© 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
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