AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
LOBBY GROUPS ASSIGNMENT
Spring 2011
BIBLE PAGES 69-78
1.
Define lobbying. What is it? Who does it? Who gets lobbied?
2.
What connection exists between lobbying, government affairs, public relations/affairs? What is meant by “full service lobby?”
3.
What is “Madisonian politics?”
4.
Define “pluralism.” What is “incrementalism” and what is its connection to pluralism?
5.
Describe each of the following types of lobbying:
PUBLIC POLICY
LAND USE
PROCUREMENT
6.
Fully explain the concept, “industry of issue advocacy.”
7.
List the eight findings of “Lobbying and Lobbyists” as defined by Professor Anthony Nownes of the University of Tennessee.
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8.
What is an “organized interest?”
9.
What is the current estimated number of lobbyists? Federal lobbyists? State and local?
10. What is the three point logic for the huge focus of lobbying on the federal government in Washington.
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11. List the six fundamental strategies/techniques lobbyists employ to influence policymakers:
1.
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6.
12. What is “amicus curiae” brief? Who routinely receives them? What is its primary function?
13. Describe the three primary types of information supplied by lobbyists to policymakers:
1.
2.
3.
14. What is the “free rider” problem associated with membership organizations? What is a membership organization? How does this
impact their lobbying efforts?
15. Characterize the “typical” lobbyist.
16. Provide a thorough description of each of the 12 basic organized interests defined by Professor Nownes:
BUSINESS FIRMS
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
CITIZEN GROUPS
LABOR UNIONS
INTERGOVERNMENTAL LOBBY
THINK TANKS
CHARITIES
UNIVERSITIES/COLLEGES
COALITIONS
HOSPITALS
CHURCHES/RELIGIOUS GROUPS
TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
17. What is the significance of K Street in Washington, DC?
18. What is a political action committee (PAC)?
19. What is the link between PAC’s, Richard Nixon and Watergate?
20. Define “electioneering.” What role do PAC’s play in this?
21. Explain the difference between “soft money” and “hard money.”
22. What has the Roberts Court decided about McCain/Feingold, soft money and issue advocacy? What is the current status? What
happened during the 2010 midterm elections as a result?
23. Define “lobbyist.” What is the range of individuals that engage in lobbying government? What do they do for a living? What is the
level of professionalism for each?
24. What 1st Amendment provision protects both lobbying and the lobbyists?
25. Explain the difference between a “contract” lobbyist and an “institutional” lobbyist.
26. Why would many of the most powerful and well funded organized interests employ both?
27. Define/characterize “old breed/inside lobbying.”
28. Define/characterize “new breed/outside lobbying.”
29. What is “constituency mobilization?” What kind of lobbying is it most closely associated with?
30. What link exists between “public relations” firms and new breed lobbying?
31. Why would an organized interest employ both lobbying methods? Who would each strategy be targeting?
32. Explain the concept of the “survival network.”
33. What are the primary “needs” of the policymaker? Primary “needs” of the lobbyist?
34. What kinds of specific information do lobbyists provide policymakers?
35. Explain the “dynamic” of an “insider” on Capitol Hill being the most effective advocate for an organized interest.
36. How is the relationship between lobbyists and policymakers “symbiotic?”
37. Why would lobbyists be the origin point for many new legislative acts of Congress? Who else is key to cooking up ideas for new
laws?
38. How/why would lobbyists assist legislators in the construction of legislation? What type legislation would lobbyists have even more
impact/influence on?
39. Why would bureaucrats sometimes be the focus of lobbying? What is the connection to “rulemaking?” Why would the US Fish and
Wildlife Service be lobbied on wolf management in the Rockies? What two groups would be doing the lobbying?
40. List three specific actions lobbyists perform in the adjudication/litigation phase of public policy making.
YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND LOBBYING PAGE 74
41. What perception is associated with the term, “back room influence peddler?”
42. How does Hamilton characterize “most” lobbyists?
43. Explain his logic for stating that, “…lobbying is a huge business.”
44. Why do the “good” lobbyists make so much money? What are the three specific “payoffs?”
45. Why does Hamilton claim that lobbyists are “intermediaries?” What two things do they connect?
46. Why does he say that Americans are skeptical about the recent leveraged status of lobbyists as intermediaries?
47. What do lawmakers really want that lobbyists are capable of providing? What is characteristic of policies/issues that Congress is
considering? How does the information help?
48. What does Hamilton say is the fundamental responsibility of the policymaker relative to a lobbyists arguments, information and
motives?
49. What is the responsibility of the voter when considering the lawmaker and his relationship to organized interests?
LOBBYING AND LAZINESS
PAGE 75
50. Who is Jack Abramoff? Why is he mentioned by the author in the article intro?
51. Explain the subtle dynamic of the relationship between lobbyists and information linked to policymakers and their staffs.
52. What options does a staffer have when a member of congress asks them for pertinent information need to consider a pending piece
of legislation? Which does he/she usually choose? Why?
53. What keeps lobbyist information “honest?” What does “Smitty” need?
54. Explain the references to “the Wizards game, Coiutreau and capon party in Great Falls, golfing at Burning Tree.”
55. How did Abramoff “break the rules?” What are his fellow lobbyists more likely unhappy with him about?
56. What is the long term desire and payoff for Capitol Hill staffers?
TALE OF TWO LOBBYISTS
PAGE 76
57. What is an “executive order?” What order, aimed at lobbying, did President Obama issue on his first day in office? What were the
two provisions?
58. Compare and contrast the personal bios, styles, work/clients and compensation of Tony Podesta and Tom Malinowsky.
59. Describe the difference in meaning between “influence peddling” and “legitimate advocacy.”
60. What point does the author make about these two very different lobbyists related to the executive order restricting White House
lobbying?
CLIMATE LOBBY HEATS UP
PAGES 77-78
61. How many different companies, corporations and other organized interests lobbied Congress on the climate bill in 2009? What was
the estimated spending on this one act of legislation in just the 2nd quarter of 2009?
62. What is the logic for the involvement for each of the following on climate change legislation:
AGRICULTURE
ELECTRIC GRID/TRANSMISSION
RELIGOUS GROUPS
HIGHER EDUCATION
63. What point was made by the congressional staffer when he exclaimed, “… we got pawed by a lot of people.”
64. Who were the two primary sponsors of the bill? Why them? What concessions did they make to Agriculture?
65. Who is Collin Peterson? What kind of deal did he make? Why was he in position to make a deal?
66. Provide specific information about who the following Growth Energy lobbyists worked for and what they did prior to become
lobbyists: What are the connections between previous experience and lobbying the climate bill?
WESLEY CLARK
TOM BUIS
JIM NUSSLE
LISA KOUNTOUPES
MELISSA SHANNON
ANNE STECKEL
TED MONOSON
67. What is the focus point in the legislation for the coal industry? What is coal heavily engaged in that makes it a player in climate
change? What is “clean coal?”
68. Why does the natural gas lobby argue that it should be more heavily involved in generating electricity throughout the country? What
is the down side to natural gas? How do they claim this has been remedied?