Lots of voices make lots of noise.

But too many voices eventually drown out any one message that any one voice is trying to convey. Too much noise eventually becomes white noise that fades into the background.

It's a lesson that the business community in this state is trying to keep in mind as it tries to get its message, or messages, across to city and county councils and state government.

The business community is not monolithic. It's divided by industry and sector and size and interests. The variety of viewpoints on public policy issues can be as great as the variety of businesses expressing those views.

When business comes to a city council or the Legislature with all of those views expressed at full volume, it's that much easier for council members and legislators to ignore them all.

Which is not in the business community's interest, either, particularly at a time when the political makeup of some governmental bodies -- the Seattle City Council and the Legislature, to be precise -- aren't perceived as overly sympathetic to business to start with.

Thus business groups are looking for issues on which they can speak with one voice, and organizational megaphones through which that voice can be amplified.

One prime example of such a megaphone is the recently organized Seattle Business Coalition, whose membership includes the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Seattle Association, the Building Owners & Managers Association of Seattle and King County, the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, the Associated General Contractors of Washington, the Neighborhood Business Associations Alliance and the North Seattle Industrial Council.

This is actually the third incarnation of such a coalition, says Steve Leahy, the Seattle chamber's president and CEO. The first version, formed in 2002 and called the Seattle Business Climate Coalition, consisted of the chamber, the downtown association and the Neighborhood Business Council. That coalition made 58 recommendations to the City Council.

In 2005, the chamber and DSA reconvened to see how many items on that list had been accomplished and to come up with some new recommendations.

Leahy says the latest version was driven by the business community's unhappiness with the City Council's enactment of an employee head tax and a parking tax, and a sense it needed to have more influence on city taxing and spending.

The coalition won't try to stake out and promote a position on every civic issue. One example: The proposed annexation into Seattle of the North Highline area. "On an issue like that, there's no way you can have enough unanimity to speak with one voice," Leahy says.

Another issue the coalition won't be lobbying on: A replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct. "We didn't even bring that one to the party," Leahy says.

But there are enough other issues to keep the coalition plenty occupied, Leahy adds. Those include: The amount of the city's budget allocated to core functions, especially public safety (coalitions past have been strong advocates of more police officers); the trend toward using specialty fees and taxes for what the business community believes are a part of those core functions; and the overall level of the economic bite the city takes in taxes, fees and regulation.

Putting together the coalition has compelled the business community to put its own house in order, Leahy adds, starting with enlisting groups that haven't previously been a part of such citywide groups. The coalition also is trying to operate smarter, by sharing information and research, and meeting out in the community so the coalition is not seen as just a downtown-driven operation.

It's not just in Seattle that the "one voice" trend is emerging. In Spokane, the Chamber of Commerce and the economic development council have proposed a merger.

"This is not to save a few bucks; this is not what this thing's about," says Heidi Stanley, chairwoman of the chamber and vice chairwoman of Sterling Financial Corp. Instead, the merger is driven by a realization that Spokane needs a single presence if it's to be noticed at all in global competition for jobs and investment.

"We all seem to be getting on the same page," Stanley says. "There's nothing like having one team, one vision, one voice, to get things done."

When the city of Vancouver proposed reinstating a local business and occupation tax, the Coalition for a Strong Community and Economy -- made up of the chamber, the economic development council, the downtown association and Identity Clark County -- proposed alternatives, including a three-year business license fee surcharge based on employee counts. The coalition also pledged to work with local government in lobbying the Legislature for long-term local funding options.

That's not to say that business will find it easy to reach agreement on even a handful of issues, or that government will take the advice if business does agree on a message.

But it's much easier for government to pretend it's not hearing anything when confronted with a cacophony of squabbling. If what government gets is a single message presented with a single voice (and the understanding that both are backed by a significant portion of the business community), it might just prompt a response of, "Oh, you talking to us?"

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