I. Special Interest Groups
a. Public policy=government actions to meet
society’s goals and needs
BUT…Americans don’t all have similar goals,
needs, or wants so how does the
government decide what actions to take??
The gov’t listens to citizens, political parties, and
special interest groups
1. How are the wants/needs/goals of these groups different?
West Teachers
West Students
Parents/Guardians
2. From above, who do you think would most likely to form a coalition?
b. Special Interest Groups=people who work
together for similar interests or goals
Types
Economic/Business=interes
ted in making/ saving
money
Ex: Labor Unions
Chambers of Commerce
3. What are labor
unions?
4. What does
commerce mean?
So a Chamber of
Commerce is a
group of
_______________
-Agricultural=interested in helping farmers and
food groups
-Professional=interested in helping “professional”
careers
Ex: Lawyers, doctors
-Non-economic=promote a principle that is in the
“public interest”
-Ex: Environmental groups, NAACP
5. Sort these special interest groups into the correct type.
Economic/
Business
Agricultural
Professional
Non-economic
Interest Group Box:
NAACP Lawyers
Poor farmers Labor Unions
Doctors
Chambers of Commerce American Medical Association
Green Peace NRA League of Female Voters
c. Political Action
Committees (PAC)=
raise money for
candidates & can be
set up by businesses or
by special interests
III. Lobbying
II. Lobbying
a. How do special interests get what they want?
They hire LOBBYISTS
-Lobbyists=people paid to “lobby” or convince
legislators to support their issues.
What do Lobbyists do?
1. Meet with politicians
2. Send advertisements
over the TV and in
magazines to get the
public on their side
3. Give money (PACs)
4. Give “expert” advice
8. Why is their advice
maybe not “expert”
advice?
b. Criticisms of Lobbyists
1. Largest criticism:
Lobbyists have too
much influence over
the legislative process
2. Some legislators have
broken the law by
taking gifts, or money
from lobbyists in
exchange for votes
9. What does it mean
that they would have too
much power?
So…in the 1970’s people 10. Why did they want to
began calling for
prevent this?
reform of campaign
finance…
…they wanted to
prevent lobbyists from
giving government
officials too much
money
Perception of Lobbyists
• Political cartoons! Hooray!
• Analyze these 5 cartoons with your group
• We will review the answers together
Lobbyist Scenarios
• Fill out the scenarios with your group
members. I want complete sentences, please!
• If we have enough time, we will have
volunteers demonstrate what a lobbyist does
using these scenarios =)