Lobbying

Question 1

an introduction to lobbying

Answer 1

• lobbying is 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.
• the activity of lobbying has been interpreted by court rulings as free speech and is therefore protected by the Constitution
• since the 1970s, lobbying activity has grown immensely in terms of the numbers of lobbyists and the size of lobbying budgets
• A report in ‘The Nation’ in 2014 suggested that while the number of 12,281 registered lobbyists was a decrease since 2002, lobbying activity was increasing and “going underground” as lobbyists use “increasingly sophisticated strategies” to obscure their activity.
• Analyst James Thurber estimated that the actual number of working lobbyists was close to 100,000 and the industry in $9 billion annually

Question 2

methods and techniques of lobbying

Answer 2

• well-connected lobbyists work in Washington for years, know the issues, are highly skilled advocates, and have cultivated close connections with members of Congress, regulators, specialists, and others
• they understand strategy and have excellent communication skills
• lobbyists patiently cultivate networks of powerful people over the years, trying to build trust and maintain confidence and friendships
• when a client hires them to push a specific issue or agenda, they usually form coalitions to exert political pressure
• lobbyists often assist congresspersons with campaign finance by arranging fundraisers, assembling PACs, and seeking donations from other clients.
• many lobbyists become campaign treasurers and fundraisers for congresspersons
• congresspersons have to spend approximately a third of their working hours on fundraising activity
• according to Jack Abramoff, one of the best ways to “get what he wanted” was to offer a high-ranking congressional aide a high-paying job after they decided to leave public office. When such a promise of future employment was accepted, according to Abramoff, “we owned them”

Question 3

what is the Revolving Door?

Answer 3

• is the movement of personnel between roles as legislators and regulators and the industries affected by the legislation and regulation.
• often congressman or aides to Congressmen move from a role in politics to a lobbying role for a private firm.
• this leads to accusations that this exploits contacts developed during a period in public office e.g. former congressman trying to influence former boss

Question 4

example of revolving door regarding potential conflicts of interest

Answer 4

• investment banking firm Goldman Sachs was criticised in 2008 for engaging in ‘revolving door’ tactics.
• large number of former Goldman Sachs employees in the US government has been referred to as “Government Sachs”
• former treasury secretary Paulson was a former CEO of Goldman Sachs
• additional controversy attended the selection of former Goldman Sachs lobbyist Mark Patterson as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, despite Obama’s campaign promise that he would limit the influence of lobbyists in his administration.
• in February 2011, the Washington Examiner reported that Goldman Sachs was “the company from which Obama raised the most money in 2008” and that its “CEO Lloyd Blankfein has visited the White House 10 times”

Question 5

over a ten year period, approximately how many former congressional staffers had become fed era lobbyists?

Answer 5

• a 2011 estimate suggested 5,400
• and 400 law makers made a similar jump
• 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 “read pool of experience talent”.

Question 6

over a ten year period, approximately how many former lobbyists had taken jobs working for lawmakers?

Answer 6

• 605
• a study by London School of Economics found 1,113 lobbyists who had formerly worked in lawmakers offices
• the lobbying option is a way for staffers and lawmakers to “cash in on their experience”
• after the 1980s the lure of higher-paying lobbying jobs means many quit their posts as staffers and aides for congresspersons after a few years to “go downtown” (become a lobbyists)

Question 7

give examples of a high-profile lawmakers that become lobbyists

Answer 7

• congressperson Dick Gephardt
• he represented a “working-class” district in Missouri for many years but after leaving Congress, he became a lobbyist.
• 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..
• Senators Robert Bennett and Byron Dorgan became lobbyists too
• Mississippi governor Haley Barbour became a lobbyist
• in 2010, former representative Billy Tauzin earned $11 million running the drug industry’s lobbying organisation called the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

Question 8

more examples of people becoming lobbyists

Answer 8

• a top aide to a Republican congressman from Arizona became a lobbyists just weeks after leavening his government job
• a former counsel to Democrats of the House Financial Services Committee left his government salary behind in january 2012 and months afterward he became a lobbyists for financial industry clients

Question 9

some of the controversies revolving around lobbying

Answer 9

• Federal ethic rules are intended to limit lobbying by former senior officials within one year after they leave the government. Yet even after the ethics rules were revised in 2007 following a lobbying scandal, more than 1,650 congressional aides have registered to lobby within a year of leaving Capitol Hills, according to an analysis by The New York Times of data from LegiStorm
• the rules are particularly loose in the HoR where aides and lawmakers enjoy significant leeway in hopping from job to job- some aides resist pay raises, to keep their salaries just below the cutoff that would prompt lobbying restrictions
• former House aides can continue socialising with lawmakers, working on campaigns and attending committee hearings while representing private clients as a lobbyist.

Question 10

concerns about the revolving door

Answer 10

• the effortless way former staff members avoid the one-year ban raises new concerns about the revolving door.
• Some say it fosters a clubby culture in Washington, where lawmakers and their aides might seek to protect Wall Street and other industries like health care from new rules and legislation
• the resulting widespread use of loopholes is disheartening to former lawmakers who tried, but failed, to enact more radical changes

Question 11

2007 updated ethic rules from Congress

Answer 11

• updated in the wake of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, which included illegal influence between a lawmaker and a former aide
• it drafted tighter restrictions on the revolving door, arguing that a broader ban lasting two years might curb conflicts of interest in Washington

Question 12

what is the percentage of lobbyists who were former government employees ?

Answer 12

• 2012: 44%
• 1998: 18%
  (Sunlight Foundation study)

Question 13

Doug Hampton case

Answer 13

• was a former aide to senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to violating the one-year ban
• Michael P. Korton, the chief spokesman for the F.B.I said “Unless the violation is brought to our attention, [punishment] it is hard to enforce”

Question 14

Mr. Tully and the Revolving Door

Answer 14

• one day after the leaving the House, Mr. Tully became an internal lobbyist for a Pennsylvania-based private mortgage insurer
• Yet in his new role as a lobbyists, he as free to communicate with the staff in his former boss’s office
• at one point, while attending a House hearing on housing legislation, he emailed on of Mr. Schweikert’s staff members, accordion to a Congressional aide with direct knowledge of the matter

Question 15

Larry Lavender and the Revolving Door

Answer 15

• spun through the revolving door due to the blurring of lines between roles
• he spent five hears as chief of staff to the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee at the time, Representative Spencer Bachus, a longtime friend from Alabama
• he earned $172,500 in his final full year on the Hill, fit squarely into the one-year ban’s allowances for campaigning and socialising

Question 16

problems with revolving door

Answer 16

• some analysts have concluded that revolving door lobbying is becoming an increasing problem
• according to the Sunlight Foundation: “Revolving Door Lobbyists are taking over K-Street”
• “The surge in the number of former Capitol Hill staff and lawmakers moving to lobbying jobs has changed the face of lobbying in Washington” ^
• The New York Times also focused on the case of Matthew Tully, a top aide to Congressman David Schweikert, who had been working on changing the law that governs how most home mortgages are issued in the US
• though Tully’s actions did not break the law, they represent the many loopholes in an ethics rule that is supposed to prevent senior-level staff members from immediately using their connections to benefit private companies.

Question 17

The Washington Post - ‘The revolving door between Congress and K Street is moving faster than ever’, by Chris Cillizza January 22 2014

Answer 17

• lobbying revenue almost doubled between 1998-2012, reaching more that $1 billion by the end of that period
• revenues from lobbyists with no government experience started steady over the 14-year period that Sunlight monitored.
• revenues for lobbyists with government experience, on the other hand, soared more than 400 percent during that same period
• the growth in lobbyists comes heavily form those with prior government experience
• those hiring lobbyists these days prize previous experience in government above all else
• “previous government experience” is code for relationships with lawmakers and staff that, at least in theory, open doors and greases the legislative wheels
• Senators are currently banned from lobbying their former colleagues for two years and House members have to wait a year until they leave the chamber to begin lobbying.
• staffers face a one-year lobbying ban
• revolving door between Congress and lobbying is being used far more than ever before, the band may have slowed the move from public service to private sector but it has done nothing to end it