How Lobbying Is Changing
There is lobbying, and then there is lobbying. One of the most
difficult things about regulating lobbying is defining what it means
to lobby. And according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/opinion/edsall-the-unlobbyists.html&q…; target="”_blank”">an
op-ed piece last week in the New York <i>Times</i></a> by journalism
professor Thomas D. Edsall, it is getting harder to define lobbying.
Those who are paid to indirectly affect societal decisions that
affect clients and their goals have found ways to do their work
without having to register as lobbyists and, therefore, without
having to file disclosures or follow rules.<br>
<br>
This creativity is a response not only to the increased regulation
and sanctions of the <a href="http://www.fec.gov/law/feca/s1legislation.pdf" target="”_blank”">Honest
Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007.</a> It is also,
according to Edsall, a response to the ending of earmarks, which put
a lot of lobbyists out of a job, and to the change among federal
legislators toward a focus on their constituents and on fundraising. Independent expenditures are also an increasingly important way of funding campaigns, allowing for more indirect involvement in campaigns by lobbyists.<br>
<br>
The most important new area of lobbying is known as "strategic
advice," which Edsall defines as "how to convince and mobilize
voters and opinion elites in support of a client’s agenda." In other
words, strategic advisers are speaking not directly to legislators
and their aides, but rather to the public and to those who affect
public opinion, including those who independently support and oppose candidates and legislation.<br>
<br>
Strategic advisers do things such as planning out legislative and independent
campaigns and drives to affect the implementation of regulations;
determining which officials and agencies to deal with; and proposing
potential coalition partners. They do this without making direct
contact with officials. They make use of their knowledge rather than
their contacts, or at least their contacts who still in government (many, like them, are on the outside, at least at the moment).<br>
<br>
As one of the leading strategic advisers, Ed Gillespie, is quoted as
saying, “What we do mostly is just public relations and strategic
communications advice and guidance for a lot of different clients,
trade associations and corporate America.” Or as another strategic
adviser, Anita Dunn, is quoted as saying, advisers help companies
and nonprofits "to craft effective communications strategies.”<br>
<br>
In a world where public relations and marketing have become
all-important, strategic advisers are meta-lobbyists. They work at a
level above lobbyists, creating the strategies that lobbyists
(companies, as well as their external representatives, are
considered lobbyists when they seek to affect government decisions)
employ.<br>
<br>
Edsall cites <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/downloads/Lobbyists_2012.pdf" target="”_blank”">a
study by Dan Auble</a>, a senior researcher at the Center for
Responsive Politics, called “Lobbyists 2012: Out of the Game or
Under the Radar?” which contends that lobbyists are purposely
changing their modus operandi. Edsall also cites a <a href="http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/11/25/how-much-lobbying-is-ther…; target="”_blank”">November
report</a> by Tim LaPira, done for the Sunlight Foundation, which
estimates that for every registered lobbyist there is at least one
“shadow lobbyist” who is “getting paid to influence public policy”
without making any public disclosures.<br>
<br>
These "shadow lobbyists" are involved in grass-roots work, and
fake grass-roots "AstroTurf" work, as mobilizing
stockholders, suppliers, and trade association members to contact their representatives. The goal of affecting government
decisions is the same. The only difference is that it is being done
more indirectly.<br>
<br>
Edsall supplies a more detailed description of the kind of work that
is done. It comes from <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/grass_roots_lobbying_tactics_evade_public_…; target="”_blank”">a
<i>Roll Call</i> piece last March by Kate Ackley</a>. Ackley wrote about
the DCI Group's work for the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
The Group scheduled “hundreds of Hill meetings and generated more
than 31,500 constituent calls to congressional offices,” along with
orchestrating “1,606 individualized contacts in target [Capitol
Hill] offices from small business owners.” The quotations come
from DCI Group's own "case study." The DCI Group campaign helped win
passage of legislation restricting the fees credit card companies
are permitted to charge merchants.<br>
<br>
Edsall quotes a very informative description of the work done by the
Glover Park Group:<blockquote>
“Old lines between public and private sector, journalist and
civilian, outside agitator and inside power broker are blurring. GPG
was built to help organizations navigate this shifting landscape. We
combine substantive understanding of complex issues with disciplined
execution of crisp influence campaigns that shape the way critical
audiences view our clients and their goals.”</blockquote>
It's not clear how much local work these firms do, but they are
likely to get involved whenever the stakes are high. This doesn't mean
that lobbying laws are worthless. It just means that local
governments need to take these changes into account when they are
drafting lobbying laws. I am finally beginning work on a lobbying
chapter to add to my book <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/ethics%20book" target="”_blank”"><i>Local
Government Ethics Programs</i></a>. I will certainly take these new
trends into account.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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