NRLC RANKS NUMBER 8 IN FORTUNE MAGAZINE POLL

For the third year in a row, National Right to Life has been ranked in the top 10 most influential public policy organizations in Washington, as reported by Fortune magazine. Thanks to you, NRLC again improved its position, moving up from number 9 last year to number 8.

How did Fortune come to its ranking of the top 25? The magazine used two well-respected polling firms which sent a questionnaire to 2,773 people - - among others, every member of Congress, staffers, senior White House aides, professional lobbyists, "and top-ranking officers of the largest lobbying groups in Washington." On a scale of 0 to 100, they were asked to assess " the political clout of 114 trade associations, labor unions, and interest groups."

What makes our appearance so remarkable is how much our profile differs from almost everyone else on the list. "According to the Fortune survey," we're told, "the more money a group spent on its plain old lobbying efforts in Washington, the more influence it weilded."

Well, when talking about the American Association of Trial Lawyers of America, that is undoubtedly true. Organizations like these spend prodigious amounts of money "lobbying."

Comparatively speaking NRLC expends a pittance. We rely on phone calls and letters from you, not dollar bills.

Moreover, NRLC can not be said to "lobby" in the sense that it's usually understood here in the nation's capital. For instance, we have no financial axe to grind. We just don't want unborn babies guillotined.

How about "access" (the media's favorite sinister putdown)? Nope. The only "place at the table" we want is for unborn children who otherwise would be starved to death (by use of the abortifacient RU 486), or lethally evicted from their temporary home (death by conventional surgical abortions).Asking for special privileges is the farthest thing from our minds. We ask only that the same protections afforded to those outside the womb be extended to the littlest Americans inside the womb. Do were represent a " special interest"? Surely not in the way reporters mean it. When they use "special interest" as a kind of journalistic shorthand, they simply mean something that a group seeks behind the scenes at the expense of others, some benefit to feather the nest of one category of interests over another.But surely we do speak for an "interest" that is altogether "special." It is special in the sense of being crucial, pivotal, and of the highest order of importance to all of us. What we defend - - boldly and publicly - - is something so foundational it amounts to an axiom of public life. It is nothing less than the truism that undergirds Western civilization, one which if permanently lost will eventually doom our nation.I mean by this the humanity to recognize and the determination to protect the principle that each and every one of us is infinitely precious and endowed by our Creator with a right to life. How much more "special" can you get than this?

- dave andrusko [dha1245@juno.com]

the power 25

(Number in parentheses is last year's ranking.)

1. American Association of Retired Persons (1)

2. National Rifle Association of America (4)

3. National Federation of Independent Business (3)

4. American Israel Public Affairs Committee (2)

5. AFL-CIO (5)

6. Association of Trial Lawyers of America (6)

7. Chamber of Commerce (11)

8. National Right to Life Committee (9)

9. National Education Association (21)

10. National Restaurant Association (15)

11. American Bankers Association (20)

12. National Governors' Association (26)

13. American Medical Association (10)

14. National Association of Manufacturers (13)

15. National Association of Realtors (17)

16. National Association of Homebuilders (16)

17. Motion Picture Association of America (19)

18. Credit Union National Association (8)

19. National Beer Wholesalers Association (24)

20. National Association of Broadcasters (18)

21. American Farm Bureau Federation (14)

22. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (29)

23. International Brotherhood of Teamsters (46)

24. United Auto Workers union (39)

25. Health Insurance Association of America (22)