COMMENTARY: Why so much money gets spent on lobbying
October 3, 2010 at 5:47 am in Alexandria Echo Press
Recently, The New York Times noted that companies and lobbying firms in Washington are stocking up on Republican lobbyists in anticipation of strong GOP gains in Congress this November. The going rate? Salaries now begin at $300,000, the newspaper reported, and can go as high as $1 million. Continue Reading
It won’t be long before corporations just purchase the representatives; skip the lobbyists all together. Vote for Jane Smith, brought to you by Glaxo-Smith-Kline Pharmaceuticals. No longer will they represent what is best for the voters of their district, they will just do what their real employers tell them. Corporations, through their ‘sponsored representatives in congress’ will be able to write their own legislation, pass it, and control the messages of the candidates. No longer will we be a government of the people, for the people, unless People magazine decides to purchase their own representative. I wonder if we haven’t already arrived at corporate-bought-and-paid-for politicians.
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I think too many people have little clue about what a lobbyist is or does. It’s so bad now that the term lobbyist brings about negative responses. The truth is, in a small way, each of us has the right and well, basically a duty to lobby our legislators. We do this by writing, emailing, calling, and speaking to them in person when the opportunity arises.
The thing is, a lobbyist is more powerful when he/she is represnted by more citizens. Lobbying is one very effective way of relaying public opinion to those that we have hired to represent us.
Not all lobbyists represent businesses. There are a lot of them. Those of us that enjoy the outdoors have lobby groups we rely on such as PF, DU, MDHA, etc. In the last general election the citizens of MN passed a law to add a constitutional amendment aimed at providing funding for environmental concerns and the arts. This would never have happened were it not for lobbyist working tirelessly. Much to my chagrin I might add but that’s another topic.
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Very well stated, Bob.
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