TomPaine: Perennial Lobbying Scandal

[marmar]

Perennial Lobbying Scandal
Lee Drutman
February 28, 2007



Lee Drutman is the co-author of The People's Business: Controlling Corporations and Restoring Democracy .

Last week it was reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had spent $72.7 million on lobbying in 2006, setting a new American record, previously held by ... the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: $53.4 million in 2004. It is a remarkable amount of money, and so it's worth asking: How exactly does a group manage to spend so much money on the political process? And should we care?

This little factoid was not major news. Sadly, there is little “new” about business groups spending ridiculous amounts of money to try to influence public policy. When the Center for Responsive Politics totaled up all lobbying expenditures from 1998 to 2004, of the top 100 groups (all of whom spent at least $19 million), 60 were corporations and 32 were business trade groups (like the Chamber of Commerce). That means 92 percent of the most active groups were businesses or business trade groups. The Chamber topped the list at $204 million, followed by Altria at $101 million and General Electric at $94 million.

The Chamber’s record-breaking expenditures are also not news because there is nothing outwardly scandalous about them, in the way that, say, Jack Abramoff’s delightful dealings were outwardly scandalous. I suspect that most of the Chamber's lobbying is decidedly uninteresting and above-board—lots of meetings, mostly in the greater Capitol Hill area, full of long-winded arguments about why proposed or existing regulations are bad for economic growth.

But this dull fact doesn't neatly fit the picture of that “culture of corruption” that the Democrats keep promising to end. One looks in vain for the outlandishly inappropriate gifts and meals and tickets and trips that are said to buy influence. Though I don’t know for sure, I strongly suspect that large organizations like the Chamber of Commerce (or General Electric, or Boeing, or the Edison Electric Institute or any of the other business groups that spend tens of millions a year on professional lobbying) are not basing their lobbying strategy primarily on steak dinners and choice seats at a Wizards game. (If this were all it took, the Chamber would certainly have to spend a lot less). ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/28/perennial_lobbying_scandal.php