© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

Chapter 12

Lobbyists: Ten Myths

About Power and Influence

Rogan Kersh

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #1 – “HealthCare Is Different”

• Popular image of health care as a species apart is specious– Health care is a big business– It attracts a full complement of lobbyists

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #2 – “Here Today,Gone Tomorrow”

• Lobbying on health policy has become unpredictable and chaotic– Supremely fluid “issue networks”

• Kersh suggests health care lobbying functions around somewhat more stable, semi-permanent “issue regimes”

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #3 – “It’s a Man’s World”

• Lobbying has traditionally been assumed to be monopolized by men

• In health policy, more female lobbyists have entered the business– Nearly matching the number of male lobbyists

in this issue area

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #4 – “K” is for Republican

• Republican-led “K Street Project”– Assumed lobbyists had switched allegiance en

masse to the GOP

• In terms of campaign contributions and organizational practice– Such claims seem to be exaggerated– Particularly in the area of health policy

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #5 – “Lobbying Targets as Rational Choices”

• Longstanding assumption holds that lobbyists carefully select “targets” of lobbying– Based largely on their supposed position on an

issue

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #5 – “Lobbying Targets as Rational Choices”

• Evidence suggests inherent legislative chaos and the pooling of resources under lobbying coalitions makes individual decisions of this sort rare

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth # 6 – “Clients Are King”

• It is commonly thought that lobbyists merely serve to transmit the preferences of client firms to decision makers– Thus affecting policy outcome

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth # 6 – “Clients Are King”

• In actuality:– Lobbyists often act somewhat independently in

order to burnish overall reputation in policy community

– Or push for policy outcome in which one truly believes

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #7 – “The Revolving Door Corrupts Completely”

• Many believe a revolving door exists between policymaking and lobbying– Creating numerous conflicts of interest

• Many former officials go into lobbying because of the passion they feel for certain issues– Not purely out of opportunism

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #8 – “Donations Buy Access (Or Even Votes)”

• It is often assumed PAC/lobbyist contributions “buy” access to officials, or even policy outcomes

• Rationales for such contributions are more varied– Many lobbyists contribute as a form of

“insurance” with members of Congress

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #9 – “Everybody Does It Abramoff-style”

• Corruption on the scale of the Abramoff scandal is assumed to be rife on K Street

• Evidence suggest Abramoff is the exception– Rather than the rule on many counts

© 2008 Delmar Cengage Learning.

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Myth #10 – “It’s AllAbout the Spin”

• “Information” lobbyists provide to members of Congress is assumed to be repackaged depending on the member’s ideological leanings

• In actuality, most members received the same information from lobbyists, with only minor differences