner Nancy C. Reynolds were laughed at by a roomful of male lobbyists when the women predicted the White House would embrace the telecommunications position they were all working to advance.

But the men were not laughing at them for long. Soon afterward, President Ronald Reagan did exactly what Wexler and Reynolds said he would, and the newcomers were granted the respect they deserved. As a token of esteem, one of the men in the room gave each of the women a day at an Elizabeth Arden spa as a reward.

Wexler is a Washington pioneer. In 1981, she became the first woman to own a lobbying firm and was among the first to make a business out of combining disparate interests into coalitions as a basic advocacy tool. "When I started, there were very few women in lobbying," Wexler recalled. "It was completely male-dominated."

Now women are a significant part of the lobbying scene. In fact, lobbying, which for years was almost entirely a white man's game, has become increasingly diverse as women and people of color have attained more positions of power and influence.

Women-owned firms are proliferating, and a few are, at least for now, all female. Women also hold important positions in both lobbying and law firms. They direct the Washington offices of major corporations for such industries as oil and communications.

There are many reasons for the change. The biggest is the rising number of women who have entered government at the highest levels. The number of women in Congress has exploded in the last generation. In addition, presidents have placed special emphasis on hiring women in senior White House and cabinet positions since Richard Nixon's day.

Those freshly minted, high-ranking women hired lots of other women to help them. And when they all started to look for post-government jobs, lobbying became as natural a place for them to turn as it was for the men who came before them.

Lobbying trends have also benefited the cause of women in lobbying. The Old Boys Network, when it was in full swing in the 1960s and earlier, made it easy for the long-established men in power to rely on personal ties to win official favors. But those insular days are long gone.

Today lobbying is less about back scratching than it is about case making. A lot of lobbying involves researching and presenting facts and, at those things, men and women are on equal footing.

"This town has shifted business models from the Old Boys Network to a focus on substance, competence and credibility," said Stephanie E. Silverman, a principal of Venn Strategies LLC, a woman-owned lobbying firm. "In the old model it was difficult if you were a woman. In the new model you can be a man or a woman and it doesn't matter."

Women are particularly prominent in lobbying firms that trade more on their expertise than on their access. Linda E. Tarplin, for example, is considered one of Washington's top health-care lobbyists and is part of an all-woman, all-Republican, all-health-care lobbying company called Tarplin, Downs & Young LLC. Silverman's firm specializes in tax matters. Women are also pervasive in lobbying on international trade.

"You do have different industry segments that are more dominated by women than others," Tarplin said. "In the health-care world, there are a lot of strong female lobbyists."

Women have also banded together in their own lobbying firms to foster work environments that better fit their family lives. Nueva Vista Group is owned by three Democratic women with young children (the oldest is 7), and they set their schedules based on their personal needs.

"That's why a lot of women get into this," Nueva Vista partner Andrea LaRue said. "It's carving out a niche that you feel comfortable in and being able to define the space completely on your own."

Women have had such positive experiences as lobbyists that a few are into their second generation on the job. Silverman's mother, Anita K. Epstein, has been a lobbyist since 1978 and, like her daughter, loves the profession. "This is an important job that we do," she said. "It's a shame that some people don't hold it in high regard."

Patricia Griffin of Nueva Vista is also the daughter of a lobbyist -- Patrick J. Griffin, the former top lobbyist for President Bill Clinton on the Hill. Like her dad, the younger Griffin is adept at her work. But she also notes that women lobbyists still have a long way to go. "You're often still the only woman in the room, or only one of two or three," she said. "The culture is still very aggressive and white-male-oriented."

Lobbying is more diverse than ever, but the evolution to equality is not yet finished.

The Food Products Association and the Grocery Manufacturers Association are, in fact, going to merge, as this column predicted last November. And in what might be a sign of the times, the president of the merged entity will be a Democrat -- former congressman Calvin M. Dooley of California, who has been head of the food products group. The Republican who directs the grocery manufacturers, C. Manly Molpus, will be retiring.

Eventually the name of the combined organization will be, simply, Grocery Manufacturers Association, according to a news release. It will represent nearly 300 companies from the food, beverage and consumer products industries.

But maybe more is happening here that is in clear sight. Is it possible that the foodies are telling us something about the future control of Congress by choosing a Democratic chief executive? Who knows, maybe K Street is a leading political indicator. Stranger things have happened.

Jeffrey Birnbaum writes about the intersection of government and business every other Monday. His e-mail address iskstreetconfidential@washpost.com. He will be online to discuss lobbying, lawmaking and women on K Street at 1 p.m. today athttp://www.washingtonpost.com.