According to the American Heritage Dictionary, lobbying is the practice and profession of influencing governmental decisions, carried out by agents who present the concerns of special interests to legislators and administrators. The term originated in the United States of the 1830s, when representatives of interest groups tended to congregate in the lobbies of Congress and state legislatures. The term is now used in a broader sense to include attempts to influence any governmental actions. Why then are so many Americans calling for reform of corporate lobbyists? The answer is simple, in light of recent events from lobbyists, like Jack Abramoff, there needs to be a system of rules and procedures governing the lobbyists, politicians, and corporations that are supposed to be self-regulating.
The “Right to Petition” is repeatedly affirmed in the Declaration of Independence, post revolutionary federal and state constitutions, and the Bill of Rights. In Colonial America, written petitions to local governments were simple, brief, and always answered. A stark contrast from the over complicated and tidal wave of letters, calls, and events facing today’s legislators. In response to concerns of corruption, there have been many attempts at lobbying reform through the years: 1876 resolution requiring all lobbyists to register with the House Clerk, the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946, and the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.
Even with such legislations in place, as the LDA, the news has been littered with the repugnant actions of corrupt lobbyists, such as Jack Abramoff. Abramoff, who is praised by “right-wing” conservatists as merely being patriotic and a good friend, plead guilty and was convicted of tax evasion, fraud, and conspiracy to bribe public officials. He was not simply doing his job or giving into his human nature, as republican conservatists report. Abramoff was in direct violation of the LDA, and with statements made by the Right concerning Abramoff’s actions as “natural” and “looking out for friends as any American does,” leads me to be concerned as to how many more lobbyist like him are out there.
Present day lobbyists serve their clients at local, state, and federal levels. Lobbyists use time spent with legislators to explain the goals of the organizations they represent and the obstacles elected officials face when dealing with the clients’ issues. Professional lobbyists develop working relationships with legislators over time and these lobbyists contact legislators and their staff incessantly. One reason why these lobbyists are so effective is that many are former lawmakers and White House staff. While lobbying can be crucially important for many non-profit organizations, such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, many Americans feel corporate lobbying is overpowering the needs of the American people and undermining the policies passed by lawmakers.
All one has to do to get the public’s view on corporate lobbying is to logon to any online forum discussion, blog site, or walk into any neighborhood diner and the consensus is corporate lobbying drowns the voice of the people while fattening the pockets of the politicians. Ethics need to be indoctrinated into the government at such a level that one would believe Arthur Dobrin himself was watching them:
Do no harm to the earth; she is your mother. Being is more important than having. Never promote yourself at another’s expense. Hold life sacred; treat it with reverence. Allow each person the dignity of his or her labor. Open your home to the wayfarer. Be ready to receive your deepest dreams; Sometimes they are the speech of unlighted conscience. Always make restitutions to the ones you have harmed. Never think less of yourself than you are. Never think that you are more than another.
Citizens like John Florez feel as though the People’s House is nothing more than a brothel to lobbyists. The average American cannot match the dollar amount corporations spend on lobbying firms to push their special interests to legislators. The public is looking for statesmen in a nation filled with politicians.
Statesmen, are by definition those who exercise political leadership wisely and without narrow partisanship. Such statesmen still exist in congress. As Congressmen Rahm Emanuel of Illinois states:
When the Speaker's gavel comes down, it's intended to open the People's House, and lately it's looking like the Auction House… Whether it's an energy bill that gives more $8 billion to the oil and gas interests while oil's at $64 a barrel, whether it's a corporate tax bill solving a $5 billion problem with a $150 billion solution, whether it's a pharmaceutical, prescription drug bill where the industry gave $132 million and walked away with $135 billion in additional profits.
Statesmen are those political leaders who still care and work for the whole of the American people, not just those in high income tax brackets. Congressman Bob Eckhardt served as an ideal statesman by writing laws with exact purpose and overseeing administrating those laws with little regard to personal political consequence. Eckhardt knew that weak, poorly written laws could either be gutted by the executive branch or lead to unintended consequences. Politicians, on the other hand, are diametrically opposite in their actions when compared to a true statesman.
The politicians have a vested interest in corporate lobbying stating that the campaign funding from lobbyists help to ensure their political seats and ensure that they are able to serve their constituencies. Money buys viability. As of 2002, the average cost to win a seat in the Senate costs $5 million and just over $966 thousand to win a seat in the House. Many politicians also argue that lobbying is a legal part of the American system of government and that set laws are in place to monitor lobbyist activities and politicians’ acceptance of monies from firms. Senator John McCain received $1,516,980 in PAC contributions in 2008 into his campaign funds. The irony is the self-regulation placed on legislators. What state would our nation be in if all Americans were allowed to self-regulate? Lobbying reform legislations are in place to prevent corruption, and yet only on a minimal level because legislators are expected to self-regulate. This kind of self-regulation has proven ineffective when government agencies report that the majority of required documentation of lobbyist activities from legislators never gets filed.
Politicians also must look at their career after being in office. Most still want to be involved in what transpires on Capitol Hill and the easiest and highest paying way is to work for lobbying firms after serving in office. In return, firms get lobbyists who already have established connections in the federal government and whose résumés can act as a powerful draw for potential clients. This concept is known as the “revolving door.” The lobbying firm of Patton Boggs LLP is currently ranked number one with its revolving door employing 84 former federal government workers and having 52 former employees now working in the federal government. The total number of former federal government employees now working at one of the top twenty ranked lobbying firms is 786. Even more astounding is that the total number of former lobbyists in the top twenty lobbying firms now working in the federal government is 596. With so much back-scratching going on big corporations cannot help but to involve themselves in such a lucrative process.
What corporations are looking for from the government is assistance with both maximizing revenue and responding to government actions, such as new regulations, that firms believe impact revenue and cost. An example of this would be a new pollution regulation that may directly affect the profitability of coal producing companies, leading them to mobilize politically. Another example would be firms being hurt by foreign competition might seek government-imposed protective tariffs. Perhaps a more realistic and recent example would be best.
Blackwater Worldwide, now known as XE, is currently the largest of the US State Department's three private security contractors. Blackwater provided security services in Iraq to the United States federal government, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency on a contractual basis. They no longer have a license to operate in Iraq: the new Iraqi government made multiple attempts to expel them from their country, and denied their application for an operating license in January 2009 due to Blackwater operatives killing without cause, endangering US military troops, and giving false statements to the House Oversight Committee. However, the company is still under contract with the State Department and some Blackwater personnel will likely remain working illegally in Iraq at least until September 2009.
What is most disturbing is that Blackwater Worldwide CEO, Erik Prince, collaborates with Paul Behrends of Alexander Strategy Group, one of the most powerful lobbyist firms on Capitol Hill. Behrends, a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve lieutenant colonel, had been a senior national security adviser to California Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Rohrabacher, known as a fan of various U.S. backed “freedom fighters,” traveled to Afghanistan in 1988, personally joining the mujahedeen in the fighting against the Soviet forces before being officially sworn into Congress. It was not surprising when Blackwater became one of the first private military firms contracted to conduct operations inside Afghanistan after 9/11.
It is incidents like these involving big corporations, such as Blackwater, and their hired lobbying firms that not only influence legislation, but also that endanger American citizens, and violate not only congressional but also moral and ethical laws as well. There comes a time when Americans should not only question authority but demand answers and action.
As American citizens, we find ourselves in the situation of asking, “Where has the democracy gone?” I realize that we, the people, exercise democracy when we elect our legislators to government positions but then those legislators, who are supposed to represent the will of the people, carry out regulations and reforms aimed more at the protection and preservation corporate America. It is our need to petition our legislators to reform not only lobbying registers, but also reform the amount of money allowed to be funded to politicians’ campaigns. The final reform should come in the form of restricting employment between lobbying firms and working for the federal government, thus ending the “revolving door.” Politicians, lobbying firms, and corporations need to be held accountable to ensure that the American people are not left without a voice or representation in a government that is supposed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people.
