Lobbying out of control (ruining our political system)

[russ1945]

[FONT=&quot]

[h=1]The American lobbying industry is completely out of control[/h]

• 
  [*=left]DAVID MILLWARD

​

15 AUGUST 2016 • 2:49PM

• 
  [*=center]
  [*=center]
  [*=center]

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]

[FONT=&quot]Gwyneth Paltrow lobbied Congress against the 2015 Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]CREDIT: KRIS CONNOR/GETTY IMAGES[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]O[/FONT]ne would have thought that a law telling consumers whether they were buying genetically modified food would hardly be controversial. After all, it’s been law in the EU for well over a decade and if Gwyneth Paltrow thinks labelling is a good idea, who is going to argue?[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The short answer is the US food industry and biotech companies such as Monsanto and Dupont who say such labelling stigmatises GM produce.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Grudgingly the industry has agreed to accept it, with one caveat inserted as the bill went through the senate: the label will be in the form of a QR code, which can only be read by a mobile phone.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The battle over GM labelling, which has resulted in a “compromise” that leaves consumers fumbling with their phones in a supermarket aisle, is just another example of the power of commercial lobbyists in Washington.[/FONT]

​

Follow
Rochelle Nigri @rochellenigri

The idea of being #hangry multitasking & scanning a QR code is a tad bit daunting: QR Flag GMO ingredientshttp://www.wsj.com/articles/smartphone-codes-on-food-labels-face-skepticism-1470216600 … via @WSJ
8:58 AM - 4 Aug 2016



[h=2]Consumer Advocates Wary of Digitally Coded Food Labels[/h]If nutrition labels require a smartphone app to unlock, will consumers read them? That is the debate dividing healthy-food advocates and some food companies that intend to use QR codes to comply with...
wsj.com

• 
  
• 
  22 Retweets
• 
  11 like

​

​

[FONT=&quot]If they can’t block legislation, they are pretty effective at watering it down in the interest of their clients.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Cleaning up Washington and taking money out of politics has been a constant theme of the presidential election campaign with both sides claiming that they are best placed to return honesty and integrity to public life.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Take this Bernie Sanders campaign advert for example. “Wall Street banks shower Washington politicians with campaign contributions and speaking fees,” the ad’s narrator says. “And what do they get for it? A rigged economy, tax breaks and bailouts. All held in place by a corrupt campaign finance system.”[/FONT]

​

[FONT=&quot]Bernie Sanders campaigned on taking financial influence out of the US political system[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]CREDIT: STEPHEN LAM/REUTERS[/FONT]
​

[FONT=&quot]Coming from the Trump corner, we have Newt Gingrich, who says his man will do the job. “If you want to break up the corrupt incestuous system in Washington, you had better have somebody who has a strong personality, who is willing to get in fights.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]What is depressing is that they have a very strong case. Between 2007 and 2012, 200 of America’s most politically active corporations spent a combined $5.8 billion on federal lobbying and campaign contributions, according to an analysis by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit organisation that advocates for open government.[/FONT]

​

[FONT=&quot]The shackles, even while they’re on, are more spaghetti than steel[FONT=&quot]The Center for Responsive Politics, on lobbying restrictions in Washington[/FONT][/FONT]
​

​

[FONT=&quot]“Just follow the money,” says Josh Silver, executive director of RepresentUs, a group campaigning to clean up politics. “When major industries are spending this kind of money on campaign contributions and lobbying, they are not doing it for the love of country, they are doing it to increase their profits at the expense of the consumer.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The most obvious way to get congressional support is to donate to an election campaign. Take gun laws, for example. According toresearch by the Center for Responsive Politics, nearly all the 46 senators who voted against a measure which would have enforced background checks as a condition of commercial firearms sales received donations from the gun lobby. However there are more subtle ways of doing business practiced by Washington's army of around 11,000 lobbyists.[/FONT]

​

View image on Twitter

Follow
Anna Massoglia @annalecta

Influence at the #DNC: 60+ superdelegates are lobbyists, 34 more shadow lobby http://snlg.ht/xuY0q #DemsInPhilly
3:20 PM - 28 Jul 2016 · Washington, DC, United States

• 
  
• 
  122122 Retweets
• 
  6464 likes

​

​

[FONT=&quot]These lobbyists are good at forging relationships not only with elected representatives, but their staff as well, explains Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at New America, a non-partisan think tank based in Washington DC. He estimates that over the past 15 years, companies have spent 13 times as much on lobbying than in campaign contributions.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Things can be slipped into a bill at the last minute and members of congress are overworked and don’t have the time to do due diligence," he says. "It is very easy to change things here and there if you are very persistent. If you make the arguments again and again, there is a tendency to work out a compromise.”[/FONT]

​

[FONT=&quot]The health insurance and pharmaceutical industries spend $200 million on lobbying each year[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]CREDIT: -/ EYE UBIQUITOUS / ALAMY[/FONT]
​

[FONT=&quot]Quite often, subtle changes are introduced when a bill is before a congressional conference committee, a body which meets – normally in private – to iron out differences between the Senate and House of Representatives over a piece of legislation.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If bills are not neutered, their implementation can be delayed. The railway industry, for example, has lobbied furiously against being forced to introduce a sophisticated braking system.[/FONT]

​

[FONT=&quot]Things can be slipped into a bill at the last minute... It is very easy to change things here and there if you are very persistent. If you make the arguments again and again, there is a tendency to work out a compromise.[FONT=&quot]Lee Drutman, senior fellow at New America thinktank[/FONT][/FONT]
​

​

[FONT=&quot]According to the America’s National Transportation Safety Board the technology – known as Positive Train Control –would have prevented rail disasters like the 2008 crash in Chatsworth, California which killed 25 people and the May 2015 Philadelphia derailment claiming eight lives and injuring 200.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But it is expensive. One estimate puts the cost at $14.7 billion. So the rail industry, which has spent more than $300 million on lobbying, persuaded congress to put back the deadline for it to be introduced from the end of last year to 2018.[/FONT]

​

[FONT=&quot]Congress has a task on its hands to regulate lobbying activities, as there aren't federal laws against it[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]CREDIT: REUTERS[/FONT]
​

[FONT=&quot]This year the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries willspend more than $200 million on lobbying to defend their corporate interests, leaving Americans to pick up the bill for horrendously expensive medical care.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It may be distasteful but the bottom line is that lobbyists are doing nothing illegal, as RepresentUS admits.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The problem isn’t that corrupt politicians are breaking the law. The problem it is that we don’t even have laws for them to break.”[/FONT]

​

[/FONT]

 

[russ1945]

Lobbying can be defined as "Follow the Money". This article was written Monday and it is about lobbying, a topic that deserves attention. Hillary is one you can follow the money on better than anyone. Meanwhile Trump discourages large campaign donors and is just the opposite of Hillary. Hillary has made millions giving speeches whereas Trump has made billions as a businessman and his hired people as a result spreading the wealth. Hillary has made as much in one speech as some make in 10 years. Lobbying and campaign contributing are out of control and worth focusing on.

 

[russ1945]

Former Members

Dick Armey. Tom Daschle. Tom Foley. Trent Lott. Once, these politicos ranked among Congress' most powerful members. Today, they share another distinction: They're lobbyists (or "senior advisors" performing very similar work). And they're hardly alone. Dozens of former members of Congress now receive handsome compensation from corporations and special interests as they attempt to influence the very federal government in which they used to serve. See where members of the 112th Congressand the 111th Congress have gone.
Number of former members: 431

Lobbyist
Former Senators

• Abraham, Spencer (R)
• Allard, Wayne (R)
  
• Allen, George (R)
• Ashcroft, John (R)
  
• Bayh, Evan (D)
• Bennett, Robert F (R)
  
• Bond, Christopher Kit (R)
  
• Boschwitz, Rudy E (R)
  
• Breaux, John (D)
  
• Brown, Scott (R)
• Bryan, Richard H (D)
  
• Bumpers, Dale (D)
  
• Burns, Conrad (R)
  
• Burris, Roland (D)
• Campbell, Ben Nighthorse (R)
  
• Cleland, Max (D)
  
• Cohen, William S (R)
• Coleman, Norm (R)
  
• Conrad, Kent (D)
• Corzine, Jon S (D)
• Craig, Larry (R)
  
• D'Amato, Alfonse M (R)
  
• Daschle, Tom (D)
• Deconcini, Dennis (D)
  
• DeMint, Jim (R)
• Dixon, Alan J (D)
  
• Dodd, Chris (D)
• Dole, Bob (R)
  
• Dorgan, Byron (D)
• Durenberger, Dave (R)
  
• Faircloth, Lauch (R)
  
• Ford, Wendell H (D)
  
• Gorton, Slade (R)
  
• Gramm, Phil (R)
  
• Grams, Rod (R)
  
• Gregg, Judd (R)
• Hagel, Chuck (R)
• Hutchinson, Tim (R)
  
• Hutchison, Kay Bailey (R)
• Johnston, J Bennett (D)
  
• Kasten, Robert W Jr (R)
  
• Kaufman, Ted (D)
• Kempthorne, Dirk (R)
  
• Kerrey, Bob (D)
• Kirk, Paul (D)
  
• Kyl, Jon (R)
• Lieberman, Joe (I)
• Lincoln, Blanche (D)
• Lott, Trent (R)
  
• Mack, Connie III (R)
  
• Martinez, Mel (R)
• Mathews, Harlan (D)
  
• McClure, James A (R)
  
• Miller, Zell (D)
  
• Mitchell, George J (D)
  
• Nelson, Ben (D)
• Nickles, Don (R)
  
• Packwood, Bob (R)
  
• Pressler, Larry (R)
  
• Riegle, Donald W Jr (D)
  
• Rudman, Warren B (R)
  
• Salazar, Ken (D)
• Santorum, Rick (R)
• Simpson, Alan K (R)
  
• Smith, Gordon H (R)
  
• Snowe, Olympia (R)
• Sununu, John E (R)
• Symms, Steven D (R)
  
• Talent, James M (R)
  
• Thompson, Fred (R)
  
• Torricelli, Robert G (D)
  
• Warner, John W (R)
  
• Wilson, Pete (R)
  
• Wirth, Timothy E (D)
  
• Wofford, Harris (D)

 

[SheriffJoe]

Lobbying exists because Big Government corrupts.

 

[russ1945]

[h=3]Former Representatives[/h]

• Abercrombie, Neil (D)
• Adler, John H (D)
• Akin, Todd (R)
• Alexander, Rodney (R)
• Alexander, William Vollie Jr (D)
  
• Allen, Tom H (D)
  
• Altmire, Jason (D)
  
• Anderson, John B (I)
• Andrews, Mark (R)
  
• Andrews, Michael Allen (D)
  
• Andrews, Robert E (D)
• Anthony, Beryl F Jr (D)
  
• Archer, Bill (R)
  
• Arcuri, Mike (D)
• Armey, Dick (R)
  
• Atkins, Chester (D)
  
• Bacchus, James L (D)
  
• Bafalis, L A (Skip) (R)
  
• Baird, Brian (D)
• Baker, Richard (R)
  
• Barcia, Jim (D)
• Barnes, Michael D (D)
  
• Barr, Bob (R)
  
• Barrett, J Gresham (R)
  
• Bass, Charles (R)
• Bayh, Birch E (D)
  
• Bell, Chris (D)
  
• Bentley, Helen Delich (R)
  
• Bentsen, Ken (D)
  
• Bereuter, Doug (R)
• Berman, Howard L (D)
• Bethune, Ed (R)
  
• Blanchard, Jim (D)
  
• Bliley, Thomas J Jr (R)
  
• Boehlert, Sherwood (R)
  
• Bonilla, Henry (R)
  
• Bonior, David E (D)
  
• Bonker, Don (D)
  
• Bonner, Jo (R)
• Bono, Mary (R)
• Boren, Dan (D)
• Borski, Bob (D)
  
• Boucher, Rick (D)
• Boulter, Beau (R)
  
• Boyd, Allen (D)
  
• Brewster, Bill (D)
  
• Brock, William E III (R)
  
• Bryant, Ed (R)
  
• Buechner, Jack (R)
  
• Burns, Max (R)
  
• Burton, Dan (R)
• Buyer, Steve (R)
  
• Callahan, Sonny (R)
  
• Canseco, Francisco (R)
• Cardoza, Dennis (D)
• Carnahan, Russ (D)
• Carney, William (R)
  
• Carr, Bob (D)
  
• Carson, Brad Rogers (D)
• Castle, Michael N (R)
  
• Chandler, Rod (R)
  
• Chapman, Jim (D)
  
• Cheney, Dick (R)
• Chocola, Chris (R)
• Christensen, Jon (R)
  
• Clay, William L (D)
  
• Clement, Bob (D)
  
• Cobey, Bill (R)
  
• Coelho, Tony (D)
  
• Coleman, E Thomas (R)
  
• Coleman, Ronald D (D)
  
• Combest, Larry (R)
  
• Comstock, Barbara (R)
  
• Corcoran, Tom (R)
  
• Costello, Jerry F (D)
  
• Coyne, James K (R)
  
• Cramer, Bud (D)
  
• Critz, Mark (D)
• Culver, John (D)
  
• D'Amours, Norman E (D)
  
• Danford, Patrick J (3)
• Darden, Buddy (D)
  
• Daub, Hal (R)
  
• Davis, Artur (R)
• Davis, Geoff (R)
• Davis, Jim (D)
  
• Davis, Tom M (R)
  
• Delahunt, Bill (D)
  
• Delay, Tom (R)
  
• Dellums, Ronald V (D)
  
• Derrick, Butler C Jr (D)
  
• Diaz-Balart, Lincoln (R)
  
• Dickey, Jay (R)
  
• Dickinson, William Louis (R)
  
• Dicks, Norm (D)
• Dooley, Cal (D)
  
• Doolittle, John T (R)
  
• Downey, Thomas J (D)
  
• Dreier, David (R)
• Du Pont, Pete (R)

 

[russ1945]

• Eckart, Dennis E (D)
  
• Edwards, Jack (R)
  
• Ehrlich, Robert (R)
• Emanuel, Rahm (D)
• Emerson, Jo Ann (R)
  
• English, Glenn Lee Jr (D)
  
• English, Phil (R)
  
• Erdahl, Arlen (R)
  
• Erdreich, Ben (D)
  
• Evans, Billy Lee (D)
  
• Evans, Thomas Jr (R)
  
• Ewing, Thomas W (R)
  
• Fawell, Harris W (R)
  
• Fazio, Vic (D)
  
• Ferguson, Mike ()
  
• Ferraro, Geraldine A (D)
  
• Fields, Jack M Jr (R)
  
• Flanagan, Michael Patrick (R)
  
• Flippo, Ronnie G (D)
  
• Florio, James J (D)
  
• Forbes, Michael P (D)
  
• Ford, Harold E Jr (D)
• Ford, Harold E Sr (D)
  
• Fossella, Vito (R)
  
• Frost, Martin (D)
  
• Funderburk, David (R)
  
• Garcia, Robert (D)
  
• Garn, Jake (R)
  
• Gephardt, Richard A (D)
  
• Gibbons, Sam (D)
  
• Giffords, Gabrielle (D)
• Gilman, Benjamin A (R)
  
• Gingrich, Newt (R)
• Glickman, Daniel Robert (D)
  
• Gonzalez, Charlie A (D)
• Goodling, Bill (R)
  
• Gordon, Bart (D)
  
• Grandy, Fred (R)
  
• Grant, James William (R)
  
• Gray, William H III (D)
  
• Green, Mark (R)
• Greenwood, James C (R)
• Gunderson, Steve (R)
• Hance, Kent (D)
  
• Hanrahan, Robert (R)
  
• Hansen, James V (R)
  
• Harman, Jane (D)
• Harris, Herbert (D)
  
• Hart, Melissa (R)
  
• Hastert, Dennis (R)
  
• Hayes, Jimmy (R)
  
• Herseth Sandlin, Stephanie (D)
  
• Hertel, Dennis M (D)
  
• Hill, Baron (D)
  
• Hilleary, Van (R)
  
• Hoagland, Peter (D)
  
• Hobson, Dave (R)
  
• Hochbrueckner, George J (D)
  
• Hochul, Kathleen (D)
• Hodes, Paul W (D)
• Hoekstra, Peter (R)
  
• Holtzman, Elizabeth (D)
  
• Hopkins, Larry J (R)
  
• Huddleston, Walter D (D)
  
• Hulshof, Kenny (R)
  
• Hutchinson, Asa (R)
  
• Ireland, Andy (R)
  
• Jackson, Jesse Jr (D)
• Jenkins, Edgar L (D)
  
• John, Chris (D)
  
• Johnson, Don (D)
• Johnson, Nancy L (R)
  
• Jones, James R (D)
  
• Karnes, David (R)
  
• Kennedy, Mark (R)
• Kennelly, Barbara B (D)
  
• Kildee, Dale (D)
  
• Klein, Herbert C (D)
  
• Klein, Ron (D)
• Klink, Ron (D)
  
• Klug, Scott L (R)
  
• Kogovsek, Ray (D)
  
• Kopetski, Mike (D)
  
• Kostmayer, Peter H (D)
  
• Kucinich, Dennis (D)
• Kuykendall, Steven T (R)
  
• Kyros, Peter N (D)
  

 

[russ1945]

• LaFalce, John J (D)
  
• Lahood, Ray (R)
• Largent, Steve (R)
  
• LaRocco, Larry (D)
  
• LaTourette, Steve (R)
• Latta, Delbert L (R)
  
• Laughlin, Greg (R)
  
• Laxalt, Paul (R)
  
• Lazio, Rick A (R)
  
• Lee, Christopher J (R)
• Lehman, Richard H (D)
  
• Lent, Norman F Jr (R)
  
• Levine, Mel (D)
  
• Levitas, Elliott H (D)
  
• Lightfoot, Jim (R)
  
• Lipinski, Bill (D)
  
• Livingston, Robert L (R)
  
• Lloyd, Marilyn L (D)
  
• Loeffler, Tom (R)
  
• Lowery, William D (R)
  
• Lujan, Manuel Jr (R)
  
• Lungren, Dan (R)
  
• Luther, Bill (D)
  
• Mack, Connie IV (R)
  
• Mahoney, Tim (D)
• Manzullo, Don (R)
• Martin, David O'Brien (R)
  
• Martin, James G (R)
  
• Mathis, Dawson (D)
  
• Mattingly, Mack (R)
  
• McCloskey, Pete (R)
• McCollum, Bill (R)
  
• McCrery, Jim (R)
  
• McCurdy, Dave (D)
  
• McDade, Joseph M (R)
  
• McDonald, Jack H (R)
  
• McEwen, Bob (R)
  
• McGrath, Raymond J (R)
  
• McHale, Paul (D)
  
• McInnis, Scott (R)
  
• McIntosh, David M (R)
  
• McKernan, John R Jr (R)
• McMahon, Michael E (D)
• McMillan, J Alex (R)
  
• Meek, Carrie (D)
  
• Melancon, Charles (D)
• Melcher, John (D)
  
• Mfume, Kweisi (D)
• Mica, Daniel A (D)
  
• Michel, Robert H (R)
  
• Miller, Brad (D)
• Mineta, Norman Y (D)
  
• Minnick, Walt (D)
  
• Moffett, Toby (D)
  
• Molinari, Guy V (R)
  
• Molinari, Susan (R)
  
• Mollohan, Alan (D)
  
• Moore, W Henson (R)
  
• Morrison, Bruce A (D)
  
• Mrazek, Robert J (D)
  
• Murphy, Patrick J (D)
• Myers, John T (R)
  
• Myrick, Sue (R)
  
• Napier, John (R)
  
• Nethercutt, George R Jr (R)
  
• Northup, Anne M (R)
• Nussle, Jim (R)
• Obey, David R (D)
• Orton, Bill (D)
• Oxley, Michael G (R)
  
• Packard, Ron (R)
  
• Panetta, Leon Edward (D)
  
• Parker, Mike (R)
  
• Parris, Stan (R)
  
• Patterson, Jerry M (D)
• Paxon, Bill (R)
  
• Payne, LF Jr (D)
  
• Pease, Ed (R)
  
• Perriello, Tom (D)
• Pickering, Charles (Chip) Jr (R)
  
• Pollock, Howard (R)
• Pombo, Richard (R)
  
• Pomeroy, Earl (D)
  
• Porter, John Edward (R)
  
• Porter, Jon (R)
  
• Poshard, Glenn (D)
  
• Pryce, Deborah (R)
  

 

[russ1945]

• Quayle, Benjamin (R)
  
• Quinn, Jack (R)
  
• Radel, Trey (R)
• Ratchford, William R (D)
  
• Regula, Ralph (3)
• Rehberg, Denny (R)
• Reynolds, Tom (R)
  
• Rhodes, John Jacob III (R)
  
• Richardson, Bill (D)
• Richardson, Laura (D)
• Riggs, Frank D (R)
  
• Ritter, Don (R)
• Roemer, Tim (D)
• Rogan, James E (R)
  
• Rooney, Fred B (D)
  
• Rose, Charlie (D)
  
• Ross, Mike (D)
• Roth, Toby (R)
  
• Rothman, Steven R (D)
• Russo, Martin A (D)
  
• Sandlin, Max (D)
  
• Santini, Jim (D)
  
• Sarpalius, William Clarence (D)
  
• Saxton, Jim (R)
  
• Schroeder, Patricia (D)
  
• Schulze, Dick (R)
  
• Shadegg, John (R)
  
• Sharp, Philip R (D)
  
• Shows, Ronnie (D)
  
• Shuler, Heath (D)
• Shuster, Bud (R)
  
• Sikorski, Gerry (D)
  
• Skaggs, David E (D)
• Skelton, Ike (D)
• Slattery, Jim (D)
  
• Smith, Larry J (D)
  
• Snowbarger, Vince (R)
• Space, Zack (D)
• Stanton, James V (D)
  
• Staton, David Michael (R)
  
• Stearns, Cliff (R)
• Stenholm, Charles W (D)
  
• Stokes, Louis (D)
  
• Stupak, Bart (D)
  
• Sullivan, John A (R)
• Sundquist, Donald Kenneth (R)
  
• Sutton, Betty Sue (D)
• Sweeney, John E (R)
  
• Swett, Dick (D)
  
• Swift, Al (D)
  
• Symington, James W (D)
  
• Tallon, Robin (D)
  
• Tanner, John (D)
  
• Tate, Randy (R)
  
• Tauke, Tom (R)
  
• Tauzin, Billy (R)
  
• Thomas, Bill (R)
• Thurman, Karen L (D)
  
• Tiahrt, Todd (R)
• Turner, Jim (D)
  
• Tydings, Joseph Davies (D)
  
• Vander Jagt, Guy A (R)
  
• Walgren, Doug (D)
  
• Walker, Robert S (R)
  
• Walsh, James T (R)
  
• Walsh, Joe (R)
• Watkins, Wes (R)
• Watt, Melvin L (D)
• Watts, J C Jr (R)
  
• Weber, Vin (R)
  
• Weiner, Anthony D (D)
• Weldon, Curt (R)
• Weller, Jerry (R)
  
• West, Allen (R)
• Wheat, Alan (D)
  
• Whittaker, Bob (R)
  
• Wilson, Charles (D)
  
• Wortley, George C (R)
  
• Wynn, Albert R (D)
  
• Zeliff, Bill (R)
  
• Zimmer, Dick (R)
  
• Zion, Roger H (R)
  

​

​

 

[russ1945]

As you can see this applies to both parties. It is cycle that speaks for itself. Politics has become corrupted from top to bottom and lobbying is the #1 problem.

 

[russ1945]

[FONT=&quot][h=1]How Corporate Lobbyists Conquered American Democracy[/h][FONT=&quot]Business didn't always have so much power in Washington.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Jonathan Ernst/Reuters[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][h=2][/h][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=2][/h]

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][h=2][/h]

[/FONT]​

• [FONT=&quot]5.5k[/FONT]​
• [FONT=&quot][/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]TEXT SIZE[/FONT]​

• LEE DRUTMAN
• APR 20, 2015
• BUSINESS

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Like ​The Atlantic? Subscribe to ​the Daily​, our free weekday email newsletter.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Something is out of balance in Washington. Corporations now spend about $2.6 billion a year on reported lobbying expenditures—more than the $2 billion we spend to fund the House ($1.18 billion) and Senate ($860 million). It’s a gap that has been widening since corporate lobbying began to regularly exceed the combined House-Senate budget in the early 2000s.
Today, the biggest companies have upwards of 100 lobbyists representing them, allowing them to be everywhere, all the time. For every dollar spent on lobbying by labor unions and public-interest groups together, large corporations and their associations now spend $34. Of the 100 organizations that spend the most on lobbying, 95 consistently represent business.
The self-reinforcing quality of corporate lobbying has increasingly come to overwhelm every other potentially countervailing force.One has to go back to the Gilded Age to find business in such a dominant political position in American politics. While it is true that even in the more pluralist1950s and 1960s, political representation tilted towards the well-off, lobbying was almost balanced by today's standards. Labor unions were much more important, and the public-interest groups of the 1960s were much more significant actors. And very few companies had their own Washington lobbyists prior to the 1970s. To the extent that businesses did lobby in the 1950s and 1960s (typically through associations), they were clumsy and ineffective. “When we look at the typical lobby,” concluded three leading political scientists in their 1963 study, American Business and Public Policy, “we find its opportunities to maneuver are sharply limited, its staff mediocre, and its typical problem not the influencing of Congressional votes but finding the clients and contributors to enable it to survive at all.”
Things are quite different today. The evolution of business lobbying from a sparse reactive force into a ubiquitous and increasingly proactive one is among the most important transformations in American politics over the last 40 years. Probing the history of this transformation reveals that there is no “normal” level of business lobbying in American democracy. Rather, business lobbying has built itself up over time, and the self-reinforcing quality of corporate lobbying has increasingly come to overwhelm every other potentially countervailing force. It has also fundamentally changed how corporations interact with government—rather than trying to keep government out of its business (as they did for a long time), companies are now increasingly bringing government in as a partner, looking to see what the country can do for them.

​

If we set our time machine back to 1971, we’d find a leading corporate lawyer earnestly writing that, “As every business executive knows, few elements of American society today have as little influence in government as the American businessman, the corporation, or even the millions of corporate stockholders. If one doubts this, let him undertake the role of 'lobbyist' for the business point of view before Congressional committees.”
That lawyer was soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., whose now-famous “Powell Memorandum” is a telling insight into the frustration that many business leaders felt by the early 1970s. Congress had gone on a regulatory binge in the 1960s—spurred on by a new wave of public-interest groups. Large corporations had largely sat by idly, unsure of what to do.
In 1972, against the backdrop of growing compliance costs, slowing economic growth and rising wages, a community of leading CEOs formed the Business Roundtable, an organization devoted explicitly to cultivating political influence. Alcoa CEO John Harper, one of the Roundtable’s founders, said at the time, “I think we all recognize that the time has come when we must stop talking about it, and get busy and do something about it.”
This sense of an existential threat motivated the leading corporations to engage in serious political activity. Many began by hiring their first lobbyists. And they started winning. They killed a major labor law reform, rolled back regulation,lowered their taxes, and helped to move public opinion in favor of less government intervention in the economy.
By the early 1980s, corporate leaders were “purring” (as a 1982 Harris Poll described it). Corporations could have declared victory and gone home, thus saving on the costs of political engagement. Instead, they stuck around and kept at it. Many deepened their commitments to politics. After all, they now had lobbyists to help them see all that was at stake in Washington, and all the ways in which staying politically active could help their businesses.

​

Those lobbyists would go on to spend the 1980s teaching companies about the importance of political engagement. But it would take time for them to become fully convinced. As one company lobbyist I interviewed for my new book, The Business of America Is Lobbying, told me, “When I started [in 1983], people didn’t really understand government affairs. They questioned why you would need a Washington office, what does a Washington office do? I think they saw it as a necessary evil. All of our competitors had Washington offices, so it was more, well we need to have a presence there and it’s just something we had to do.”
To make the sell, lobbyists had to go against the long-entrenched notion in corporate boardrooms that politics was a necessary evil to be avoided if possible. To get corporations to invest fully in politics, lobbyists had to convince companies that Washington could be a profit center. They had to convince them that lobbying was not just about keeping the government far away—it could also be about drawing government close.
As one lobbyist told me (in 2007), “Twenty*-five years ago… it was ‘just keep the government out of our business, we want to do what we want to,’ and gradually that’s changed to ‘how can we make the government our partners?’ It’s gone from ‘leave us alone’ to ‘let’s work on this together.’” Another corporate lobbyist recalled,“When they started, [management] thought government relations did something else. They thought it was to manage public relations crises, hearing inquiries... My boss told me, you’ve taught us to do things we didn’t know could ever be done.”
As companies became more politically active and comfortable during the late 1980s and the 1990s, their lobbyists became more politically visionary. For example, pharmaceutical companies had long opposed the idea of government adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare, on the theory that this would give government bargaining power through bulk purchasing, thereby reducing drug industry profits. But sometime around 2000, industry lobbyists dreamed up the bold idea of proposing and supporting what became Medicare Part D—a prescription drug benefit, but one which explicitly forbade bulk purchasing—an estimated $205 billion benefit to companies over a 10-year period.
What makes today so very different from the 1970s is that corporations now have the resources to play offense and defense simultaneously on almost any top-priority issue. When I surveyed corporate lobbyists on the reasons why their companies maintained a Washington office, the top reason was “to protect the company against changes in government policy.” On a one-to-seven scale, lobbyists ranked this reason at 6.2 (on average). But closely behind, at 5.7, was “Need to improve ability to compete by seeking favorable changes in government policy.”
While reversing history is obviously impossible, there is value in appreciating how much things have changed. And there are ways to bring back some balance: Investing more in the government, especially Congress, would give leading policymakers resources to hire and retain the most experienced and expert staff, and reduce their reliance on lobbyists. Also, organizations that advocate for less well-resourced positions could use more support. If history teaches anything, it's that the world does not need to look as it does today.
[/FONT]

 

[russ1945]

[FONT=&quot][h=1]What is a Lobbyist? - FAQs About Lobbying[/h]
Ads

• Lobbyist Firms
• Hotel in Washington DC
• Lobbyist Group
• Lobbying Firms
• Government Lobbying
• Political Lobbyist
• State Lobbyists

[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]




[/FONT]​

[FONT=&quot]

Barros & Barros/The Image Bank/Getty Images

By Rachel Cooper
Washington, DC Expert








SHARE












PIN













​

Updated May 23, 2016.
[h=3]What is a lobbyist?[/h]A lobbyist is an activist who seeks to persuade members of the government (like members of Congress) to enact legislation that would benefit their group. The lobbying profession is a legitimate and integral part of our democratic political process that is not very well understood by the general population. While most people think of lobbyists only as paid professionals, there are also many volunteer lobbyists. Anyone who petitions the government or contacts their member of Congress to voice an opinion is functioning as a lobbyist. Lobbying is a regulated industry and a protected activity under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that guarantees rights to free speech, assembly, and petition.

Lobbying involves more than persuading legislators. Professional lobbyists research and analyze legislation or regulatory proposals, attend congressional hearings, and educate government officials and corporate officers on important issues.

CONTINUE READING BELOW OUR VIDEO ​

Tipping Etiquette Around The World

0:01

/

0:15
​

Lobbyists also work to change public opinion through advertising campaigns or by influencing 'opinion leaders'.
[h=3]Who do lobbyists work for?[/h]Lobbyists represent just about every American institution and interest group - labor unions, corporations, colleges and universities, churches, charities, environmental groups, senior citizens organizations, and even state, local or foreign governments.
[h=3]What industries spend the most on lobbying?[/h]According to OpenSecrets.org, the following data was recorded by the Senate Office of Public Records. The top 10 industries for 2016 were:

Pharmaceuticals/Health Products - $63,168,503
Insurance - $38,280,437
Electric Utilities - $33,551,556
Business Associations - $32,065,206
Oil & Gas - $31,453,590
Electronics Mfg & Equipment - $28,489,437
Securities & Investment - $25,425,076
Hospitals/Nursing Homes - $23,609,607
Air Transport - $22,459,204
Health Professionals - $22,175,579
[h=3]How does someone become a lobbyist? What background or training is needed?[/h]Lobbyists come from all walks of life. Most are college graduates, and many have advanced degrees. Many lobbyists begin their careers working on Capitol Hill in a congressional office. Lobbyists must have strong communication skills and knowledge of the legislative process as well as the industry that they are representing. While there is no formal training to become a lobbyist, the State Government Affairs Council offers the Lobbying Certificate Program, a continuing education program which helps those of all skill levels improve their knowledge of the legislative process and lobbying profession.
For tips and resources, read How to Find a Lobbying Job in Washington DC.
Many lobbyists get experience while in college by interning on Capitol Hill. See a guide to Washington DC Internships - Interning on Capitol Hill.
[h=3]Does a lobbyist have to be registered?[/h]Since 1995, the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) has required individuals who are paid for lobbying at the federal level to register with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House. Lobbying firms, self-employed lobbyists and organizations employing lobbyists must file regular reports of lobbying activity.
[h=3]How many lobbyists are there in Washington DC?[/h]As of 2014, there are approximately 10,000 registered lobbyists at the state and federal levels. Many of the major lobbying firms and advocacy groups are located on K Street in Downtown Washington DC.
[h=3]What restrictions are there on gifts by lobbyists to members of Congress?[/h]The general gift rule provision states that a Member of Congress or their staff may not accept a gift from a registered lobbyist or any organization that employs lobbyists. The term “gift” covers any gratuity, favor, discount, entertainment, hospitality, loan, or other item having monetary value.
[h=3]Where does the term “lobbyist” come from?[/h]President Ulysses S. Grant coined the term lobbyist in the early 1800s. Grant had a fondness for the Willard Hotel lobby in Washington DC and people would approach him there to discuss individual causes.
[h=3]Additional Resources About Lobbying[/h]Open Secrets – Center for Responsive Politics – A nonpartisan guide tracking the spending on U.S. elections and public policy, including lobbying activities

Office of the Clerk – Explains the details of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, the lobbying registration process

Center for Effective Government - Project On Government Oversight, a leading nonpartisan independent watchdog, which champions good government reforms to achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government.
Lobbyingfirms.com – A lobbying industry directory
​

[/FONT]