New York City landlords have invested heavily in their attempt to end rent regulation, sending a steady stream of political contributions and lobbying retainers to Albany. Tenant organizers have been sending people, and so far they have held their own.

Yesterday's tenant rally at the capitol, which drew more than 6,000 demonstrators from the city and its suburbs, underscored the obvious democratic fact that it takes more than money to win an election, it also takes votes. And the leading defender of rent regulation -- the New York State Tenants and Neighbors Coalition -- has used its numbers to effectively neutralize some of the most expensive and experienced lobbyists in town.

"This is one for the vox populi coming forward and perhaps prevailing," said one veteran lobbyist who is not employed on the rent issue, but is clearly bemused by the uncommonly even battle between populists and political insiders. "I can't recall the last popular movement that so captivated this place."

Landlords' groups have hired three of Albany's top lobbyists, paying $ 245,000 for their access and political acumen in 1996. The Rent Stabilization Association (RSA) retained William Y. Crowell III, of the Albany fmn of Hinman Straub Pigors & Manning, and public relations consultant Brian R. Meara, a close friend of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The Real Estate Board,,bired Lester M. Shulklapper of Shulklapper & Vacek who has close ties to Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. All three are on the State Lobbying Commission's top 10 earnings list.

Privacy Sought

But contract lobbyists do their most effective work in private meetings with key legislators, drafting and refining bills that emerge quietly on the floor, not in a debate carried on through television and daily headlines. On an issue so highly publicized and highly polarized as rent regulation, that opportunity is lost.

"You're not going to change minds," said Mr. Shulklapper. "If lobbying is meant to influence positions, that is really not what's happening here." For now, he said, his primary role is to keep his hand on the political pulse of the issue, to "keep everybody informed and stay available for information that may be needed."

RSA President Joseph Strasburg, former chief of staff to City Council Speaker Peter Vallone and a registered lobbyist himself, might have hoped for more. But he concedes rent regulation is "too high profile an issue" for traditional lobbying, and instead he is looking for "information flow" from Mr. Crowell and Mr. Meara. "They are my eyes and ears," he said.

Mr. Strasburg insisted RSA did not really hire its lobbyists to work on rent control, even though it is clearly the landlords' biggest issue. Mr. Crowell has been RSA's principal lobbyist for years, beginning when he was at Bower & Gardner. And Mr. Strasburg said Mr. Meara was hired to work the Assembly on other issues, ranging from tax assessments to lead regulations to Housing Court reform.

"It should be clear he can't influence the debate on rent control in the Assembly," Mr. Strasburg said.

Grass Roots

The landlord groups began their legislative assault on rent regulation in 1993 with the handmaiden to effective lobbying, political contributions. Over the next four years, three of their political action committees contributed nearly $ 900,000 to the Republican Senate Campaign Committee and individual senators, but virtually nothing to Assembly Democrats

When Senator Bruno formally opened the battle late last year, calling for the end of rent regulation within two years, tenants countered with a ferocious grass roots campaign. They initially targeted Republican Senators who represent significant numbers of rent-regulated tenants, needing five Republican votes to swing the Senate toward extending the existing rent laws that are scheduled to expire on June 15.

The Tenants and Neighbors Coalition hired full-time organizers to work the districts of vulnerable senators, started letter-writing campaigns and set. up telephone banks that reach 1,000 rent-regulated tenants in those districts each week, according to Executive Director Billy Easton. He handles lobbying for the coalition and has done his best to make the targeted senators understand the extent of its voter mobilization efforts. By June, he said, "we will have reached several hundred thousand people by direct contacts.

Republican Senators Roy M. Goodman of Manhattan and Frank Padavan of Queens have publicly joined the tenants' side and two others have voiced support, for renewing the rent laws, but the fifffi vote remains elusive. The result of the landlords' support 'in the Senate and the tenants' support in the Assembly has been a virtual stalemate with the state's top Republicans, Governor Pataki and Senator Alfonse D'Amato, squeezed uncomfortably in the middle.

Last-Minute Deals

The purpose of yesterday's tenant rally was to make that squeeze a little tighter still for the Governor, who has proposed vacancy decontrol as a compromise. To the coalition, vacancy decontrol is just another means to end rent regulation altogether, Mr. Easton said. "Governor Pataki represents 2.7 million rent-regulated tenants," he said, and the rally was meant to brandish those votes.

Mr. Shulklapper said the real work to resolve the future of the rent laws has yet to begin, that the June 15 sunset date must draw closer for both sides to feel enough pressure to compromise. And that is when the contract lobbyists may be able to earn their keep.

Through months of open battering, the tenants have forced Mr. Bruno to soften his position somewhat, accepting vacancy decontrol with limited succession rights. But the end-of-session rush may favor the landlords, according to Blair Homer, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group and a veteran of many grassroots campaigns.

"Where it will be hard for the tenants is at the endgame," when agreements are often hammered out overnight and it is crucial to be able to track developments and to respond quickly, he said. The lobbyists' clear lines of communication with the leaders could give them an important advantage in information.

"When it comes to the deal, lobbyists will be there and they are going to be able to fashion the best possible deal for the landlords," he said.