Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126031
... 1 2 1 1 . . ... 1 .. J • ' 1& . ' ;. .. ." .. ... .. . ... '" ... . E What the Feds don't know • • • ~ t (Continued from p age 19) they do it with th e rulin g Liberal Democrat ic govern ment in Japan. It is virt ually impossib le for a lo bb yist fro m Honda, say, to real ist icall y exist in Washingt o n , let alo ne buttonhole a co ngressional comm ittee chairman and co ncern him in their production decl ines lik e the guy fro m ford Motor Compan y does. Third, and the part t hat is hardest to accept, is that there is nobody represen t in g mo torcycli st s and the in d us try with th e decision- maker s. There is nobod y w ho unders tan d s how to provide inputs o n the level s where fe deral pol icy is ac t ually mad e. I know th is only because I came into c ontact with th e bu tto n-p us he rs an d the lever -pull ers of federal Trans portation, Energy , an d Env iro nmen t p olicy during a w eek of ke eping m y mouth sh ut (for a ch ange) and listening - very hard. Nobody wh o had any t hing o fficial to do with motor cycl es was kn o wn t o t hese people . Unawa re o f t he ex iste nc e or co ncerns of you wh o ride , race o r o therwise divert yourselves with bikes they are , n at urall y , trying to resolve the overwhel mi ng proble ms th ey have without considering t hat 1% of t he U.S. po p ulation who are card-carrying b ikers in one fo rm or an oth e r. So me of the brightest, most capable people in Washi ngton, attracted fro m all parts of the co u ntry, are currently working in the above -mentioned areas, particu larly in Energy, since that's No . I o n Gerry fo rd 's do mestic agenda. I get the impression that the same so rt of capable, dedicated p eop le who were in State or Defense u nder J ac k Kennedy are no w getting tied Into energy . One high-ranking official confided to me , "Energy is the hot issue in this to wn. Everybody who is capab le or ambitious wants to be here [fEA] " What also emerges is th at larg e chunks of transportat io n an d enviro nmental policy are being affected by energy age ncies and in te rests. Bu t, with ou t input to the co n trary , po licy can be d eveloped th at over large n umb ers 0 f scre ws motorcy clists inadve rt en tly. f o r examp le, it see m s quite p lausi ble th at a fe de ra l law banning th e im po rt or th e operation (which am ounts to t he same thin g) o f two -stroke motorcycles co u ld co me down the lin e as an an ti-po llu t io n measure . Now, unl ess so mebody with high cre d ib ility and a good workin g rel ationship wi t h the EPA, fEA , DOT or all of them asks th at the law exclude two-strokes sold and used only for co m pet it io n purposes, racing bikes are go in g to be included under the law. There is nobody to provid e the input that wo uld bring abou t an exemption for racing. . I mentioned that situ ation to an other well -pl aced, well -meaning civil serva n t to which he responded, "Oh, are rac ing bikes all two-st rokes?" No, but most of them are. He th en wanted to kn ow useful stuff like how many co m pe tit ion two-stro kes wou ld be affected, what are the emissions standards currently designed into the racers, areas of highest concentration. etc. Can any bo dy answer these q ues tio ns at all ? There certainly was nobody in Washington w ho was k nown to these people, where they could fi nd answers to questions they were rr't previously aw are n eeeded askin g. T he fEA Associate Ad minist ra tor for T ransportat io n Pro gram s asked me ab o ut that. I m u tt ered so me thing abo ut th e A~ IA. " Where are t hey located ?" he asked, expecting the address of their Washington office. My answer : West erv ille , Oh io re ceived a repl y that was half-lau gh, half-snort o f in credulity from the t hree or four o fficials in the informal d iscu ssio n. The fact th at the locus o f motorcyclists' political influence in the U.S.A. was Westerville, Ohio immed iately told these people where the two-wheeled scene was really at . It was the institutional sn eer. I looked quickly in a Washington area telephone directory . There was nothing. I did find a listi ng for th e Motorcycle Industry Council the only relevant one under Motorcycles. " T he MIC' " th e Associate Administrator continued, " Tve got to get in to uc h with them sometime. I need to get so me data." I was floored. Here every in terest grou p even vaguely related to energy use o r transportation policy is bo mbarding .~ , : - . .. ":- . 22 ,,' this guy's office wi th " scien tific " reports , economic impact statements, slick-looking handouts and positron papers because th ey know, th ey really understand where the Administration's energy policy is go ing to co me from, and th e main Energy IT ra ns p or ta ti on in terface man m entions that he means to call the ~IlC. They haven't called him or established a contact that could lead to a flow of information on a regular basis. I'm a little co nc ern ed. I call th e l\IIC office in Washington befo re the fEA Assoc. Administrato r does. The gentl eman I talk to is very co rd ial, invites me up fo r coffee the next time I'm in town, but no, he doesn't k now the FEA officials I refer to , and believes th at any Ad ministration n asties ca n be blocked in the Congress by talking to t he right representative. There is a lot of un subst antiated faith th at mo to rcyclists and th e indus try will be ne fit as a matter of course fro m th e C on gr e s s ion al-Execu tive o n -g o i ng conflic t. We swap some stories abo ut changin g images o f motorcyclists (A Congr essman had his picture in the pap er riding a mo t or cycle) and I hang up even more concerned. I have learned that t he MI C person's boss is on vaca tio n , he is leaving right no w fo r same, a nd th at they'd be sure and call the FEA when they got back. This was mid-October. It was revealed to the Advi sory Comm ittee that all Federal departments involved in formulating energy policy had a November 15 deadline to get their recommendations into the current package of proposals. It was ap p aren t to me that motorcycle rep resentatives were not intervening at th e right places no r, perhaps, did th ey understand the urgency of setting up a liaison with the powerful people. These people are not alwa ys t he same ones who occupy t he labeled boxes on the organiza tion chart s. To be effective, no matter where y o u 're c om ing from, you m ust participate when the policy is being mad e, when t he laws are be ing dr aft ed. Rel iance on congressional pe rsuasio n after the fact is stupid because, I ) y ou 've forfeited the best oppotu rn ity t o influen ce th e sha pe o f ou r n at io nal ru les - be fo re t hey're hung o ut in open hearings, 2) yo u can not co un t on swaying a Sen ato r or congressman once he 's visible , or "yo ur man n may n ot be t he re whe n the b ill is reported o u t o f com m ittee o r later voted on. Besides, the realities o f movin g something fro m idea to national im pac t are no t so simple. Admittedly. the MIC has a problem. An ytime the y say something, they're vulnerab le to t he accusa tio n th at they just want to sell more motorcycles. That perception by others is something t hey sh ould start changin g, for op eners, even if it 's true . The auto ma kers get away with it, disguised as social co ncern . The l\IlC has an even bigger problem. Two months after I made th e fri endly su ggestio n th at th ey establish a line of communication with a civil servant who could, and undoubtedly would, have a significant impac t on the motorcycling industry in this co un try, nobody fro m the MIC had called t he federal Energy Ad ministration 's Office of Transportation Pro grams. The Assoc. Admin istrator would still like to talk wi t h them. It 's a sad situa ti on when he has to initiate t he contact. So there is n o co nsideration bei ng given to increasing th e role of m ot o r c y cl es as part of a pe troleu m-savi ng ve hi cle m ix. No bo d y even has t he id ea th at competition bikes migh t be exem p ted fro m tw o-stroke e ngine regulation or even tual prohibi ti on. In fact, at a tim e when in moto rcycl ing are individuals co mplaining abou t all the increased interest m an ifested in the form o f restrictions th at they are e nco u nte ring. th ere see ms to be n o ap pro priate ac tivi ty by or for m o torcy clist s at th e Federal po licy-making levels . Docs moto rcycling and its enthu siast s deserve suc h lac k of qu alit y representation? Most of us ' d o n 't unde rstan d wh at's happening - why everybo dy is suddenl y picking on bike rs. We end up co n fu sed, hurt, and an gry , react ing with p ointless, juvenile state me n ts via bumper stickers advisin g the Sierra Club t o "Hik e to Hell". Besides raising some interesting ques tions of rel igion and metaphysics, does th at level of polictical ac t ivity sho w where m otorcyclists' heads are really a t? People who get well-paid to ac t in their best in terpret ation of the public interest don 't even want to hear that kind of noise . I loo k around me at the Advisory Committee meeting. The president of Greyhound, Inc., vice-presidents of Delta and f ly ing T iger Air lines, Head of Engi neering for Chevro n are there, to m y left : staff atto rney fo r the National Envi ro nment al De fe nse Fun d , to my righ t , Chai rman of th e Calif ornia Asse mb ly T ransportatio n Co m mi tt ee (who is basically anti-in te ral co mb ustion he engi ne ; underst an dabl e since represents th e Riversid e area whose major import is smog) . Most are there, clearly and specifically, to ad van ce o r pro tect t hei r own industry 's interest at m in im um , advise agai nst the ir being sc rewed over. Again . I propose consideration of a federal excise tax that would en courage srnall-engined against vehicles or discriminated big-engined ones (e .g. over 2000cc) . The co m m ittee looks back stonily. These co rpo ra te Veeps don't want to hear that kind of t hing out of the bearded long-hair from California. They have a heavy investment in the co ntinuing production of big engines - at least, many of them do. The rest aren't read y to m ake waves. I am not in the motorcycle industry. Nobody gives me incen tive . financial or otherwise to adva nce such suggestions at. a p lace where th e» might get no ticed The FEA officials, it turns out , are interested even if the other industry reps aren 't. They arc working on such progra ms, th ough having pr o blem s w ith Bill Simon 's " free mar k et " ch ampions a t the Treasury Department. I a m left wo ndering wh y the AMA or the MIC or so me obvious ly no n-ex iste nt body represen ting two-wh eeled m ot or ized th in gs hasn't lobb ied for suc h a t ax program, or anything else favorabl e to bi kes for t hat m atter. No ne of th ese peo ple have fo un d the righ t do o rs to least where the knock o n . . . at energy-transportatio n area is concerned. Ir onicall y , t he fEA Assis tan t Ad mi nstrator commutes to work on a motorcycle. I hear some very sharp, capable people who do understand the "way things work in Wash in gton " and the rules for making it happen . I listen at the not-t o -b e-underestim ated Washington coc k ta il parties, finding out..... how information is often co nveyed and levera ge achieved to affect a decision. Other in te rest gro up s are cap ab ly and credibly represented. frankly , I do have no driving bias toward motorcycle protectionism. I am ill-equipped to fight in the political arena, so far, and can o nly hurt my cred ibility by being branded as a rabid bikie . But I see no evidence that any of the people who do evidence such interests, and in many cases are p aid salaries to promote motorcycling's in terests, u nde rs ta nd ho w to d o it wi th any effec tiveness. The Pro fessor fro m M.L T . (whose hailiwic k is rapid tran sit ) winds the meetin g d own gracefu lly, with appreciatio n fo r t he rul es. I sit back, stacking about six in ch es of papers and h andou ts be fore me , wo ndering if I'm su p p osed t o be th e motorcycle guy on th e co m mi t tee - a ro le that certainly wou ld come second to my concerns fo r national energy independence . shou ld there be a co nflict or a tradeoff. Even then. it 's not a role I really wan t since it inh erentl y limits my alre ady q uestio nable impact. Fran kly, yo u deserv e better. Don't you ? •