Blog #4

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