Text 4 What is the role of the lobbyist?

Special-interest groups play an important role in American politics. These organizations try to exert pressure on Congress (or on any governmental body) to pass, defeat, or interpret legislation to their own advantage. Groups that play this political game are called pressure groups or lobbies.

People join pressure groups because they share a common interest. Business, farming, and professional organizations, for example, send people called lobbyists to Washington to promote their economic interests. Special-interest groups can spend millions known as “soft money” promoting a particular policy in a state or a district at election time, without mentioning any particular candidate and thus escaping all restrictions.

“Soft money” is the best kind because it escapes all regulations.

Pressure groups work hard to elect members of Congress who are favorable to their causes. Because of this, the law limits the amount of money a pressure group can give to a political campaign. This limitation has led to the creation of separate money-giving groups called political action committees (PACs). At the present time, PACs are pouring millions of dollars into the campaign chests of Congressional candidates. Typical PACs represent realtors, doctors, tobacco farmers, auto workers, and about 3,000 other special-interest groups.

Lobbyists employ a variety of methods to influence legislation. Some of their techniques are as follows:

1. Communications. Lobbyists often organize campaigns to flood Congress with telegrams, letters, personal visits, and telephone calls. These communications are meant to convince the lawmakers that the public supports the lobbyists’ position on a particular bill.

2. Contributions. “Money is the mother’s milk of politics,” said Tip O’Neill, Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 70s. Thus, a good lobbyist knows how to keep friendly lawmakers well nourished. Along with cash donations to their campaigns, lobbyists often provide a variety of useful services. Legislators running for reelection, for example, may receive help for their campaigns from “volunteers” lined up by lobbyists.

3. Social contacts. Entertaining politicians has always been a favorite lobbying technique. Parties, dinners, and “nights on the town” help cement the friendships and create the obligations that are the stock-in-trade or the lobbyist.

4. Sanctions. Lobbyists have ways of “punishing” members of Congress who refuse to cooperate. They can cut off campaign contributions or throw their support to a lawmaker’s opponent.

5. Demonstrations. Pressure groups often organize protest marches and picket lines to enforce their demands.

In order to be welcome in a lawmaker’s office, lobbyists must do more than hand out gifts and services. They must develop an expertise in their field that makes their opinions valuable. The success of a pressure group also depends on its size, prestige, leadership skills, and financial resources.

Task 1. Answer the following questions:

1. Why are special-interest groups called pressure groups?

2. What makes people join pressure groups?

3. In what way does the law limit the amount of money a pressure group can give to a political campaign?

4. What methods do lobbyists employ to influence legislation?

5. What does the success of a pressure group depend on?