Lobbying

“ If it were otherwise-if an organization, for example, were exempted because lobbying was only one of its main activities-the Act would in large measure be reduced to a mere exhortation against abuse of the legislative process. ”

“ To understand more thoroughly the actions lobbyists take to influence elected officials, the bill requires lobbying firms, lobbyists, and their political action committees to disclose their campaign contributions to federal candidates and officeholders, their political action committees, and political party committees. ”

“ Choice is left. As a matter of English, the phrase 'lobbying activities' readily lends itself to the construction placed upon it below, namely, 'lobbying in its commonly accepted sense,' that is, 'representations made directly to the Congress, its members, or its committees', 90 U.S.App.D.C. 382, 197 F.2d 166, 175, and does not reach what was in Chairman Buchanan's mind, attempts 'to saturate the thinking of the community.' 96 Cong.Rec. ”

“ We desperately need to pass lobbying reform. The lobbyists didn't go away with the last election, and we still believe that they shouldn't be allowed to give gifts, entertainments, or trips to lawmakers. ”

“ We should improve the process of democracy by passing our election reform and financing proposals, by tightening our laws regulating lobbying, and by restoring a reasonable franchise to Americans who move their residences. ”

“ There is nothing inherently wrong with lobbying or with government officials meeting with lobbyists to consider their concerns as we make policies that affect the interests they represent. Americans, represented individually or by trade associations, social organizations, or labor unions have a right to petition their government. ”

“ The American people want to be heard in their political system. If you want to do it, we've got to pass the lobbying bill and we've got to pass this campaign finance reform bill which will pay for equal access through lobbying contributions, control the influence of lobbyists, limit PAC's, and limit campaign spending. ”

“ The United States Senate has just passed a lobbying reform bill which will require all of our lobbyists to register for a change and require them to report any gifts beyond a very small amount that they give to any Member of Congress. And I've introduced the toughest campaign finance reform law ever, to lower the cost of campaigns, reduce the influence of political action committees, and open the airwaves to honest debate, all paid for by lobbyists, by repealing the lobbyist tax deduction. ”

“ Accommodation of these contending principles-the one underlying the power of Congress to investigate, the other at the basis of the limitation imposed by the First Amendment-is not called for until after we have construed the scope of the authority which the House of Representatives gave to the Select Committee on Lobbying Activities. The pertinent portion of the resolution of August 12, 1949, reads:
'The Committee is authorized and directed to conduct a study and investigation of (1) all lobbying activities intended to influence, encourage, promote, or retard legislation ”

“ LOBBYING, in America, a general term used to designate the efforts of persons who are not members of a legislative body to influence the course of legislation. In addition to the large number of American private bills which are constantly being introduced in Congress and the various state legislatures, there are many general measures, such as proposed changes in the tariff or in the railway or banking laws, which seriously affect special interests. ”

“ Congress should establish the regulatory and licensing bodies and lay down policies and requirements and leave to the administrative agencies the semi-judicial function of licensing and regulating. There is an intrinsic evil in maintaining this power in legislative hands, le3.ding as it does, to log- rolling, legislative lobbying and, too frequently, to monopoly. The practice of democracy and free enterprise demands that competition in those fields where competition is practicable be encouraged. ”

“ Otherwise the voice of the people may all too easily be drowned out by the voice of special interest groups seeking favored treatment while masquerading as proponents of the public weal. This is the evil which the Lobbying Act was designed to help prevent. [16]
Toward that end, Congress has not sought to prohibit these pressures. It has merely provided for a modicum of information from those who for hire attempt to influence legislation or who collect or spend funds for that purpose. It wants only to know who is being hired, who is putting up the money, and how much. ”

“ Real reform means ensuring that a ban on lobbying after members of Congress leave office is real and includes the behind the scenes coordination and supervision activities now used to skirt the ban.
Real reform means giving the public access to now-secret conference committee meetings and posting all bills on the Internet at least a day before they're voted on, so the public can scrutinize what's in them.
Real reform means passing a bill that eliminates all gifts and meals from lobbyists, not just the expensive ones. ”

“ The men themselves are suspected and charged with lobbying and being lobbied. No measure is attempted for itself, but the opinion of the people is courted in the first place, and the measures are perfunctorily carried through as secondary. ”

“ Any former appointee who is determined, after notice and hearing, by the duly designated authority within any agency, to have violated his or her pledge may be barred from engaging in lobbying activities with respect to that agency for up to 5 years in addition to the 5-year time period covered by the pledge. ”

“ The special interests poured millions into a lobbying campaign to prevent us from reforming the system – a system that worked a lot better for them than for middle class families. Some in the financial industry were eager to protect a status quo that basically allowed them to play by their own rules. ”

“ It's clearer than ever that we need political reform. The American people believe their political system is too influenced by narrow interests, that our Government serves the powerful but not hard-working families. Even before the '94 elections, the special interests prevented passage of both campaign finance reform and lobby reform legislation that I had strongly asked the Congress to pass. When a minority in the Senate killed lobbying reform in 1994, lobbyists were standing right outside the Senate chamber cheering. ”

“ People who could take opinion that way, and mint it into small coin to distribute to others.' H.R.Rep.No.3024, supra, p. 11. Respondent testified that Frank Gannett paid for that distribution.↑ 'Pressure groups interpret the Lobbying Act in different ways. Some file expenses. Others file full budget, but list expenditures they judge allocable to legislative activities. Still others file only expenditures directly concerned with lobbying.↑ An analysis of the scope of the investigation and the meaning of 'lobbying' is contained in the General Interim Report of the Select Committee. H.R.Rep. No. ”

“ On Monday, the Senate begins to debate on legislation to require lobbyists to disclose who they are, what they're paid, and what bills they're trying to influence. And the Senate will vote on legislation to ban lobbyists from providing lawmakers meals or gifts or travel. If a judge took a paid vacation from a lawyer in his courtroom, he'd be disbarred. But if a lobbyist pays for a trip to a sunny climate, right now it's perfectly legal. And it happens all the time. ”

“ To them the ear of the average congressman is always open. A measure without any merit, save to advance the interest of a patentee, or contractor, or a railroad company, will become a law, while measures of interest to the whole people are suffered to slumber, and die at the close of the session from sheer neglect. It is known to congressmen that these lobbyists are paid to influence legislation by the parties interested, and that dishonest and corrupt means are resorted to for the accomplishment of the object they have undertaken ”

“ I mean, I hate to -- I understand the semantic hurdles that you're setting forward for the policy, but let's understand, he wasn't a lobbyist, he wasn't registered to lobby, and if you're not registered to lobby you can't be a lobbyist. That's why people have rendered the policy to be the strongest that it's been for any administration. ”

“ The lobby, in its broadest sense, is composed of all those persons who go to Washington in order to exert pressure upon Congressmen in favor of or against certain measures. Some of the best laws and some of the worst are enacted through the influence of the lobbyist. Log-rolling is an important influence in determining legislation; a member votes for the pet measure of his fellow Congressman on condition that the latter will vote for the bill in which he is particularly interested. Political patronage is a great factor in determining votes in Congress ”

“ Prepare to hear a good deal against me: that I've bought the common council and own seats in the legislature, for instance. It's long been said that the mayor's my own—for purposes of corruption, of course. Now you can see that my plans are too big for me to carry out by myself, or even for the corporation to do alone. I must have public money to help me. And besides that, more than that, I must be granted the application of a principle which has seldom, almost never, been allowed out of the hands of the legislature or the courts. ”

“ CHAPTER XXII LOBBYISTS—AND ONE IN PARTICULAR Washington has known many lobbyists in its time, and it keeps on knowing them. The striking increase in legislation that aims to restrict unlawful or improper practices in business, the awakening of the public conscience, has caused a greater demand than ever for influence at the national capital, for these restrictive measures must be either killed or emasculated to a point of uselessness by that process which is the salvation of many a corrupt manipulator, the process of amendment. ”

“ When the day of his decapitation arrives—and it comes to him soon or late—he is apt to develop into a lobbyist. Having been a congressman gives him the right to the floor of the House or Senate. He will be found later on championing any bill that has money in it, no matter how patent the steal. ”

“ Every lobbyist is required to register, as soon as he appears at the Capitol, to state in whose interest and in what capacity he attends the legislative session, to keep a faithful account of his expenses and to file a copy of the same with the Secretary of State. ”

“ The bigger the scare the bigger the fund advanced, of course, for the lobbyist to handle. All this also helps the lobbyist to secure and retain employment.
Not all the Washington lobbyists are outside of Congress. The Senator or Congressman has unequaled facilities for oiling or blocking the course of a bill. ”

“ When commercial tricksters, believing in the lobbyists' favorite maxim, "The People Forget," feel that they have outlived the latest reform movement and see "the good old days" returning, the professional politicians introduce a few reform measures themselves, most stringent measures. They push these measures ahead until somebody pays up, then the bills die. The lobbyist knows all about these "strike" bills, but does not frown on them. ”

“ And very likely if you are wronged, the wrongdoer has so cleverly gone round the law that it needs legislation to set you straight, and that needs a lobbyist, whom the lawyer must hire, or he must turn lobbyist himself. Now, a lawyer costs money, and a lobbyist is one of the most expensive of modern luxuries; but when you have a lawyer and lobbyist in one, you will find it economical to let him take your claim and all that can be made out of it, and not bother you any more about it. ”

“ His eyes darted first to Peabody and then to Stevens, waiting for either of them to open the conversation.
The highest class lobbyists, those who "swing" the "biggest deals," concern themselves only with men who can "handle" or who control lawmakers. They get regular reports and outline the campaign. Like crafty spiders they hide in the center of a great web, a web of bribery, threat, cajolery and intrigue, intent on every victim that is lured into the glistening meshes.
Only the small fry mingle freely with the legislators in the open, in the hotels and cafés and in the Capitol corridors. ”

“ The professional lobbyist has, I regret to say, become one of the features of legislative assemblies; he has become a stench in the nostrils of a decent community and ought to be driven out with the lash of scorn, pursued by the penalties of the law from the presence of every official and from the precincts of every legislative body in the republic. ”

“ A good deal of the trouble is due to party leaders and to lobbyists who plague the members into voting for measures or against them. Lobbyists are paid agents of corporations, labor organizations, women’s leagues, reform associations, granges, and so on, who hang around the lobby and argue with the legislators, trying to influence their action by persuasion or threats as may seem likely to be most effective. ”

“ Commissions of all sorts are being multiplied year by year. Public debts are piled up till they approach the point of bankruptcy. Taxes are increasing in the same degree. Statutes are increased in number until one can hardly breathe without [239] violating some decree, ordinance, or bit of sumptuary legislation. Every legislative assembly is constantly besieged by the professional lobbyists of a swarm of reformist crowds. Busybodies of every description twist the making and the enforcement of law into conformity with their peculiar prejudices. ”