1. Lobbyist and Special Interest Groups

2. Claim: To what extent are individual citizens able to influence public policy?
Sub-Claim: What role do lobbyists and special interest groups play in the political process?

3. Academic Vocabulary:
Special Interest Group - A group of people or an organization seeking or receiving special advantages, typically through political lobbying.
Lobbyist - A person who takes part in an organized attempt to influence legislators.

4. “We have already investigated how political parties and the media serve as mediating institutions between individuals and the government. Now we will investigate the role lobbyists and special interest groups play.”

5. Prior Knowledge Check
What do lobbyists and special interest groups do?
Can you come up with any examples of special interest groups?
Do lobbyists and special interest group have a more positive or negative impact on the political process?

6. Compelling Question:
What role do lobbyists and special interest groups play in the political process?

7. What Are Interest Groups and What Do They Want?

8. Interest Groups - Any formal association of individuals or organizations that attempt to influence government decision-making and/or the making of public policy.
Often, this influence is exercised by a lobbyist or a lobbying firm.

9. Lobbyist - Someone who represents the interest organization before government, is usually compensated for doing so, and is required to register with the government in which he or she lobbies.
The lobbyist’s primary goal is to influence policy.

10. Lobbyist

11. Political scientists have categorized interest groups in a number of ways:
Membership Organizations
Companies and Corporate Organizations
Governments
Associations
Amateur or Volunteer Lobbyists

12. Membership Organizations - Individuals join voluntarily and usually pay dues.
Consist of people who have common issues or concerns, or who want to be with others who share their views.

13. Membership Organizations
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a membership group consisting of members who promote gun rights.

14. Membership Organizations
For those who advocate greater regulation of access to firearms, such as background checks prior to gun purchases, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is a membership organization that weighs in on the other side of the issue.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence was founded by James and Sarah Brady, after James Brady was permanently disabled by a gunshot following an assassination attempt on then- president Ronald Reagan. At the time of the shooting, Brady was Reagan’s press secretary.

15. Companies and Corporate Organizations
(2) Companies and Corporate Organizations these groups do not have individual members.
Companies like Verizon and Coca-Cola will register to lobby in order to influence policy in a way that benefits them.

16. Companies and Corporate Organizations
These corporations will either have one or more in-house lobbyists, who work for one interest group or firm and represent their organization in a lobbying capacity, and/or will hire a contract lobbyist, individuals who work for firms that represent a multitude of clients.

18. Governments
(3) Governments such as municipalities and executive departments such as the Department of Education register to lobby in an effort to maximize their share of budgets or increase their level of autonomy.

19. Governments
These government institutions are represented by a legislative liaison, whose job is to present issues to decision-makers. For example, a state university usually employs a lobbyist, legislative liaison, or government affairs person to represent its interests before the legislature. This includes lobbying for a given university’s share of the budget.

20. Associations
(4) Associations - Groups of institutions that join with others, often within the same trade or industry (trade associations), and have similar concerns.

21. The American Beverage Association includes Coca-Cola, Red Bull North America, ROCKSTAR, and Kraft Foods. Despite the fact that these companies are competitors, they have common interests related to the manufacturing, bottling, and distribution of beverages, as well as the regulation of their business activities. The logic is that there is strength in numbers, and if members can lobby for tax breaks or eased regulations for an entire industry, they may all benefit.

22. Amateur or Volunteer Lobbyists
(5) Amateur or Volunteer Lobbyists - Citizens who lobby for “pet” projects because they care about some issue or cause.
They may or may not be members of an interest group, but if they register to lobby, they are sometimes nicknamed “hobbyists.”

23. Lobbying Techniques
Lobbyists representing a variety of organizations employ different techniques to achieve their objectives.

24. Inside lobbying
Inside lobbying in legislative hearings and helping to draft legislation. tactics include testifying
Numerous surveys of lobbyists have confirmed that the vast majority rely on these inside strategies.
For example, nearly all report that they contact lawmakers, testify before the legislature, help draft legislation, and contact executive agencies.

25. Outside lobbying
Outside lobbying or Indirect lobbying tactics - The interest attempts to get its message out to the public.

26. Outside lobbying
These tactics include issuing press releases, placing stories and articles in the media, entering coalitions with other groups, and contacting interest group members, hoping that they will individually pressure lawmakers to support or oppose legislation.

27. An environmental interest group like the Sierra Club, might issue a press release or encourage its members to contact their representatives in Congress.
It might also use outside tactics if there is a threat to the environment and the group wants to raise awareness among its members and the public.
Members of Congress are likely to pay attention when many constituents contact them about an issue or proposed bill.

28. Lobbyist – Primary Goal
The primary goal of most interests, no matter their lobbying approach, is to influence decision-makers and public policies.

29. Lobbyist – Primary Goal
For example, National Right to Life, an anti-abortion interest group, lobbies to encourage government to enact laws that restrict abortion access, while NARAL Pro-Choice America lobbies to promote the right of women to have safe choices about abortion.

30. Lobbyist – Primary Goal
Other interests lobby for budgetary allocations; the farm lobby, for example, pressures Congress to secure new farm subsidies or maintain existing ones. Farm subsidies are given to some farmers because they grow certain crops and to other farmers so they will not grow certain crops.

31. While influencing policy is the primary goal, interest groups also monitor government activity, serve as a means of political participation for members, and provide information to the public and to lawmakers.

32. Interest groups facilitate political participation in a number of ways.
(1) Members become active within a group, working on behalf of the organization to promote its agenda. (2) Inform the public about issues the group deems important, or organize rallies and promote get-out-the-vote efforts. (3) Organize letter-writing campaigns, stage protests, and sometimes hold fundraisers for their cause or even for political campaigns.

33. The Down Side to Lobbying/Special Interest Groups

34. The influence of elites, interest groups and average voters on American politics
2014 study published in Perspectives on Politics, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens,”
Compared to economic elites, average voters have a low to nonexistent influence on public policies. “ordinary citizens have little or no independent influence on policy at all,” the authors conclude.

35. Regardless of whether a small minority or a large majority of American citizens support a policy, the probability of policy change is nearly the same — approximately 30%.

36. A proposed policy change with low support among economically elite Americans is adopted only about 18% of the time, while a proposed change with high support is adopted about 45% of the time.

37. The influence of elites, interest groups and average voters on American politics
Overall, business-oriented groups have almost twice the influence of mass-based groups.