lobbying

The act of influencing, by argumentation, the course of action of a legislator.

For more information on lobbying, visit Britannica.com.

Lobbyists are people hired by groups or organizations with particular interests to convince members of Congress to pass or defeat legislation. They may work for business corporations, labor unions, executive branch agencies, foreign governments, or private or public interest groups. Although lobbyists were present during the 1st Congress—and in the British Parliament before that—the term did not come into use until the 1820s. As the name suggests, lobbyists often work the lobbies and corridors surrounding the House and Senate chamber, intercepting members and arguing their client's case. Maurice Rosenblatt, a lobbyist for many causes, described the job as “one man, one buttonhole. It is that personal eye-to-eye contact that has the maximum effect."

Because of scandals in which lobbyists employed questionable tactics to win legislation for special interests, they acquired a sinister image. Senator Norris Cotton (Republican-New Hampshire) considered this image unjust because most lobbyists perform a legitimate and necessary function by “presenting diverse social and economic viewpoints to Congress” and by providing legal knowledge and technical skills to help frame legislation. Since 1876 Congress has enacted increasingly tighter requirements for lobbyists to register and to identify their clients and fees. Many loopholes remain in these regulations, but Congress has been concerned that further limitations on lobbying might also restrict the constitutional rights of free speech and freedom to petition.

Rather than return to their home state, some former members of Congress stay in Washington as lobbyists, making use of their experience on Capitol Hill—and their floor privileges in the House and Senate chambers and access to the cloakrooms and dining rooms. George Smathers (Democrat–Florida) explained that as a former senator he could “get in to see senators a lot more quickly than you can if you're just a normal lobbyist.” Over time, however, former members often find that their advantages as lobbyists diminish as fewer of their old colleagues remain in office.

See also Floor privileges

Sources

• Robert C. Byrd, “Lobbyists”, in The Senate, 1789–1989: Addresses on the History of the United States Senate, vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1991).
• Margaret Susan Thompson, The “Spider' Web”: Congress and Lobbying in the Age of Grant (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1985)

Lobbies, groups of individuals acting for themselves or others who seek to influence the decisions of government officials, primarily by informal off-the-record communications and exchanges. Their tactics range from such high-pressure techniques as bribery, threats of electoral retaliation, and mass mailings to such low-pressure methods as supplying research and information in support of their views or testifying before Congressional committees. Intermediate forms of influence include campaign contributions and persuasion.

The objects and tactics of lobbying have shifted sharply in American history. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the typical lobbyist focused on the legislative arena and used high-pressure methods, including bribery, to influence legislators. The most notorious examples of illicit lobbying in the nineteenth century involved railroad lobbyists, who brazenly handed out checks to legislators on the floor of the House and Senate. By the 1950s many lobbyists had enlarged their focus to include the executive branch and shifted to soft-sell tactics. This shift in technique was a response to exposure of lobbying scandals at both state and national levels.

Congress began investigating lobbies in 1913 with a study of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Since that time there has been at least one major investigation in every decade. The investigations were followed first by piecemeal legislation and then, in Title III of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, by general legislation to regulate lobbies. These acts and subsequent legislation aim at control primarily through publicity, but many loopholes remain that permit lobbies such as the NAM and Washington, D.C. law firms to avoid registration and others to avoid full disclosure of their activities. While not eliminating lobbies, the investigations and legislation have encouraged lobbies to seek a lower profile by moving away from high-pressure methods.

With the rise of the executive branch as initiator of legislation and the growth of the administrative bureaucracy, the focus of lobbyists began to shift from legislative bodies to executive offices. As a corollary, the growing proportion of lobbying that occurs outside the legislative limelight reduces its overall visibility. Increasingly, chief executives and bureaucratic agencies lobby for legislative passage of bills they have initiated. They often appear to be the sole influence on legislation, even though it is not uncommon for regulatory agencies to be lobbying in the interests of the clientele they are supposed to be regulating. These changes have led critical observers to question the validity of distinguishing between private and public lobbies.

In the 1970s most lobbyists were still acting for associations with an economic interest—business, farm, labor, and the professions. Over half of all registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C. are specialized business associations such as the American Petroleum Institute and Aerospace Industries Association. Although multiinterest peak associations such as the AFL-CIO, the Farm Bureau Federation, and the NAM continue to lobby on a variety of congressional issues, critics of lobbying have moved on to new targets—for example, the "military-industrial complex" and the impact of corporate campaign contributions on executive policymaking. In addition to primarily economic lobbies, the twentieth century has seen major lobbying efforts by prohibition groups like the Anti-Saloon League, civil rights groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), reform groups like Common Cause, and peace groups like the National Peace Action Committee.

In the 1980s and 1990s social issues became a major focus of lobbying activity in Washington. For example, Christian evangelical organizations such as the Moral Majority lobbied Congress to outlaw abortion and legalize school prayer. In contrast, civil liberties groups such as People for the American Way lobbied Congress to maintain a strict separation of church and state, and the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) lobbied Congress to preserve abortion rights. The overall number of lobbies proliferated and included groups as diverse as teacher's unions, policemen, and scientists. Along with the rise in the number of lobbies, the amount of money spent by lobbies on political campaigns escalated enormously.

The late twentieth century also saw a dramatic increase in the role of lobbies in the Senate confirmation process. In 1987 the American Civil Liberties Union, NARAL, and other liberal lobbies vigorously opposed the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork. The lobbying campaign created a media firestorm, and after weeks of contentious hearings, the Senate rejected Bork's nomination. In the aftermath of the Bork controversy, lobbying organizations have become regular participants in Senate confirmation hearings.

By the 1990s public outcry against lobbies focused on their role in campaign finance. Virtually every major candidate for federal office in the United States relied on contributions from lobbies to finance their campaigns. The massive infusion of money into the political process led many Americans to conclude that lobbies and other political pressure groups threatened to corrupt democracy itself. By the early twenty-first century, the effort to reign in lobbies and reduce the role of money in politics had emerged as one of the principal issues in American political life.

Bibliography

Birnbaum, Jeffrey H. The Lobbyists: How Influence Peddlers Get Their Way in Washington. New York: Times Books, 1992.

Deakin, James. The Lobbyists. Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1966.

Hayes, Michael T. Lobbyists and Legislators: A Theory of Political Markets. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1981.

The process of influencing public and government policy at all levels: federal, state, and local.

Lobbying involves the advocacy of an interest that is affected, actually or potentially, by the decisions of government leaders. Individuals and interest groups alike can lobby governments, and governments can even lobby each other. The practice of lobbying is considered so essential to the proper functioning of the U.S. government that it is specifically protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people peaceably … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The practice of lobbying provides a forum for the resolution of conflicts among often diverse and competing points of view; provides information, analysis, and opinion to legislators and government leaders to allow for informed and balanced decision making; and creates a system of checks and balances that allows for competition among interest groups, keeping any one group from attaining a permanent position of power. Lobbyists can help the legislative process work more effectively by providing lawmakers with reliable data and accurate assessments of a bill's effect.

The role lobbyists play in the legislative arena can be compared to that of lawyers in the judicial arena. Just as lawyers provide the trier of fact (judge or jury) with points of view on the legal issues pertaining to a case, so do lobbyists provide local, state, and federal policymakers with points of view on public policy issues.

Although lobbying as a whole serves as a checks-and-balances safeguard on the legislative process, individual lobbyists are not necessarily equal. Unlike voters, who each get one vote, lobbyists vary in their degree of influence. The level of influence a lobbyist has over the legislative process is often proportional to the resources — time and money — the lobbyist can spend to achieve its legislative goal. Some people think lobbyists in general have too much power. During his 1912 campaign for president, Woodrow Wilson remarked, "The government of the United States is a foster child of the special interests. It is not allowed to have a will of its own."

The term lobbyist has been traced to the mid-seventeenth century, when citizens would gather in a large lobby near the English House of Commons to express their views to members of Parliament. In the early nineteenth century, the term lobby-agent had come to the United States, where it was applied to citizens seeking legislative favors in the New York Capitol lobby, in Albany. By 1832 it had been shortened to lobbyist and was widely used at the U.S. Capitol.

Today lobbyists practice their trade not only in the halls of the U.S. Capitol and the corridors of state legislatures, but also on playgrounds, in boardrooms, in manufacturing plants, at cocktail parties, and in retirement homes. Contemporary lobbying methods include campaigns to mobilize constituents at the grassroots level, political action committees, high-tech communication techniques, and coalitions among groups and industries sharing the same political goals. Today's lobbyists include schoolchildren who want to prevent their favorite neighborhood park from becoming a shopping mall, corporations who contribute to a particular legislator's campaign, lawyers who speak with legislators on behalf of their clients' business interests, cities who lobby the state legislature for changes in transportation laws, presidential aides who suggest new amendment language to congressional committee members, retired persons who want to save their government benefits, and many others. Each type of lobbyist attempts to win support for a particular point of view.

Samuel Ward, a well-respected lobbyist, was so successful at influencing legislators that in the mid-1800s Congress decided to investigate him. When questioned about the elegant dinners he orchestrated for politicians, the self-described King of the Lobby said, "At good dinners people do not talk shop, but they give people a right, perhaps, to ask a gentleman a civil question and get a civil answer."

Despite the noncorrupt success of lobbyists such as Ward, lobbyists during the mid-nineteenth century were often regarded as ethically questionable individuals. This reputation was enhanced whenever lobbyists abused their position with improper practices such as bribing members of Congress.

Although lobbying is specifically protected by the Constitution, numerous attempts have been made to regulate it — attempts that, not surprisingly, lobbyists have historically resisted. Congress began efforts to reform lobbying in 1907, when it banned campaign contributions from banks and corporations. In 1911 proposed restrictions on domestic lobbying were first considered, but these were not approved until 1946, when Congress passed the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act (2 U.S.C.A. §§ 261, 261 note, 262-270 [1946]).

In 1954 lobbyists challenged the Regulation of Lobbying Act for being unconstitutionally vague and unclear. In United States v. Harriss, 347 U.S. 612, 74 S. Ct. 808, 98 L. Ed. 989, the Supreme Court responded by upholding the act's constitutionality, but also by narrowing the scope and application of the act. The Court ruled that the act applies only to paid lobbyists who directly communicate with members of Congress on pending or proposed federal legislation. This means that lobbyists who visit with congressional staff members rather than members of Congress themselves are not considered lobbyists. In addition, the act covers only attempts to influence the passage or defeat of legislation in Congress, and excludes other congressional activities. Further, the act applies to and restricts only individuals who spend at least half of their time lobbying.

According to the 1946 act, lobbyists to whom the law applies are required to disclose their name and address; the names and addresses of clients for whom they work; how much they are paid and by whom; the names of all contributors to the lobbying effort and the amount of their contributions; an accounting of all money received and expended, specifying to whom it was paid and for what purposes; the names of any publications in which the lobbyists have caused articles or editorials to be published; and the particular legislation they have been hired to support or oppose. In addition, the act requires lobbyists to file registration forms with the clerk of the House of Representatives and the secretary of the Senate prior to engaging in lobbying. These forms must be updated in the first ten days of each calendar quarter for as long as the lobbying activity continues. Violation of the act is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 or a jail sentence of up to twelve months, and a three-year prohibition on lobbying.

Although a number of lobbying statutes have been enacted that regulate special situations— such as lobbying by the agents of foreign governments, employees of holding companies, and firms affected by various federal shipping laws — the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act remains the only comprehensive law governing the practice of lobbying.

Critics of the 1946 act suggest that its effectiveness is limited, since it does not apply to a large part of the population that actually lobbies the government. In fact, in 1991 the General Accounting Office found that nearly 10,000 of the 13,500 individuals and organizations listed in a popular lobbyist directory were not registered under the 1946 act.

In 1995 Congress passed a law designed to close loopholes in the 1946 law by increasing lobbyists' accountability: the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (Pub. L. No. 104-65, 109 Stat. 691). Under the new law, individuals who receive at least $5,000 in a six-month period from a single client are required to register with the clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate, listing the congressional chambers and federal agencies they contacted, the issues they lobbied for, and how much money was spent on the effort. The reporting requirements also apply to organizations whose own employees lobby on their behalf and spend at least $20,000 in a six-month period on that effort.

Besides these federal regulations, states may separately enact their own regulations governing state lobbying. Most lobby restrictions involve reporting and registration provisions similar to those in place at the federal level.

See: election campaign financing.

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