How Lobbyists Secretly Run Washington: The Rich, Money & Influencing Congress, Government (1993)
Lobbying in the United States describes paid activity in which special
interests hire well-connected professional advocates, often lawyers, to
argue for specific legislation in decision-making bodies such as the
United States Congress. It is a highly controversial phenomenon, often
seen in a negative light by journalists and the American public, and
frequently misunderstood. While lobbying is subject to extensive and
often complex rules which, if not followed, can lead to penalties
including jail, the activity of lobbying has been interpreted by court
rulings as free speech and protected by the US Constitution. Since the
1970s, lobbying activity has grown immensely in terms of the numbers of
lobbyists and the size of lobbying budgets, and has become the focus of
much criticism of American governance. Since lobbying rules require
extensive disclosure, there is a wealth of data in the public sphere
about which entities lobby, how, at whom, and for how much. The current
pattern suggests much lobbying is done by corporations, although a wide
variety of coalitions representing diverse groups is possible. Lobbying
happens at every level of government, including federal, state, county,
municipal, and even local governments. In Washington, DC, lobbying
usually targets congresspersons, although there have been efforts to
influence executive agency officials as well as US Supreme Court
appointments. It has been the subject of academic inquiry in various
fields, including economics, law, and public policy. While lobbyists
number of 12,000 people in Washington, DC, those with real clout number
in the dozens, and a small group of firms handles much of lobbying in
terms of expenditures. As an activity, lobbying takes time to learn,
requires skill and sensitivity, depends on deft persuasion, and has much
in common with generally non-political activities such as management
consulting and public relations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbyists
Numerous
reports chronicle the revolving door phenomenon.[42] A 2011 estimate
suggested that nearly 5,400 former congressional staffers had become
federal lobbyists over a ten-year period, and 400 lawmakers made a
similar jump.[46] It is a "symbiotic relationship" in the sense that
lobbying firms can exploit the "experience and connections gleaned from
working inside the legislative process", and lawmakers find a "ready
pool of experienced talent."[46] There is movement in the other
direction as well: one report found that 605 former lobbyists had taken
jobs working for lawmakers over a ten-year period.[46] A study by the
London School of Economics found 1,113 lobbyists who had formerly worked
in lawmakers' offices.[46] The lobbying option is a way for staffers
and lawmakers to "cash in on their experience", according to one
view.[28] Before the 1980s, staffers and aides worked many years for
congresspersons, sometimes decades, and tended to stay in their jobs;
now, with the lure of higher-paying lobbying jobs, many would quit their
posts after a few years at most to "go downtown."[28]
And it is
not just staffers, but lawmakers as well, including high-profile ones
such as congressperson Richard Gephardt. He represented a
"working-class" district in Missouri for many years but after leaving
Congress, he became a lobbyist.[80] In 2007, he began his own lobbying
firm called "Gephardt Government Affairs Group" and in 2010 it was
earning close to $7 million in revenues with clients including Goldman
Sachs, Boeing, Visa Inc., Ameren Corporation, and Waste Management
Inc..[80] Senators Robert Bennett and Byron Dorgan became lobbyists
too.[81] Mississippi governor Haley Barbour became a lobbyist.[82] In
2010, former representative Billy Tauzin earned $11 million running the
drug industry's lobbying organization. called the Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America.[80] Many former representatives
earned over $1 million in one year, including James Greenwood and Daniel
Glickman.
When getting access is difficult, there are ways to wear down the walls surrounding a legislator. Jack Abramoff explained:
Access
is vital in lobbying. If you can't get in your door, you can't make
your case. Here we had a hostile senator, whose staff was hostile, and
we had to get in. So that's the lobbyist safe-cracker method: throw
fundraisers, raise money, and become a big donor.
—Lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobbying...
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