Very important what's happening to lobbying and lobbyists. And very worrisome. From Mike Allen's morning newsletter.
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WASHINGTON, INC. - The Nation, "Where Have All the Lobbyists Gone? On paper, the influence-peddling business is drying up. But lobbying money is flooding Washington, DC like never before. What's going on?" by Lee Fang : "In January, ... for a third straight year, overall spending on lobbying decreased. Lobbyists ... continue to deregister. In 2013, ... registered lobbyists dipped to 12,281, the lowest number ... since 2002. But ... lobbying isn't dying; instead, it's simply going underground. ... A loophole-ridden law, poor enforcement, the development of increasingly sophisticated strategies that enlist third-party validators and create faux-grassroots campaigns, along with an Obama administration executive order that gave many in the profession a disincentive to register-all of these forces have combined to produce a near-total collapse of the system that was designed to keep tabs on federal lobbying.
"While the official figure puts the annual spending on lobbying at $3.2 billion in 2013, [American University's James] Thurber estimates that the industry brings in more than $9 billion a year. ... Lee Drutman, a lobbying expert at the Sunlight Foundation, says that at least twice as much is spent on lobbying as is officially reported. Trade association documents, bankruptcy filings and reports from political consulting firms ... show that many of America's largest corporations have spent much more on lobbying than they've officially disclosed. In some cases, the quarterly registration system, used by the public and journalists, shows only one-tenth of the amount that firms spend to win favorable treatment by the federal government. ...
"The new captains of the influence-peddling industry lobby openly and with no interest in registration, reaping huge financial rewards. ... [T]he American League of Lobbyists ... changed its name in November to the Association of Government Relations Professionals. And while lobbyists must report their payments from clients, those ducking the system quietly bring in the biggest paydays." facebook.com |
