Today, there is more tolerance in our society than ever before. There’s a long way to go, but we have made tremendous strides in accepting those who are different. I envision a time when anyone can live their life openly, as the person they were meant to be, with the same full rights as everyone else.
It is with that spirit in mind, that I have decided to make a disclosure to readers of The Southern Male Democrat. I am ready to step into the light and let the world know the real me.
I am a lobbyist.
It’s true, and though our national politicians seem to imply I should feel otherwise, I am proud of it.
Railing against the lobbyists is nothing new. A decade ago John Edwards rode the anti-lobbyist message to the US Senate. This season’s presidential debates in both parties have turned into contests to see who can best “fight the lobbyists”. To be honest, this grandstanding occurs much more often on the Democratic side than on the Republican side. It’s all hypocrisy because politicians meet with, and frankly rely on, lobbyists every day. There is NO politician, at any level, who doesn’t confer with lobbyists on a regular basis. Those relationships are what make our political system run. I love my job because I’ve got great personal relationships throughout local, state and federal government.
At its core, blaming lobbyists and acting as if lobbyists are the root of our problems is intellectually dishonest. What’s even more pathetic is that the average voter falls for it. The truth is that lobbyists are not just old, balding guys carrying around sacks of money on behalf of Big Business. There are lobbyists for literally every industry in the US. There are lobbyists for sports and hobbies. There are lobbyists for organizations such as the Children’s Defense Fund and the AARP.
Every American has someone lobbying on their behalf for some issue or another. If you are a realtor over the age of 55 and a member of the National Rifle Association, you’ve got three lobbyists working on your behalf right there.
The problem is not the multitude of lobbyists representing every cause in our society. The problem is the money. If someone wants to run for even a local city council seat, it costs tens of thousands of dollars. And the vast majority of that money comes from political action committees that are funded by interest groups. As a result, it becomes harder and harder for elected officials to ever look to the larger public interest, and think of any sort of shared sacrifice on a given issue. They can’t afford for a stream of interest money to dry up because then it’s hard to run a viable, professional campaign.
I’ll be honest, though I think the answer lies in public financing, I don’t have a clue how to implement it. We can’t just give anyone who wants to run for anything taxpayer money, we have to draw a line somewhere.
But before we can agree on the solution, we have to agree on what the problem is. Despite all the grandstanding, lobbyists are not the problem.
6 responses so far ↓
John Shaw // February 23, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I agree that lobbying is not the problem. The difference between you, a lobbyist, and the rest of us is that someone pays you to lobby and the rest of us–or at least some of us–spend time talking to state legislators and other elected officials about issues that concern us.
There are, of course, problems associated with lobbying. Principal among these is money, particularly campaign contributions. The large amount of money needed to run for public office is a bar to many who would run but cannot or will not because of the need to spend so much time raising money. The large campaign contributions also give an advantage to those who have easier access to large amounts of money. But money is a separate issue–albeit one that must be addressed–from lobbying.
As to whether a lobbyist is good or bad depend on who he is lobbying for–the good guys (grass roots environmental and other organizations) or the bad guys (organizations I don’t like or worse, the big bad evil corporations)
So, for whom do you lobby?
Redneck // February 23, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Thank god you’re a lobbyist, I was afraid you were going to tell us that you’re a lesbian - and I, for one, am not ready to see you wearing purple bandana’s and riding a Harley.
I had a similar experience recently when someone talking about my organization as a “special interest group”. I responded that I don’t think of an organization of 1.4 million working people as a “special interest” - I see them as constituents.
Good luck and stay away from the Harleys.
southernmaledemocrat // February 23, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hi John - Welcome to the blog.
While I may be paid to lobby, the point was that literally EVERYONE has lobbyists working on their behalf at some point or another. So it’s more than a little bit disengenous to suggest that lobbyists are a separate part of the political establishment that we can just get rid of.
And while we’re all free to make our own judgements about which side is good and bad, those judgements are really more about the cause and which side of the partisan divide you line up on, rather than being about lobbyists per se.
As for whom I lobby for, let’s just say it’s not a big corporation, and it’s on the left side of the aisle.
Hag // February 23, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Excellent article, SMD.
Incidentally, I tried to make the same points to our former US Senator back in 1998, but after lots of emotional arguing I could only win a “well, we’ll have to agree to disagree” from him. But my debating skills leave a lot to be desired, so go figure.
The reality is that lobbyists, as a class of people, are not a problem. Some lobbyists, just like some non-lobbyists can be huge problems, but you have to look at the facts as circumstances of each Abramo…I mean, of each case.
The challenge is that, despite the reality, there is a public concern about “lobbyists” (whoever they are or whatever they do) that creates public attitudes about corruption, influence peddling, and general sleeze. This is made worse every election season when we try to pin negative ads that somehow tie someone to some corrpupt lobbyist somewhere. I mean, you never see any headlines about “Lobbyist saves kitty stuck in tree, ends toddler’s tears” , right?
So, keep up the good work. Be loud and proud - about lobbying - and try to change some attitudes. A little education could go a long ways.
OS // February 26, 2008 at 3:50 pm
I think the real issue here is that our current political process and all of its trappings is designed to encourage corruption and reward those whose convictions and character are easily compromised. Let’s face it; he who has the gold (or the most political influence by virtue of the gold) makes the rule.
I too think public financing must be a part of the solution but the problem is so much deeper. Citizen awareness of the issues and voter participation is most critical. Promoting and insisting on ethical conduct and holding elected officials to the same standards of punishment as every other citizen is key. While at the same time we need to be more tolerant, after all every offense is not one where a head needs to roll.
No, the lobbyist is not the problem, they can be contributors to it when they use their resources to deliberately break the rule and when they exercise their right to withdraw funding from a candidate for standing on principles and making decisions that he or she believes is in the best interest of the country that are contrary to the interest of the “special interest”.
There are no easy answers here, but we need to put more power and control in the hands of an educated and engaged citizenry.
In short, “crooked” lobbyists can only be as bad or crooked as our elected officials allow them to be and the others have the right to only support those who share their beliefs or policies if you will.
Well, enough for now. I enjoyed the article. Keep up the good work.
The L Word Revisited « The Southern Male Democrat // August 1, 2008 at 1:00 pm
[...] No Comments Long time readers of The Southern Male Democrat will remember that last winter, I decided to “come out of the closet” and tell the world that yes, I am a lobbyist. Having wrapped up another legislative session in the NC General Assembly, and having filed my [...]