Lobbying in America

The terms “lobbying” and “lobbyist” were not generally used until around the middle of the nineteenth century in the United States. The root in these words refers to the lobby or hallway outside House and Senate chambers in the U.S. Capitol. It was also used to refer to hotel lobbies in Washington where petitioners and agents of influence congregated. Thus a senator coming out of the Senate chamber might be accosted politely by several lobbyists seeking to influence his vote on some measure. Or a president might be dining at the Willard Hotel, a few blocks from the White House, and make reference to the number of “lobbyists” hanging around in the hotel lobby, although, many lobbyists will take on the title of policy advocates, public relations consultants, or government affairs specialists. The noun “lobby” has been turned into a verb in this political context. Thus “to lobby” is to seek to influence legislators and government officials, and we call this lobbying even if there is no lobby in sight. The right to lobby is secured by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution, which protect the right of the people to petition the government for redress of grievances. State constitutions provide similar protections.

A lobbyist is usually defined as someone who is paid to influence legislators on behalf of a client or clients. Many businesses, especially larger corporations, employ lobbyists to represent them. For a fee, lobbyists push desired bills through the legislature or block unwanted ones. Clearly, those who can hire skilled lobbyists to shape public agenda often wield more influence than unorganized citizens, who rarely even follow state and regional governmental decision making.

Lobbyists perform useful functions for government. Lobbyists provide information for the decision makers of all three branches of government, we help educate and mobilize public opinion, we help prepare legislation and testify before legislative hearings, and we contribute a large share of the costs of campaigns.

The typical image is that of powerful, hard-nosed lobbyists who skillfully employ a combination of knowledge, persuasiveness, personal influence, charm, and money to influence legislators and bureaucrats. Many lobbyists are the employees of associations who try to influence policy decisions and positions in the executive and especially in the legislative branches of our government. Most lobbyists are regular employees of corporations, unions, or trade associations. Many are members of law firms; others are former state employees. We are experienced in the ways of government, often having been public servants before going to work for an organized interest group, association, or corporation. We might start as staff in Congress, perhaps on a congressional committee. Later, when our party wins the White House, we gain an administration post, often in the same policy area as our congressional committee work. After a few years in the administration, we are ready to make the move to lobbying, either by going to work for one of the interests we dealt with while in the government or by obtaining a position with a lobbying firm.

To members of Congress, the single most important thing lobbyists provide is money for their next reelection campaign. As put by political scientist David Mayhew, “Reelection underlies everything else.” Money from lobbyists has become instrumental in this driving need of incumbents. In addition, failure to support the opposition can enhance an incumbent’s chances of being reelected.

Lobbyists have been regarded as a kind of “third house” of Congress. Whereas the Senate and House are set up on a geographical basis, lobbyists represent people on the basis of interests and money. Small but important groups can sometimes get representation in the “third house” when they cannot get it in the other two. In a nation of vast and important interests, this kind of functional representation can be a useful supplement to geographical representation.

Beyond our central role in campaigns and elections, lobbyists provide another essential commodity to legislators: information of two important types, political and substantive. The political information provided by lobbyists includes such matters as who supports or opposes legislation and how strongly they feel. Substantive information such as the impact of proposed laws might not be available from any other source. Information is usually the key ingredient in gaining or losing a vote. Lobbyists are useful providers of such information to anyone who can influence the making of public policy. Lobbyists are strategists, tacticians, builders of coalitions among groups, experts, and communicators. We testify in committees, buttonhole lawmakers one-on-one, organize meetings between our clients and legislators, stage rallies and demonstrations, and try to put a favorable outlook though media coverage on our issues. Lobbyists often provide technical assistance on the drafting of bills and amendments, identify persons to testify at legislative hearings, and formulate questions to ask of administration officials at oversight hearings.

Effective lobbyists are specialists in both subject matter and legislative procedure. Lobbyists for organized interests know the schedule of general hearings, committee meetings, floor debates, and social events. We also know as much as possible about the legislators, their electoral support, their values, their hobbies, and who has their “ear.” We are present and prepared when our interests are affected. Lobbyists know how to influence legislators. Two rules lobbyists live by are: It’s a lot easier to kill a bill than to pass it, and work in such a way so that you have no permanent allies and no permanent enemies. Today’s opponents may tomorrow’s supporters.

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