Interest Groups in Texas
GOVT 2306
In this section we continue our look at
political organizations in the state.
Previously we looked at political
parties. Now we look at interest
groups.
Useful External Reading:
Texas Politics: Interest Groups
Texas Tribune Topics: Interest Groups
Along with political parties, interest
groups are private organizations that
attempt to influence public policies.
But they do so without seeking public
office, so they do not have to deal with
the electoral rules that condition the
nature of political parties.
Rather than only having two major political
parties, there are thousands of groups in
the state that focus on the needs of
discreet, isolated groups.
In addition, there are national interest
groups within the state that tie the
interests of state residents with those of
the nation as a whole.
Interest groups are central features of
government on the national state and local
level.
The best interest groups are able to influence
the actions of members of each of the branches
of government. Ideally they should be able to tie
each together closely so that any conflict
between the three is dissipated. If so, they can
ensure that public policy will favorable to their
specific interests.
Here are three stories about
interest groups in Texas to get
things going:
Why Texas businesses back reforming
the state’s criminal justice system.
This is an opinion piece written by the president
of the Texas Association of Business advocating
for increased use of probation for non-violent
offenders. This would help reduce the cost of
criminal justice in the state. The TAB is generally
argued to be the most powerful interest group
in the state. Click here for the TAB’s 2015
Legislative Priorities.
Why Texas Banned Tesla Motors
(Spoiler: Because we don’t have
campaign finance reform).
The author points out how the Texas
Automobile Dealers Association has
lobbied against allowing Tesla Motors to
sell its electric cars directly to customers. If
they can, what use is a car dealer?
Craft Brewers Celebrate New Beer
Laws.
The Texas Craft Brewers Guild cheered
passage of laws that allowed brewpubs to
distribute their beer easier. The Wholesale
Beer Distributors of Texas did not like the
changes because they threaten to
undermine their business.
Now – A definition
What is an interest group?
There are many definitions, here’s one
from the Encyclopedia Britannica: An
interest group, also called special interest
group or pressure group, any association
of individuals or organizations, usually
formally organized, that, on the basis of
one or more shared concerns, attempts to
influence public policy in its favour.
Where do they come from?
In GOVT 2305 we
discussed the origins of
interest groups and
focused on Federalist #10
where James Madison
talks about the inevitability
of interest groups – or
what he called factions.
Here is his definition of
faction:
By a faction, I understand a number of
citizens, whether amounting to a
majority or a minority of the whole,
who are united and actuated by some
common impulse of passion, or of
interest, adversed to the rights of
other citizens, or to the permanent and
aggregate interests of the community.
I’d suggest that the difference
between what he called a faction and
what we call an interest group is
simply one of organization.
A “faction” might be a group of people
that have similar interests while an
interest group is a legally established
organization that determines how best
to benefit those interests.
Often they are organized under rules contained
in the federal Internal Revenue Code. Since
these groups usually solicit contributions in
order to fund their activities they have to state
what they do, which may or may not qualify
them for tax exemptions.
Here’s a little detail from the Center for
Responsive Politics. More on this below when
we talk about the types of interest groups and
how they are organized.
James Madison claimed that there
were two principle reasons why
factions formed:
1 – We live in a free society and we have
the right to form peaceful assemblies and
petition government for a redress of
grievances would later be included in the
First Amendment.
2 – We live in a diverse, complex society
with a variety of interests. People have a
tendency to form groups that protect those
interests.
Beyond that, he argued that
forming into groups that are
antagonistic to each other is part
of our nature.
So strong is this propensity of
mankind to fall into mutual
animosities, that where no
substantial occasion presents itself,
the most frivolous and
fanciful distinctions have been
sufficient to kindle their unfriendly
passions, and excite their most
violent conflicts.
Translation: We’ll fight about
anything. It’s human nature.
But he does say that certain
differences are more likely than
others to lead to conflict.
. . . the most common and durable
source of factions has been the
various and unequal distribution of
property. Those who hold, and
those who are without property,
have ever formed distinct interests
in society.
The wealthy and not-so-wealthy
will always be in conflict.
But wealthy interests can also be in
conflict with each other.
A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a
mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with
many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in
civilized nations, and divide them into different
classes, actuated by different sentiments and
views. The regulation of these various and
interfering interests forms the principal task of
modern Legislation, and involves the spirit of
party and faction in the necessary and ordinary
operations of the Government.
As we will see soon enough, there are a
variety of business groups in the state (in
addition to the various others), many of
these are in competition with each other
to influence the nature of public policy in
the state.
What benefits one does not benefit the
other.
If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief
is supplied by the republican principle, which
enables the majority to defeat its sinister views
by regular vote. It may clog the administration,
it may convulse the society; but it will be unable
to execute and mask its violence under the forms
of the Constitution. When a majority is included
in a faction, the form of popular government, on
the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its
ruling passion or interest both the public good
and the rights of other citizens.
Conflict has its benefits.
But this comes at a price
The more interest groups that
exist, the less dynamic government
can become.
A minority group “may clog the
administration” and “convulse the
society.” Either option is better
than tyranny, but it does have
consequences.
1 - It can lead to gridlock
2 – It can lead to unresponsive
government
The principle problem is that connected
groups may be able to establish politics
that benefit them and make it difficult for
those policies to be changed.
This can make it difficult for changes to be
made since those changes might
jeopardize the benefits already received by
groups.
We will discuss the following set of
relationships soon enough:
This helps explain why some
policies never change.
Mancur Olson, in a book entitled
the Rise and Decline of Nations,
argued that as societies develop,
strong special interest lobbies
evolve that make them less
efficient and dynamic.
“The thesis of this brilliant book is
that the longer a society enjoys
political stability, the more likely it
is to develop powerful specialinterest lobbies that in turn make it
less efficient economically.”
Jonathan Rauch builds on this idea
and calls it Demosclerosis.
He argues that the rise of interest
groups has led to a type of
paralysis in government.
Demosclerosis is democratic
government's progressive loss of
the ability to adapt.
Once programs are established,
groups that benefit from them
coalesce around the programs and
do what they can to keep it in
place as is.
Any change can jeopardize their
interests.
As we will see below, interest
groups (the good ones) are able to
cobble relationships with the
principle actors involved in a
program that benefits them, and
this is the mechanism that
enhances and maintains their
interests.
This involves a few things that can
be pretty unpopular.
One is that they pump a lot of money into the
political system. Interest groups are major
contributors to the campaigns of candidates for
elective office. A second is that they get involved
in lobbying and are able to establish very close
relationships with office holders, especially
those in the legislative and executive branches.
People who leave public officer
often wind up as well-paid
lobbyists. This helps strengthen the
relationship between interest
groups and governing institutions.
These relationships are given
names like “issue networks,” “subgovernments” or “iron triangles.”
And there are many of these
networks in government on each
level.
Texas included.
And there are indeed a large number
of interest groups in Texas. You saw
stories about a handful above.
Some of these are unique to Texas,
some of these are affiliated with
national groups. Some national groups
are based in Texas – socially
conservatives ones for example.
Here is one man’s list of the types
of groups that exist:
Business Groups and Trade Associations
Professional Associations
Organized Labor
Agricultural Groups
Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups
Religious Groups
Citizen, Advocacy and Cause Groups
A simpler way to approach this
question is to divide groups into these
two types: public and private.
The former attempt to obtain results that benefit the
general population and distribute benefits widely
(examples include groups that advocate for health,
education, or environmental issues). The latter looks
for results that benefit their members sometimes to
the detriment of others. Business and professional
groups often do so – some of the stories I opened with
give examples of this.
As we will see soon enough – groups that
organize around private benefits that can
be restricted from non-group members are
generally more powerful than those that
seek to promote the public good and offer
benefits that affect everyone.
Click here for an early explanation of this.
While this guarantees the existence of a
large number of interest groups, James
Madison argued that there was a benefit in
having multiple groups involved in the
political system.
The fewer the groups, the greater the
danger of tyranny of the majority. The
greater number of groups, the less
likelihood a permanent majority can
control all the branches of government.
But there is a key obstacle to
interest group formation, one that
not only makes it difficult for
certain groups to form, but that
creates an imbalance in what types
of interests are likely to be
effectively represented by a group.
The Free Rider Problem
While Madison argued that common
interests would bring people together
to form groups, he didn’t discuss a
central feature of human nature that
makes interest group formation
difficult:
If we can get something without
working for it, we will. That’s what it
means to be a free rider.
If everyone free rides, then an
interest group has no strength.
Moreover, the group may not even
form if there isn’t enough interest
to get one going.
Think about this: Are there any
groups effectively fighting for the
interests of students? Why not?
Generally an interest group begins
when an individual or group of
individuals figure out some way to get
people to overcome the tendency to
free ride and contribute time and
money to build up the group.
They have to figure out the incentives
to do so.
The solution – theoretically – is easy. If the
problem of group formation is the free
rider problem and that is based on the idea
that there is no need to join the group
since you’ll get the benefits of the group’s
effort anyway, then the answer is to figure
out how to provide things that only
members of the group will receive.
These are called selective benefits.
In order for a group to be formed,
there has to be a driving force
making it happen.
A political entrepreneur has to
develop incentives for people to
join the group. They have to
convince members to avoid the
temptation to free rider.
A key political entrepreneur in
Texas is James Leininger. Here’s
some information about him from
Source Watch:
Dr. James R. Leininger, "San Antonio physician
and hospital-bed magnate" is a "conservative
and devoutly religious Republican
businessman." Leininger is one of the biggest
funders of conservative causes in Texas.
During the decade 1987-1997, Leininger
"spent more than $1.4 million of his personal
fortune to affect how Texans vote and
another $3.2 million to change how Texans
think on political issues such as tort reform
and private school vouchers."
It then goes on to list the large
number of organizations founded
and/or funded by him.
Perhaps the most notable is the
Texas Public Policy Foundation, a
conservative think tank which
develops legislative proposals
among other things.
The Executive
Director of TPPF
is Arlene
Wohlgemuth
who served 10
years in the state
legislature.
The Director of
TPPF’s Center for
Fiscal Policy,
Talmadge Heflin,
also served in
the Texas
Legislature,
eleven terms.
Staff members of the TPPF
commonly spent time working in
the offices of members of state
legislature as well as the offices of
executive and judicial officials.
It part of the revolving door of
Texas politics.
Some national organization exist to
coordinate policy making in the
state legislatures.
Currently the most famous is the
American Legislative Exchange
Council.
All of this is possible because if
what Leininger was able to
accomplish by creating groups that
provided selective benefits for its
members.
A connection was created between
participation and the benefits
received.
A selective benefit is a reward or
punishment that fosters cooperation
among a group of people who might
otherwise free ride.
There are argued to be four
principle selective benefits that a
group can offer potential
members:
Material
Purposive
Solidary
Informational
Material
Members are encouraged to join
because they will receive material
benefits if they do so. Jobs or
business opportunities for
example.
Purposive
Joining the group helps one
advance a grand “purpose” such as
cleaner air, greater public morality,
or some other intangible reward.
Solidary
Joining the group puts one in touch
with other, similarly minded
people. Social options increse
Informational
The group makes its members
privy to information they cannot
get elsewhere.
Material interests tend to be the most effective
for organizing people. This makes sense if you
think about it. People are more likely to be
motivated by something that profits them than
by other concerns. This explains why business
groups are among the strongest in the state.
But other incentives can have an impact,
especially if it touches onto a part of an
individual’s value system.
But some interests are difficult to
organize at all.
This is what marks the difference
between strong interest groups
and weak ones. Weaker groups are
unable to offer incentives for
potential members that make it
worthwhile for them to join up.
Here’s an example I like to use in
class: Students at Alvin Community
College.
There are more students than
faculty and staff. So why aren’t
students in charge?
It wouldn’t be that tough for
students to run for positions on the
ACC Board of Regents and win.
There are over 4,000 students each
semester. So what gets in the way?
Several things:
First, students are transient. They are only at ACC for a
brief period of time. Their interests shift to other things
as soon as they leave. Second, students are largely
strangers to each other. This makes organization
difficult. There is no one person – a leader – that is
known to all students who can help rally them, and the
facts that they are anonymous makes it easier for
individuals to not participate. Third, the benefits
students get – lowered tuition for example - may not
seem to be worth the effort.
Altogether, this makes students
prone to the free-rider problem.
Actually the situation is worse
since there is no organization to
free-ride on.
The groups that do dominate tend
to be those focused on the college
since it charges property taxes.
Property owners who have to do so have a
greater incentive to participate and since many
are long time residents of the community, they
know each other and are more willing to work
together. Conversely they are also better able to
cajole other to participate.
This is an important fact to
understand.
The realities of interest group politics – the fact
that smaller groups are better able to organize
and work effectively – seems to negate our
underlying assumption of democracy: that it is
majority rule. Majorities are tougher to organize
than minorities. Smaller, cohesive groups where
participant know each other are politically
stronger than others.
It’s not numbers
It’s organization
Here’s a graph that conveys this
information in a different way.
For an interest group to be strong –
an for an “interest” to be able to
be represented effectively – it has
to be composed of people who are
politically interested and
organized.
To repeat the key point – not all
groups in the state are effectively
represented.
What Kinds of Interest Groups
Exist?
A simpler way to approach this
question is to divide groups into these
two types: public and private.
The former attempt to obtain results that benefit the
general population and distribute benefits widely
(examples include groups that advocate for health,
education, or environmental issues). The latter looks
for results that benefit their members sometimes to
the detriment of others. Business and professional
groups often do so – some of the stories I opened with
give examples of this.
The simple difference between the two is
that public groups address issues that are
common to everyone (like clean air and
education) while private groups address
issues that benefit their members (like
business and professional organizations
and labor unions).
With that in mind: all groups like to argue that
the benefits they receive will at least indirectly
benefit the public welfare.
An example of a Texas public
interest group:
Environment Texas
An example of a Texas private
interest group:
Texas Business Alliance
Sometimes drawing a precise
distinction between public and
private groups is difficult.
Here’s another look at a list of the
types of interest groups in the state
as organized by Neil Tannahill.
Business Groups and Trade Associations
Professional Associations
Organized Labor
Agricultural Groups
Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups
Religious Groups
Citizen, Advocacy and Cause Groups
Let’s look at each in turn:
Business Groups and Trade
Associations
These are the strongest groups in the state.
They are well organized, well financed, well
connected and skilled in advocacy. They
are also relentless and can push policy
proposals for many sessions if necessary.
They generally favor low taxes. Low
regulations and expanded business
opportunities, but their interests can
sometimes conflict internally.
Many groups also work to maintain
certain regulations if they benefit
that group.
Examples
A business group – generallyworks to further the benefits of a
narrowly defined area of business.
A trade association is an alliance of
related businesses.
Examples of business groups
include:
Examples of trade association
include:
Click here for a story pointing out
conflict between two conservative
groups, the Texas Future Business
Alliance and Empower Texans.
The TFBA thinks Tea Party / antigovernment groups are
undermining the ability of the state
to continue to attract businesses.
The strength of the business sector has increased as
Texas has become more a center of business and less
dominated by the agrarian sector.
In the 19th century, large businesses – banking and
railroads primarily – were located out of state and were
seen as hurting the interests of the state. Business
regulations were written into the state constitution of
1876. As these businesses moved to the state, lured by
the growing oil sector and federal contracts guaranteed
by Texans in Congress, business interests became more
powerful and public policies passed by the state and
written into the constitution reflected their interests.
Sometimes these groups collectively are referred to as the
“Texas establishment.” Click here for a book that describes their
growth:
“The years from 1938 to 1957 were the most primitive period of
rule by the Texas Establishment, a loosely knit plutocracy of the
Anglo upper classes answering only to the vested interests in
banking, oil, land development, law, the merchant houses, and
the press. Establishment rule was reflected in numerous and
harsh antilabor laws, the suppression of academic freedom, a
segregationist philosophy, elections marred by demagoguery and
corruption, the devolution of the daily press, and a state
government that offered its citizens, especially minorities, very
few services.”
Professional Associations
These groups not only represent the
interests of members of certain
professions, in some cases they provide
the opportunity for people to practice that
profession.
This allows them to police who can
practice their profession – which not only
regulates the profession, it keeps supply
low and salaries high.
Texas Bar Association
Texas Medical Association
Texas Trial Lawyers Association
Texas Association of Realtors
Texas Dental Association
These groups tend to be composed of
people who are wealthy, well educated and
politically astute. That’s a key source of
their power.
The free rider problem is effectively dealt
with by the fact that generally people have
to be members of these groups in order to
practice their profession. They are where
someone demonstrates the skills necessary
to practice law or medicine or whatever
else.
Organized Labor
Labor unions are – or at least can be – legal
representatives of workers in different
industries in the state. Nationally, their
strength stems from the National Labor
Relations Act of 1935 which guaranteed
the right of private sector workers to
organize into unions and established the
National Labor Relations Board which
enforces the law.
Organized labor in Texas was briefly
powerful – mostly between the end of
WW2 and the 1970s – their strength
has waned for a variety of reasons,
mostly related to the rise of the
business sectors and its goal of limiting
labor costs.
Minimizing the ability of labor to
organize is central to this effort.
The most important of these was the passage of
a right to work law in 1993. A key source of the
power of labor unions was the ability to run
closed shops, meaning that you had to be a
member of the union in order to work. This
guaranteed strength. The union was able to
bargain successfully for wages or whatever it
chose due to its control of the labor force. Right
to work laws state that workers do not have to
join the union, which undermines the
effectiveness of efforts to collectively bargain.
The effort to pass right to work
laws across the state is ongoing.
The NCSL has a brief run down of
the effort here.
In addition to this, the dynamic nature of
the Texas economy, and the fact that the
Texas workforce is becoming increasingly
Latino, makes organizing the workforce
difficult.
Labor unions tend to do better in older
established industries where organizational
efforts have already occurred. Newer
places of employment – such as Walmart –
create challenges.
Unions are also hurt by the fact
that some jobs are being sent
overseas and the increased use of
digital technology and robotics has
allowed many jobs to be
automated.
Less labor is necessary now for
businesses to run.
As of 2010 only 5% of Texas
workers were members of labor
unions. Union strength is centered
primarily around areas where the
petro-chemical industry is
dominant. Most on the Gulf Coast.
Click here for TSHA’s entry on
Labor Organizations.
Agricultural Groups
Agricultural – farmers and ranchers groups have been powerful for a long
time in Texas politics. They are among
the oldest of the organized groups in
the state.
Some, such as the Texas Grange, were
instrumental in the drafting of the
1876 Texas Constitution.
Farmers and ranchers are argued to be
politically astute, well organized, and know how
to be influential in politics. This is also largely a
residue of their past strength, as Texas has
become more urbanized their strength has been
challenged.
One area where this conflict rears its head is in
access to water – how much should be devoted
to agriculture, how much to cities?
Current examples of agricultural
groups:
Texas Farm Bureau Federation
Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups
Racial groups have a long history in Texas.
Currently we think of them as being organized
primarily to benefit racial minorities, but many
groups in the 19th century – and beyond – were
organized to promote the interests of Anglo
Texans.
Racial organization – and racial politics – have a
long history in the state. Race relations have also
been established in key parts of the Texas
Constitution and statutory code.
Texas racial organizations have also been
key players in the civil rights movement –
notably the Houston Chapter of the NAACP.
The influence of the NAACP and other
groups is sometimes felt through the
national government than the state
government. Desegregation efforts were
successful at the national level and were
then imposed on Texas.
Major national Latino groups were
initially created in Texas.
LULAC
MALDEF
The free rider problem affects
these groups, notably Latino
groups.
Minority groups are far less
powerful in Texas than business
groups, among others.
Religious Groups
Churches have always provided
opportunities for organization.
The fact that congregations form in
order to create churches that then
serve a social function offers the
opportunity for that organization
to have an impact politically as
well.
People who go to church also vote
and participate in other
organizations.
The civil rights movement was
fueled in part by members of
African – American churches. Many
leaders of the movement were
ministers of these churches.
Example: Reverend William Lawson
of Houston’s Wheeler Baptist
Church.
Many organizations that are
considered part of the “religious
right” had their origins is Texas.
One problem with church activity:
Restrictions on political activity
due to their non-profit status.
Citizen, Advocacy and Cause
Groups
These are groups that promote policies
that they argue support the common good.
Often these are driven by private citizens
who have a passionate attachment to a
specific cause, or wish to promote the
interests of groups they believe are unable
to do so on their own.
A principle advantage of these
groups is that they are generated
by issue at the grassroots which
makes them legitimate indicators
of popular opinion. Sometimes
these are called grassroots
organizations.
But not always.
Criticism: Some of these groups present
themselves as being grassroots groups, but
are in fact organized and funded discretely
by other groups – for example business or
trade associations.
These are called Astroturf groups –
because Astroturf is fake grass. Click here
for examples of Astroturf movements.
The nature of the issue they
promote can be very broad.
They can include
environmentalism, morality,
criminal justice policy, consumer
protection, and campaign finance
reform among many other issues.
Examples of groups dedicated to
public causes:
Texans for Public Justice
Texas Right to Life Committee
The Texas Moratorium Network
Texas State Rifle Association
Many of these groups explicitly
advocate ideological policies.
Not surprisingly, conservative
groups are easier to organize and
are more powerful in the state
than liberal groups.
Tea Party organizations began this
way.
Some groups are organized to
advocate for policies that benefit
marginalized groups, or groups
that are not in a position to
advocate for themselves.
Governmental Organizations
Periodically this semester we’ve looked at
interest groups that represent different
governing entities. This may sound unusual, but
it makes sense in a decentralized, federal
governing system. Each level of government has
certain interests that are affected by the
activities of other levels of government.
For example, two of the interest groups most
active during sessions of the Texas Legislature
are the Texas Municipal League and the Texas
Association of Counties.
Every types of local governments – single
or multipurpose – has a interest groups
that represents its interests.
Here are a handful that represent
the interests of different members
of the community college sector.
The Texas Association of Community Colleges.
Texas Community College Teachers Association.
Community College Association of Texas Trustees.
Texas Association of Community College Business
Officers.
Texas Community College Instructional Administrators.
Governmental employees also
have interest groups that represent
them.
Texas Public Employees Association
This is just a superficial look at the
range of groups that exist in the
state of Texas
Now let’s shift to look at what
these groups do
What do interest groups do?
Here are four things, drawn from
this website.
Engage in election activities: Interests
may attempt to influence elections in
order to help get people who support
their issues elected or reelected.
Electioneering techniques include
giving money to candidates, endorsing
candidates or issues, and conducting
grassroots activities such as get-outthe-vote drives.
Lobby government: Organized
interests hire representatives to
advocate on behalf of the group's
interests. Lobbying activities include
contacting members of Congress and
the executive branch to disseminate
information about the positive or
adverse effects of proposed
legislation.
Educate various publics: Interest
groups work hard to educate the
public at large, government officials,
their own members, and potential
interest group members.
Mobilize various publics: To influence
policy-making, many groups rely on
the efforts of people who are
motivated to act on behalf of their
issues and causes. So-called grassroots
activities might include writing letters,
making phone calls, contacting policymakers, and demonstrating.
All of these are interrelated.
And some detail on each:
Engage in election activities
Since the principle goal of an
interest group is to ensure that
public policy is designed in a way
that benefits that group, it makes
sense that they will establish
relationships with public policy
makers, as well as anyone or any
institution that has some impact
on the nature of public policy.
The best way to do so is to get involved in
elections. This accomplishes – or can
accomplish - two major things:
1 – It can result in governing institutions that are
favorably disposed to the group’s interests.
2 – It can help develop a personal relationship
with who ever gets elected.
So the first thing an interest group needs to
do is to ensure that governing institutions
are already oriented towards their
preferred policies. This makes everything
else relatively easy.
Business interests – along with those of
social conservatives – have an advantage
since people who represent their interests
dominate the Texas legislature and
statewide office.
The benefits of being involved in
elections for governor can be
considerable.
In Texas, the Governor is responsible for
appointing the members of approximately 125
multimember boards and commissions. These
boards and commissions, some with broad
policy mandates, make public policy on the often
narrowly defined issues around which organized
interests are likely to form. Consequently,
organized interests, including businesses,
associations, lobbying groups, and law firms,
seek policy making appointments for their
representatives in these government agencies. –
source.
What do interest groups do to
influence elections?
A few things
They can help recruit candidates to public
office, or at least provide opportunities for
future candidates to prepare for a run for
public office.
Anyone interested in running for public
office could do worse than start that effort
by spending time working for an interest
group. This allows for not only picking up
expertise in an area of public policy, it also
allows for developing connections.
If they do not develop candidates
themselves, they can review announced
candidates – which can include interviews
– and endorse whichever ones they believe
most closely reflect their views.
This process often happens during the
primary season since it allows for groups to
select from a variety of candidates within
each party.
They can then endorse and fund
those candidates when they do run
for office. Here are some
endorsements from the 2014
election:
Texas Farm Bureau
Texas Home School Coalition
Texas Right to Life
The endorsement process is
important since it can not help
someone get elected, it can start to
develop a relationship between a
group and an officeholder,
especially one that is newly
elected.
Even more important than the
endorsement process is funding.
Interest groups often get involved
in funding elections, but they have
to jump through some hoops in
order to do so since Texas and the
United States each have histories
of political corruption.
Open ended, unregulated campaign
finance has allowed deep pocketed
contributors to effectively purchase
votes in the legislature in the past.
This has led to the passage of a variety
of laws that condition how interest
groups can financially support
candidates they prefer.
Often this involves establishing
additional organization – most
notably Political Action
Committees – that allow for
alternative funding streams.
Texas’ rules on campaign finance
are much looser than rules in most
other states, or on the national
level.
In addition to funding, interest groups can
support candidates by getting supporters out to
block walk – which means they hit certain
neighborhoods with the idea that they will
either talk people who are unsure about who to
support to support their candidates, or ensure
that supporters will in fact get out to vote.
This is one of the strengths of labor unions. They
tend not to have deep pockets, but they can
mobilize voters.
This is called electioneering and in
addition to block walking and get
out the vote efforts it can involve
the mundane things that
campaigns need done.
Making phone call
Licking envelopes
Sending out emails
Remember that in the state of
Texas a large number of positions
are elected, including the judiciary.
This means that well organized
groups are in a good position to
influence all three branches and
perhaps bring them altogether in
supporting their positions.
This they do by building on the
relationships they developed in the
election.
Lobby government
Once an interest group has been
involved in the electoral process,
and assuming they have been
successful in getting their preferred
candidates elected, then its time to
exploit the relationships they have
developed.
This involves a variety of activities, but
most fall under the general heading of
“lobbying.”
Here’s a good definition: Lobbying is
the act of attempting to influence
decisions made by officials in the
government, most often legislators or
members of regulatory agencies.
Notice that the judiciary is not a
part of the previous definition.
But attempts are made to make
sure the judiciary makes favorable
decisions as well.
How is this done?
The first thing is to hire someone
with connections.
Most of the most effective
lobbyists have backgrounds in
whatever institution they attempt
to influence.
Retired legislators, for example,
make the best legislative lobbyists.
Past executive office holders are
best as influencing executive
agencies, and ex-judges are best at
knowing how to influence the
judiciary.
There are two reasons.
1 – They know the relevant process
in each institution intimately. Not a
textbook understanding of it, but
from the inside.
2 – They know the people involved
in the process, especially if they
recently left the institution.
The second reason might be the
most important.
The basic skill of a lobbyist is to
open doors. That’s more likely to
happen if someone knows the
person whose door they knock on.
By hiring lobbyists with
connections with each governing
institution, interest groups are able
influence all aspects of governing
process.
They can ensure favorable
legislation, favorable rulemaking,
and favorable court decisions.
Sometimes these individuals do not label
themselves as lobbyists. Instead they will
work for law firms that have
“governmental relations” departments.
They may simply call themselves
consultants.
All they may do is make one key phone call,
but that may be all that is necessary.
Here’s an instructive story: Former
legislators kicking off new careers
as Texas lobbyists.
You make lots more money as a
lobbyists than you do as a Texas
legislator:
The latest crop of legislators-turned-lobbyists, identified
and tracked by The Dallas Morning News, collectively
earn an estimated $795,000 to $1.7 million this year
representing corporations, retired teachers, cities,
financial firms, beer and restaurant associations and
other entities, state records show.
Here’s a story that
features Tom
Phillips – who
used to be the
Chief Justice of the
Texas Supreme
Court – and now
lobbies for the
Texas Oil and Gas
Association.
The next slide features a diagram
of an iron triangle.
It shows how interest group
influence can tie together
legislative and executive branch
activity. The story is similar for the
Texas Legislature.
One of the factor that binds these
institutions together is the fact that people
often go from one position to the other
over the course of a career. This means
that each area of public policy is
dominated in different institutions by the
same group of people.
This undermines any checks and balances
that might exist.
This is called the revolving door.
Efforts have been made to
minimize the ability of ex-members
of the legislature to work
immediately as lobbyists, but these
have been unsuccessful as of yet.
Staff Work
A more subtle way that interest groups can
influence members of the legislature is by
allowing their employees to work in the
offices of members of the legislature.
This allows them the opportunity to both
advise the member on matters of public
policy and to also monitor what they are
doing.
Educate various publics
Attempting to influence members
of the legislature is considered
inside work
Attempting to influence the
general public is considered to be
outside work.
This involves using public relations
to influence how the general public
thinks about the issues and events
that impact the interest group.
These can be done in a way that
coordinated – even unofficially –
with political campaigns.
Here’s some background on the
public relations industry, and here’s
a bit on Edward Bernays who is
argued to be the father of public
relations.
Public relations is argued to be
closely related to propaganda.
It is messaging that is intended to
impact the public in a particular
way.
If done properly, an interest group
can successfully navigate a crisis or
impact public opinion at a critical
moment in order to impact the
legislative or rulemaking process.
Here are topical stories as I write
this (11/23/14)
Texas Health goes on PR offensive
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas
has launched a public relations offensive in
response to accusations from the country's
largest nurses' union that the hospital
lacked proper protocols and equipment to
sufficiently protect its staff in treating the
first U.S. Ebola patient.
Texas’ open carry movement raises
passions, threats.
This discusses public perceptions
of the proponent of the right to
carry weapons in the open.
Texas cancer agency’s public
relations firm quits.
The firm decided it was in over its
head after multiple problems with
the agency emerged.
In addition to educating the public about an
issue, interest groups can also educate the
public about where specific members of the
legislature stand on the issue.
A popular way to do so is to tally votes of
legislators about issues important to the group
in order to determine which members support
the groups and which ones do not. These are
also very popular around election time – for
both primary and general elections.
Here’s a list of voter guides from
interest groups in Texas complied
by Project Vote Smart.
Public relations strategies can
involve a variety of formats:
newspapers, radio, television,
social media.
They all attempt to do a small
handful of things.
1 – Raise awareness of an issue.
This might be an issue that is being
debated in the legislature. Interest
groups often coordinate these
efforts with the legislative process.
The groups attempt to persuade
legislators that the public is
supportive of the issue.
2 – Define the Issue
It’s not enough for an issue to get
on the public agenda, its has to be
defined in a way that is beneficial
to the interest group. This can
involve seemingly unimportant
choices of words.
Example: What do people think about
when they consider immigration? Are
we dealing with “undocumented
workers” or “illegal immigrants?”
The difference matters because it
encourages people to think about a
group either positively or negatively.
3 – Provide information to people
about how they can get involved.
Which leads to the next section:
Mobilize various publics
Once a group of individuals has
been educated in the manner that
the interest group would like, the
next step is to get them to act in an
manner that is beneficial to the
group.
This can take a variety of forms.
The most common is to sign petitions,
write letters to and phone elected officials.
These are intended to demonstrate that
there are significant numbers of people
that support the interest groups position.
The stronger the groups are the ones that
can mobilize their supporters quickly and
at key periods of time.
The more time intensive the
activity, the more of an impact it
has.
Forwarding an email – for example
– is easy to do and has little
impact. Driving to Austin to meet
with elected officials is time
consuming and can have an impact
Large public marches, if they are
sizable and well managed, can also
demonstrate the intensity of
support a particular position has.
But all of this is balanced against
whether the participants in fact
have electoral strength.
Presence at public meetings – even
if silent – can also impact public
officials. Interest groups often try
to pack public meeting – board
meetings for example – with
supporters in order to demonstrate
sizeable support for their position.
A mobilized public can also get
involved in elections.
Recall that since elections occur
regularly in Texas – and the US –
efforts to mobilize the electorate
are ongoing.
But – again – uneven in their
impact.
That’s plenty