CHAPTER 3
INTEREST GROUPS
Definition
• An interest is something--economic, religious, ethnic, or
based on almost anything--that has value and is therefore
worth defending.
• A special interest group (SIG) is a private organization of
individuals who have banded together because of a
common cause or interest.
• Political SIGs are those groups that try to influence public
policy to their members' advantage.
• Interest groups differ from political parties in several
respects.
– The focus of parties is broad, encompassing many interests, while
the focus of a group is narrow, comprising just one interest.
– Parties attempt to gain power by running candidates in elections
while groups merely try to influence officeholders.
– Parties must appeal to the citizenry for support while groups may
work entirely behind the scenes.
Classification
• Classifying interest groups according to
their main concerns yields six categories.
• The six basic types of interest groups are
economic groups, spiritual groups, artisticrecreational organizations, associations of
local governments, public interest groups,
and ethnic groups.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Who Is Organized?
– Organized interests are much more powerful
(i.e., relevant to the policy-making process) than
those that are not organized.
– There are three general rules of interest group
formation.
• Economic producing groups are more likely to be
organized than are consuming groups.
• People with more education and income are more
likely to join groups than are people with less
education and income.
• Those who join groups out of personal involvement
tend to feel strongly about the issue around which the
group is organized.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Functions
– In attempting to persuade both the public and individual
government officials to adopt their point of view, interest
groups perform five important functions in the political process.
• Groups furnish information to officeholders in all branches
of government.
• Groups politicize and inform their members and others.
• Groups mediate conflict within their groups.
• Groups engage in electioneering, especially the
contribution of money to candidates, and sometimes in
other interventions in the governing process.
• Groups help to form public opinion by disseminating
information.
• Groups help their members to become more involved
democratic citizens.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Activities
– Interest groups enhance democratic government in many ways, such as
providing information, getting people involved in politics, and contributing to
debate about issues.
– At the same time, their efforts to skew the process of government to benefit
themselves can make them a corrupting influence and deflect public policymaking into private channels.
– Electioneering
• Supporting candidates for public office is one of the most common interest
group activities.
• The increasing influence of political action committees (PACs) is an
important recent political development.
– A PAC is a committee formed by an organization, industry, or individual for the purpose
of collecting money and then contributing that money to selected political candidates
and causes.
– PACs concentrate the financial clout of large numbers of individuals and can, therefore,
influence public policy more effectively than can a single, ordinary individual.
– While some states such as Maine and California limit the amount of money that PACs
can contribute to state elections, in Texas these groups may give as much as they
wish.
– Most politicians are sensitive to private, as opposed, to public interests due to the
reality of electoral financing, not personal dishonesty.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Activities, cont.
– Lobbying
• To lobby is to attempt to influence policy makers face-to-face.
• While everyone has a right to influence government officials, it is
corporations and trade organizations that employ the most lobbyists.
• Who Are the Lobbyists?
– The 1,288 lobbyists registered with the Texas Ethics Commission in late 2003
are as diverse in their experience and competence as the legislators they
attempt to influence, but they are generally paid much better.
– Citizen lobbyists, as opposed to professional lobbyists, who are willing to get
organized, inform themselves, and spend time talking to politicians can have
an impact on policy, such as bicyclists did in 2001.
– Many of the most successful lobbyists are former state legislators or
executives.
– There are also “public interest” lobbyists who promote their conception of the
common good and take home a modest salary, but due to the biases in the
interest group system, most of the people who do most of the lobbying serve
narrow, wealthy interests.
• What Lobbyists Do and How They Do It
– Making direct personal contact with legislators is the best lobbying technique.
– Most lobbyists get on a first-name basis with each legislator they think might be
sympathetic to their goals.
– Lobbyists try, above all others, to curry favor with the speaker of the House and
the lieutenant governor.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Lobbying, cont.
• Contributions or Bribery?
– Contributing money to politicians is the best way to ensure personal
access to legislators.
– Money is contributed in a variety of ways.
» Interest groups spend money entertaining legislators and executive
officials at parties, lunch, award ceremonies, and other events.
» Groups give money to politicians in the form of campaign
contributions.
– Interest groups are eager to give money in the hope that they will be
rewarded with favorable laws, rulings, and policies.
– Texas ranks in the top three states for the number of lobbyists
representing the energy, insurance, banking, real estate, health care,
and agriculture industries.
» The saga of Enron illustrates the point that the actions of a rich
interest group wielding the power of money to gain access and
influence over policymakers are typical and systematic.
– Although some public-oriented groups may score victories using
information, persistence, and passion, the power of money means that
rich interest groups will generally prevail over poor ones.
– The importance of interest group money raises uncomfortable questions
about democracy in Texas, particularly since low legislative salaries and
the absence of public campaign finance in the state heighten its
influence.
SIGs in the Political Process
•
Lobbying, cont.
– Information
• Because of the volume of legislation and the difficulty legislators have in
staying informed, information is one of the most important resources
available to lobbyists.
– Legislators need up-to-date, accurate information.
– A reputation for providing solid information is one of the most important assets
a lobbyist can develop.
• Information is also a tool to influence the bureaucracy which needs current
facts and sometimes an independent means of finding them.
– Regulation of Lobbying
• Individuals have a constitutionally protected right to organize to influence
the political process, however, government may regulate the manner in
which citizens exercise their rights, particularly with regard to the use of
money.
– Nevertheless, Texas makes little attempt to regulate the activities of interest
groups except in the area of lobbying.
• The 1991 “Ethics Bill” limited the amount of food, gifts and entertainment
lobbyist can provide legislators, required lobbyist to report the name of
each legislator on whom they spend more than $50, and created an Ethics
Commission to oversee ethics complaints.
– On the other hand, the 1991 law failed to require legislators to disclose outside
sources of income and did not ban the use of campaign contributions for living
expenses.
– The 2003 session of the legislature passed amendments to the ethics law
which ensures that more information will be available to the public, yet the new
law does little to dilute the impact of private influence on public affairs.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Persuading the Public
– The 2003 debate on Proposition 12 is a good example of
interest groups attempting to influence government policy
indirectly by "educating" the public.
– In the Proposition 12 battle the two sides---lawyers and their
allies who were pitted against doctors and their allies---spent
more than $13 million for television ads and mailed flyers.
– The efforts of wealthy interests to create public support through
public campaigns have both reassuring and troubling aspects in
terms of democratic theory.
• Well financed propaganda campaigns increase the amount
of information about public policy available to citizens.
• On the other hand, privately funded television campaigns
reflect a one-sided viewpoint rather than the general public
interest.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Influencing Administrators and Co-opting
Agencies
– Since administrators often have considerable latitude
in interpreting laws, the executive branch of
government may be an interest group target.
– As society has grown more complex, administrative
agencies or bureaus have been created to regulate
various private interests to protect the public.
– Although regulatory agencies are intended to be
independent, they often become dominated by the
interest they were created to control.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Influencing Administrators and Co-opting Agencies, cont.
– Co-optation, the transition of an agency from guardian of
the public interest to a defender of private interests,
results from several factors.
• Those who serve in regulatory agencies tend to come
from (and later return to) the regulated industry, that is,
the revolving door.
• Even the best intentioned regulators may develop
personal ties to people associated with the regulated
interest that make it difficult to remain independent.
• Once needed regulations are in place, public
awareness of the regulated interest declines, making it
easier for the industry involved to co-opt the regulators
without public scrutiny.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Influencing Administrators and Co-opting Agencies, cont.
– The recent history of the state’s relationship with the insurance
industry provides an illustration of the co-optation of government
regulators.
• Texas has regulated the insurance industry since the late 1800s, but by
the late 1980s regulators were notorious for always taking the side of the
insurance industry in disputes with customers.
• In 1991, a grand jury in Travis County warned of serious problems in the
insurance industry that were abetted by "regulators who are asleep at the
switch."
• The Legislature abolished the board in 1993 and replaced it with a single
commissioner heading an agency called the Texas Department of
Insurance.
• The fact that there was now one person regulating the insurance industry
did not reduce the resources the industry could apply to lobbying and coopting the regulators.
• As illustrated by events during 2002-03, the process tends to be cyclical
with industry dominance leading to abuses, which results in consumer
demands for increased regulation, which leads to the public shifting its
attention to other problems and the power of money reasserting itself to
influence law and administrative decisions.
• Interest group power in the state has been classified as
“dominant/complementary” meaning that groups are very strong but not
completely dominant.
SIGs in the Political Process
• Interest Groups and the Courts
– Because courts make policy by interpreting and applying
the law, interest groups are active in the judicial arena.
– Groups influence the courts by making campaign
contributions to judges, hiring lawyers to influence judges
during legal arguments, and filing lawsuits.
– The NAACP provides an outstanding example of an
interest group that was able to press its case in the courts
after having been unsuccessful both in electoral politics
and in lobbying the legislative and executive branches.
– The national NAACP won Brown v. Board of Education, a
profoundly important national case in which segregated
public schools were declared unconstitutional.
– In Texas, the state NAACP won a series of United States
Supreme Court decisions, including Nixon v. Herndon
(1927) and Smith v. Allwright (1944), which ended racial
segregation in party primaries.
Major Interest Groups in Texas
• Texans For Lawsuit Reform
– Business interests dominate policy making much of the
time and one business group that has been particularly
successful is Texans For Lawsuit Reform.
– TLR’s contributions to candidates during the 2002
elections is an important reason that Republicans now
control both houses of the legislature.
– TLR’s alliances with other groups and its deep financial
pockets were key resources in winning about everything it
wanted during the 2003 legislative session.
Major Interest Groups in Texas
• Doctors
– Spurred by its desire to limit damage awards on
medical malpractice cases, the Texas Medical
Association has turned its attention to acquiring
political influence.
– Using smart political tactics,making large campaign
contributions, lobbying their patients, and developing
alliances with other interest groups and the
Republican Party, the TMA arguably has become the
most effective political interest group in Texas,
succeeding in passing as much as 90% of its
legislative agenda.
– Doctors have been effective in exerting influence over
the courts and the governor.
Major Interest Groups in Texas
• Lawyers
– Unlike most other professions, lawyers have an advantage in
arguing their positions before the legislature or courts since
they are addressing people who share their professional
values and point of view.
– Because lawyers have also been generous campaign
contributors, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association has
traditionally been a powerful force in the Texas legislature.
– By the 1990s, with the decline in the strength of the Democratic
Party, the growth of the power of business groups, and the
election of George Bush as governor, the influence of the trial
lawyers has diminished.
– The loss of power by the Trial Lawyers Association is reflected
in major changes in the Texas tort laws passed by the 1995
legislature.
– The TTLA has not been able to reverse its fortunes and has
effectively gone into hiding, resulting in legislation in 1997 and
2003 limiting lawsuits even more.
Major Interest Groups in Texas
• The Christian Right
– The "Christian Right" is made up of groups whose purposes are to inform
religious, politically conservative voters of a candidate’s issue positions and to
persuade them to participate more actively in local politics.
– In the late 1970s a number of national organizations arose to promote a return
to "Christian values" in government and in society.
– The best known Christian Right organization today is the Christian Coalition, led
by televangelist Pat Robertson.
– The Christian Right is opposed to abortion, gay rights, gun control, and tax
policies regarded as being subversive of families and in favor of a balanced
budget amendment and organized prayer in public schools.
– The Christian Right has had a strong impact on Texas politics and society in the
1990s due to its ability to strongly influence decisions of millions of citizens and
to mobilize thousands of activists to capture control of political organizations at
the grass roots.
– It has been particularly active in attempting to elect its favored candidates to
positions on local school boards.
– The most dramatic flexing of the Christian Right's muscles occurred in
capturing the state Republican Party machinery in 1994 and its domination of
the GOP’s state conventions through 2002.
– While still maintaining a crucial presence in the Texas Republican Party, by the
late 1990s both at the national and state levels the Christian Right has clearly
lost some of its prestige and organizational cohesion.
Major Interest Groups in Texas
• The Oil and Gas Industry
– The oil and gas industry has a close working relationship
with Texas government and is well represented by several
interest groups including the Texas Oil and Gas
Association (TOGA) and the Texas Independent
Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO).
– Oil and gas groups are so influential in Texas that the
state's politicians, whether liberal or conservative, are
nearly unanimous in supporting the positions of the
petroleum producers.
– Though Texas no longer dominates the world of
petroleum and petroleum no longer dominates the Texas
economy, the industry’s contribution to the states’ total
gross product assure that TOGA and TIPRO will continue
to be powerful interest groups.
Major Interest Groups in Texas
• Organized Labor
– Because the conservative political culture that
dominates southern states is hostile to labor unions,
organized labor has little influence on Texas politics.
– In 2000, the Texas AFL-CIO had only 230,000
members making Texas only eighth in union
membership, although it is the second largest state.
– Low worker benefit levels, bans against secondary
boycotts, check-off systems for union dues, and mass
picketing, and the "right-to-work" law all reflect labor's
weakness in the state.
– Labor’s lack of power was illustrated in 2003 when it
was defeated in each of its three key legislative
efforts.
Major Interest Groups in Texas
• LULAC
– The League of United Latin American Citizens, founded in
Corpus Christi in 1929 to work against discrimination against
Mexican Americans, focused during its first three decades on the
goal of educational equality.
• Privately, LULAC's program to prepare Spanish-speaking preschoolers for English-language public schools was so successful it
inspired the national program Head Start.
• Publicly, LULAC in 1948 persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to
forbid the segregation of Mexican Americans in Texas schools.
– LULAC's successes continued with a suit against Texas's
practice of excluding Mexican Americans from juries (1953) and
a decision by the state legislature to sponsor the program to
teach Latino pre-schoolers English (1959).
– In the 1970s, LULAC began to falter, becoming in part a victim of
its own success, in part a victim of a series of financial scandals,
and in part a victim of internal power struggles.
– After putting its finances in order, expanding and reorganizing its
staff, exploring alliances with non-minority but liberal groups, and
speaking out on general issues of social justice, LULAC seems
to be revitalized.
Major Interest Groups in Texas
• Teachers
– Teachers organizations, nationally, tend to be well-organized and
active and, therefore, influential.
– In Texas the effectiveness of teacher participation is weakened by the
state’s individualist cultural and low educational funding.
– Texas's teachers are marked politically by disorganization and
competition.
• Many of the state’s teachers resist unionization.
• Those that are organized are divided among seven fiercely competitive
statewide groups and dozens of local groups.
• Teacher groups are a member of the Democratic Party coalition and often
liberal so are fundamentally at odds with the state’s current power
structure.
– The 2003 legislature illustrates the equivocal influence of teachers’
organization, in that, while they were able to prevent a variety of
“kick-the-teacher” bills, teachers did take a major hit in the
pocketbook in regard to health insurance.
– Teachers face obstacles in the Texas political environment, but they
also possess important political resources.
Conclusion
• Interest Groups and Democracy
– The relationship between interest groups and
democracy is problematic since interest groups,
although they provide people a means of influencing
government beyond their one vote, often allow private
interests to dominate public policy-making.
– This dilemma is acute in Texas because of the
strength of interest groups in the state.
Conclusion
• Moderating the Impact of Interest Groups
– Strong political parties force groups to work through
them and engage in coalition-building.
– Public disclosure requirements encourage groups to
rely less on behind-the-scenes maneuvering and
personal contacts.
– Public financing of election campaigns allows
candidates to distance themselves from special
interest groups.
– In spite of minor reforms, the political system in Texas
is still organized in a way that enhances interest
group influence over public policy.