Loby Ethics

Lobbying

Lobbying is the specialized practice of public affairs advocacy, with the goal of influencing a governing body by promoting a point of view. A lobbyist is a person who is paid to influence legislation as well as public opinion. Most major corporations and political interest groups hire professional lobbyists to promote their interests as intermediaries; others maintain in-house government relations or public affairs departments. Think tanks aim to lobby through regular releases of detailed reports and supporting research to the media for dissemination.

A separate form of lobbying, called outside lobbying or grassroots lobbying, seeks to affect the legislature or other bodies indirectly, through changing public opinion. A modification of the same, aimed to leaders and influential persons in the community, is known as grass tops.

Lobbying is in many countries a regulated activity, with limits placed on how it is conducted, in an attempt to prevent political corruption. In the United States for example, lobbyists must be registered unless they represent an elected official, or an organization of elected officials, such as the National Governors Association, as well as conform to a number of other disclosures.

Lobbying in the United States Congress

The Oxford English Dictionary contains various references to the use of the word lobby and even lobbyist in reference to people and acts related to the influencing of political figures, which date from earlier periods. Lobbyists in the United States target the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures. They may also represent their clients' or organizations' interests in dealings with federal, state, or local executive branch agencies or the courts. Lobbyists sometimes also write legislation and whip bills.

This tradition began during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant, who served as president between 1869 and 1877. Not allowed to smoke in the White House by his wife, Grant enjoyed his cigars in the lobby of the nearby Willard Hotel. Having been spotted there often, politicians and other wanting political favors began to frequent him during this time of repose, while he was in high spirits.

In July 2005, Public Citizen published a report entitled The Journey from Congress to K Street": the report analyzed hundreds of lobbyist registration documents filed in compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act and the Foreign Agents Registration Act, among other sources. It found that since 1998, 43 percent of the 198 members of Congress who left government to join private life have registered to lobby. The Washington Post described these results as reflecting the sea change that has occurred in lawmakers' attitudes toward lobbying in recent years. The paper noted that

Congressional historians say that lawmakers rarely became lobbyists as recently as two decades ago. They considered the profession to be tainted and unworthy of once-elected officials such as themselves. And lobbying firms and trade groups were leery of hiring former members of Congress because they were reputed to be lazy as lobbyists, unwilling to ask former colleagues for favors. But starting in the late 1980s, high salaries for lobbyists, an increasing demand for lobbyists, greater turnover in Congress, and a change in the control of the House all contributed to a change in attitude about the appropriateness of former elected officials becoming lobbyists. (Goldstein 1)

Former lawmakers are eagerly hired as lobbyists because of their relationships with their former colleagues as well as other contacts. The Public Citizen report included a case study of one particularly successful lobbyist, Bob Livingston, who stepped down as Speaker-elect and resigned his seat in 1999 after a sex scandal. In the six years since his resignation, his lobbying group grew into the 12th largest non-law lobbying firm, earning nearly $40 million by the end of 2004. During roughly the same time period, Livingston, his wife, and his two political action committees (PACs) contributed over $500,000 to the PACs or campaign funds of various candidates.

The increasing number of former lawmakers becoming lobbyists has led Senator Russ Feingold (D, WI) to propose paring back the many Capitol Hill privileges enjoyed by former senators and representatives. His plan would deprive lawmakers-turned-lobbyists of privileges such as unfettered access to otherwise "members only" areas such as the House and Senate floors and the House gym.

Most recently the scandal involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has inspired the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006, a bill debated on the Senate floor in March 2006. According to Time Magazine article in its April 10th issue, the Senate passed legislation the first week of April 2006 to reform U.S. lobbying practices. The Senate bill: bars lobbyists themselves from buying gifts and meals for legislators, but it leaves a big loophole: firms and organizations represented by those lobbyists may still dole out freebies; Privately funded trips would still be allowed if lawmakers get prior approval from a commissioned ethics committee; It would also require lobbyists to file more frequent, more detailed reports on their activities, which would be posted in public domains.

Critics of the bills proposed from both the House and Senate like Fred Wertheimer, head of the nonpartisan Democracy 21 watchdog group, say the bills leave lobbyists free to function in Congress exactly the way they have been functioning.

(Goldstein 1)

Government regulation of lobbying

Washington, D.C., is a home to about 100 conservative advocacy groups lobbying on issues ranging from as defending the family to lowering taxes. The sector boasts over 5,000 paid staff and more than a billion dollars annual expenditure. Yet Canada, with a population 11% of the U.S., has only a handful of such groups, most of which are run by volunteers with shoestring budgets.

Cases on ethical issues concerning lobbying in congress

Congress has had a role in the management of America's National Forests for more than 100 years, beginning with its enactment of the 1891 Forest Reserve Act, which gave the President the authority to set aside forested lands as preserves, and the 1905 law that created the Forest Service (USFS) to oversee these lands. Since then, Congress has had the potential to affect greatly how the agency operates and manages the National Forests. Congressional involvement in Forest Service activities can take a variety of forms. It can impose new statutory obligations on the agency