Lobbying,
Good or Bad?
Lobbying is defined as: “1.) To try
to influence (an official) to take a desired action. and 2.) To try to
influence public officials on behalf of or against (proposed legislation.”(The
American 350). The concept of lobbying has been around since ancient times; but
as far as it’s known, the first time it appeared in print was in 1820. “Other
letters from Washington affirm, that members of the Senate . . . "lobbying
about the Representatives' Chamber" but also . . . by insulting threats to
dissolve the Union. – April 1, 1820”(Gelak 5). Political Lobbyists have
become more and more prevalent over the years, and have really taken off since
the 1970’s. Lobbying is a very controversial topic, and is often seen in a negative
light by the American public and journalists. It is an excellent method for
persuading lawmakers, but like every good thing in government it has its flaws
and most of the focus is generally placed on the flaws. It is commonly
misunderstood.
At this time, “Texas has more than 2,200
registered lobbyists.”(Stiles 1). I had a friend comment to me a couple weeks
ago “When did voting with your back pocket because the norm?” While this
comment is not totally true, there is a good bit of truth to it; there is a
very large amount of money spent by lobbyists every year in Texas. The two
biggest contributors among Texas Lobbyists are Leslie Luther who spent $148,000
last year and Timothy Graves who spent $147,000 (Chang 1). The lobbyists in
Texas last year spent a total of $4,790,869 (Change 1). Most lobbyists work for
a company to lobby for that company in particular, or they work for a
company/firm that “rents” them out to others. The two companies with the largest amount of
Lobbyists on their payroll are AT&T at 101, and Energy Future Holdings
Corporation at 49 (Chang 1).
It
can definitely be agreed that there is a very large amount of money changing
hands between the lobbyists and the Congress men/women. And, yes, with that
significant outflow of cash there is a good chance that there is corruption and
buying of legislature votes involved.
The top five organizations in amounts spent for lobbying
from 1998 to 2008 are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ($427 million), the American
Medical Association ($195 million), General Electric ($178 million), the
American Hospital Association ($158 million) and AARP ($148 million) . . . The
Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America hire lobbyists. . . In the past three
years, guess which "special interest" spent more than $20 million on
"special interest" lobbying? The American Cancer Society (Davis 1).
Do these companies
simply have their greed in mind? No, most of these companies also strive to
help people. Lobbyists spend a large portion of their time with members of Congress
and their staffs providing factual and expert information about legislation
that affects their clients. As much as they would like to, it is impossible for
Congressmen/women to know everything they need to know about every issue. The
Lobbyists provide crucial information the members of Congress need to make a
more educated decision.
As sensational as stories on
government corruption may be, we must never allow ourselves to be influenced by
these stories past the point of using them to keep ourselves sharp and informed.
Almost the only stories you will read, see, or hear from the media on Lobbying
are going to be negative. There is a good amount of under-the-table money
exchange going on, but we need to refrain from throwing out a good thing
because of the bad. The government is already taking steps to regulate
Lobbying, and one of the only steps that is lacking is more clarity in Lobbyist
spending. Having out members of Congress informed on the current issues is
definitely incentive enough to keep the concept of Lobbying around.
Davis, Lanny. “Lobbyists
Are Good People, Too.” Huffingtonpost.com.
The Huffington Post, 17 Nov. 2008. Web. 29 March 2012
Chang, Chris,
and Stiles, Matt. “Texas Lobbying Spending.” Texastribune.org. The Texas Tribune, 13 Sep. 2011. Web. 29 March
2012
Stiles, Matt.
“Texas Lobbyist’s Directory.” Texastribune.org.
The Texas Tribune, 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 29 March 2012
Gelak, Deanna. Lobbying
and Advocacy: Winning Strategies, Resources, Recommendations, Ethics and
Ongoing Compliance for Lobbyists and Washington Advocates. Thecapitol.net. The Capitol.Net, 2008. Web. 29 March 2012
The American
Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin
Company. 2009. Print
