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Lobbying

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Lobbying is the professional practice of public affairs advocacy, with the goal of influencing a governing body by promoting a point of view. A lobbyist is a person who is paid to influence legislation as well as public opinion.

Most major corporations and political interest groups hire professional lobbyists to promote their interests as intermediaries; others maintain in-house government relations or public affairs departments. Think tanks aim to lobby through regular releases of detailed reports and supporting research to the media for dissemination .

A difference can be made between "public interest groups", which are groups aiming non materials and large interests, and "special interest groups", which are groups whose interests are only reserved to their members. This difference has been established by Jeffrey Berry in his book "Lobbying the people". More recently, Berry proposed a new distinction between "occupational groups" and "citizens groups".

A separate form of lobbying, called "outside" lobbying or grassroots lobbying, seeks to affect the legislature or other bodies indirectly, through changing public opinion (or purporting to — see astroturfing). A modification of the same, aimed to leaders and influential persons in the community, is known as grasstops.

Lobbying is in many countries a regulated activity, with limits placed on how it is conducted, in an attempt to prevent political corruption. In the United States for example, lobbyists must be registered unless they represent an elected official, or an organization of elected officials, such as the National Governors Association, as well as conform to a number of other disclosures.


Lobbying in the United States

The Oxford English Dictionary contains various references to the use of the word "lobby" and even "lobbyist" in reference to people and acts related to the influencing of political figures, which date from earlier periods.

Lobbyists in the United States target the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures. They may also represent their clients' or organizations' interests in dealings with federal, state, or local executive branch agencies or the courts. Lobbyists sometimes also write legislation and whip bills.

This tradition began during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, who served as president between 1869 and 1877. Not allowed to smoke in the White House by his wife, Grant enjoyed his cigars in the lobby of the nearby Willard Hotel. Having been spotted there often, politicians and others wanting political favors began to frequent him during this time of repose, while he was in high spirits.

In July 2005, Public Citizen published a report entitled "The Journey from Congress to K Street": the report analyzed hundreds of lobbyist registration documents filed in compliance with the "Lobbying Disclosure Act" and the "Foreign Agents Registration Act", among other sources. It found that since 1998, 43 percent of the 198 members of Congress who left government to join private life have registered to lobby. The Washington Post described these results as reflecting the "sea change that has occurred in lawmakers' attitudes toward lobbying in recent years." The paper noted that

Congressional historians say that lawmakers rarely became lobbyists as recently as two decades ago. They considered the profession to be tainted and unworthy of once-elected officials such as themselves. And lobbying firms and trade groups were leery of hiring former members of Congress because they were reputed to be lazy as lobbyists, unwilling to ask former colleagues for favors.

But starting in the late 1980s, high salaries for lobbyists, an increasing demand for lobbyists, greater turnover in Congress, and a change in the control of the House all contributed to a change in attitude about the appropriateness of former elected officials becoming lobbyists.

Former lawmakers are eagerly hired as lobbyists because of their relationships with their former colleagues as well as other contacts. The Public Citizen report included a case study of one particularly successful lobbyist, Bob Livingston, who stepped down as Speaker-elect and resigned his seat in 1999 after a sex scandal. In the six years since his resignation, his lobbying group grew into the 12th largest non-law lobbying firm, earning nearly $40 million by the end of 2004. During roughly the same time period, Livingston, his wife, and his two political action committees (PACs) contributed over $500,000 to the PACs or campaign funds of various candidates.

The increasing number of former lawmakers becoming lobbyists has led Senator Russ Feingold (D, WI) to propose paring back the many Capitol Hill privileges enjoyed by former senators and representatives. His plan would deprive lawmakers-turned-lobbyists of privileges such as unfettered access to otherwise "members only" areas such as the House and Senate floors and the House gym.

Most recently the scandal involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has inspired the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006, a bill debated on the Senate floor in March 2006. According to Time Magazine article in its April 10th issue, the Senate passed legislation the first week of April 2006 to reform U.S. lobbying practices. The Senate bill: 1) bars lobbyists themselves from buying gifts and meals for legislators, but it leaves a big loophole: firms and organizations represented by those lobbyists may still dole out freebies; 2) Privately funded trips would still be allowed if lawmakers get prior approval from a commissioned ethics committee; 3) It would also require lobbyists to file more frequent, more detailed reports on their activities, which would be posted in public domains.

Critics of the bills proposed from both the House and Senate like Fred Wertheimer, head of the nonpartisan Democracy 21 watchdog group, say the bills "leave lobbyists free to function in Congress exactly the way they have been functioning."

Lobbying in Brussels

As of 1999, the European Commission assumed the following numbers:

  • approximately 3 000 special interest groups of varying types in Brussels, with up to 10 000 employees working in the lobbying sector. (by contrast, in the United States, as of mid 2005, there were nearly 35,000 registered lobbyists for Congress alone.)
    • Within this total there are more than 500 European and international federations (whose constituent members belonging to national associations number more than 5 000).
  • about 50 offices in Brussels representing countries, regional and local authorities (some of which may of course participate in the institutional framework of the Community and it is only their other activities which are concerned by this communication).
  • more than 200 individual firms with direct representation, and about 100 consultants (management, and public relations) with offices in Brussels and many others dealing with Community affairs.
  • about 100 law firms in Belgium specializing in Community law and many more in other countries (both member states and beyond).

Lobbyists for Social Change

Many lobbyists work exclusively for humanitarian causes and there are organizations that lobby on behalf of various issues. The World Wildlife Fund lobbies to protect endangered animals and The Borgen Project lobbies for greater U.S. involvement in addressing global poverty.

Alleged corruption in lobbying

Lobbying is frequently performed on behalf of organizations which also make campaign contributions. This has led to allegations of corruption by opponents of some lobbying organizations.

Politicians are sometimes placed in apparently compromising positions because of their need to solicit financial contributions for their campaigns. Critics complain that they then appear to be acting in the interests of those who fund them, giving rise to the public perception of political corruption.

Supporters of the system respond that many politicians act in the interests of those who fund them due to common ideologies or shared local interests, and that lobbyists merely support those who agree with their positions.

Several states and cities have passed Clean Elections laws to be sure that lobbyists gain influence by the persuasiveness of their arguments rather than the size of their campaign contributions.

See also


General
Lobbying in the United States
Lobbying in Europe
Lobbying in Canada
Lobbying in the UK
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