Chapter 11: Interest Groups
Social Movement
A widely shared demand for change in some aspect of the social and political order.
Political Cue
A signal telling a legislator what values are at stake in a vote, and how that issue fits into his or her own political views on party agenda.
Lobbyist
A person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of an interest group.
LOBBYING
-Elected officials make the laws, but we, the public vote those officials into office and share our views with them on public policy. Interest groups and lobbying is one way to do this, but in reality all of us have the right to lobby and we can, but for some people lobbying has become a full-time occupation. -Because of these organized and more resource-filled lobby groups, the politics is skewed towards larger, and well-funded organizations who lobby. -So, does the American system provide sufficient opportunity to anyone to lobby?
REGULATING INTEREST GROUPS
-Interest group activity is a form of political speech protected by the Constitution. It cannot be curtailed or abolished. Congress did pass the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act which requires groups and individuals seeking to influence legislation to register with the secretary of the Senate and the clerk of the House and to file quarterly financial reports. Supreme Court approved this law in relation to insider lobbying not grassroots lobbying. -Congress passed a bill that tightened up the registration and disclosure requirements. First, it broadened up the definition of lobbyists so that a lobbyist is anyone who: 1. Spend at least 20 percent of their time lobbying 2. Is pad at least $5,000 in any six-month period to lobby 3. Corporations and other groups that spend more than $20,000 in any six-month period on their own lobbying staffs. -Twice a year all lobbyists must report: 1. The names of their clients 2. Their income and expenditures 3. The issues on which they worked -These requirements did NOT extend to grassroots organizations. There were fines for breaking the law. -In addition to Republican's reforms the Democrats had their own set of reforms: 1. No gifts of any value from registered lobbyists or firms that employ lobbyists 2. No reimbursement for travel costs from registered lobbyists or their firms 3. No reimbursement for travel costs, no matter the source, if the trip is in any part organized or requested by a lobbyist. -These laws mean the legislators in the House cannot receive any money or "thing of value" from a lobbyist. These laws have been adopted in different forms in the Senate -Loopholes and all, the lobbying laws are now tighter than ever.
INTEREST GROUPS AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
-Interest groups that employ members tend to arise out of social movements so as to attract people with purposive incentives. -A social movement need not have liberal goals. Broad-Based religious revivals are social movements. There are also conservative. -No one is quite certain why social movements arise. People are largely indifferent to some issues, while many of these same people care passionately about other issues. -Some social movements are triggered by disasters. Others are started by dramatic and widely publicized activities of a few leaders, -The effects of a social movement is to increase the value some people attach to purposive incentives. THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT: -As a result of the emergence of conservation as a major issue, the Sierra Club was organized. For every organization to be formed there are social movements that give rise to them -The most passionately aroused people will be the fewest in number, and they will gravitate toward the organizations that take the most extreme positions. As a result, these organizations are small but vociferous. -The environmental movement has become more fragmented than it was before because different leading voices and organizations within it have begun to advocate different policy approaches to achieving the same basic goals. THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT: -There have been many feminist social movements in this country's history. -Each will strive to find some incentive that will sustain it over the long haul. These incentives will affect how the organization participates in politics. -There are at least thee kinds of feminist organizations that exist: 1. There are those that rely chiefly on solidary incentives, enroll middle-class women, and tend to support causes that command the widest support of women in general. 2. There are women's organizations that attract members with purposive incentives. These groups take controversial stands and they are constantly embroiled in internal quarrels between those who think they have gone too far and those who think they have not gone for too far. 3. The third kind of women's organization is the caucus that takes on specific issues that have some material benefit to movement. -The feminist movement has spawned an anti-feminist movement and thus feminist organizations have their anti-feminist counterparts. THE UNION MOVEMENT: -When social movements run out of steam, they leave behind organizations that continue the fight. -But with the movement dead or dormant, the organizations often must struggle to stay alive. This has happened to labor unions. -The major union movement in this country occurred in the 1930s during the Great Depression. In 1945, union membership peaked. -Since then union membership has fallen more or less steadily. -But unions persist because most can rely on incentives other than purposive ones to keep them going. -Unions composed of government workers are becoming the most important part of the union movement. -Unions more or less reliably raise at least a portion of the funds they need by charging their members dues, but many interest groups struggle with raising money, some cannot easily predict their budget will be from one quarter to the next. -Diverse interest groups attempt to fund themselves through some combination of private foundation grants, government grants, direct-mail solicitation, and online appeals and donations. UPPER-CLASS BIAS?: -Observers often believe that interest groups active in Washington reflect an upper-class bias for some reasons: 1. Upper class people have more money to join, be active, and to donate. 2. Interest groups representing business and the professions are much more numerous and better financed than organizations representing minorities, consumers, or the disadvantaged. -Richer people and more educated ones are more likely to join an association or group. They can afford more and find it easier to attend meetings. -This is true that richer people are more active. -Even if it is true that financial moguls, big business executives, and other wealthy people typically have more lobbyists looking out for their interests than others do, the question of an upper-class bias is not settled: 1. Lobbyists are only certain inputs into the political system; what matters are the outputs, that is, who wins and who loses on particular issues. 2. Business-oriented interest groups are often divided among themselves. -Whenever American politics is described as having a upper-class bias, it is important to ask what this bias is. Many major conflicts over foreign policy, economic affairs, environmental protection, and equal rights are conflicts WITHIN the upper class. Interest group activity reflects this.
KINDS OF ORGANIZATIONS
-Many organizations do not have individual members at all but are offices, corporations, law firms, public relations firms, or letterhead organizations. -There are two types of interest groups: institutional and membership interests INSTITUTIONAL INTERESTS: -Institutional interests are individuals or organizations representing other organizations. -Institutional interests include: 1. Full-time representatives plus lawyers or public relations consultants working for corporations and businesses. 2. Trade or Governmental associations. -These institutional interests are concerned with issues that are of vital concern to their clients. -What they are expected to deliver varies with the diversity of the groups making up that organization. Some groups have specific policy goals and beliefs. Some interest groups represent thousands of businesses and they cannot speak out clearly and forcefully on many issues as their constituents may have conflicting beliefs and goals. -Institutional interests do not just represent business firms, but they also represent governments, foundations and universities. MEMBERSHIP INTERESTS: -America is a nation of joiners. Many organizations around us are supported by individual citizens. -Americans have a higher tendency than others to join religious and civic or political associations. -This proclivity of Americans to join other citizens to engage in civic or political action reflects a greater sense of political efficacy and a stronger sense of civic duty. INCENTIVES TO JOIN: -Every interest group faces a free-rider problem. Many people who do not give it money or join as members are likely to benefit if the organization achieves its goal. This means an interest group must offer an incentive for people to join. -There are three kinds of incentives: 1. Solidary incentives. Sense of pleasure, status, or companionship that arises out of meeting together. Such rewards are extremely important because they tend to be available only from face-to-face contact which interest groups provide. 2. Material Incentives. This money, or services readily valued in monetary terms. The groups offer members benefits and other incentives to join. 3. Purposive Incentive. A set of stated goals which individuals who do join will have to feel passionate abut. Interest groups tell members they will be a part of achieving a purpose which members have a strong sense of duty about. People must be very passionate about a cause or the cost of joining is o small that they are indifferent to joining or not. -Organizations that attract members by appealing to interest in a set of principles are called ideological interest groups. -If the purpose of a group if attained benefits the general public including non-members, it is called a public-interest lobby. Ralph Nader. Auto-Safety Bill. -Conservatives, though slow to get started, also have adopted the public-interest organizational strategy. There are two kinds of organizations: 1. Groups that engage in research and lobbying 2. Groups that bring lawsuits designed to advance their cause. -Membership organizations that rely on purposive incentives tend to be shaped by the mood of times. -These organizations have a powerful motive to stay in the public eye. -They devote a lot of attention to generating publicity by by developing good contacts with the media and issuing dramatic press-releases about crises and scandals. -Public-interest lobbies often do best when the government is in the hands of an administration that is hostile to their views. THE INFLUENCE OF THE STAFF: -We often make the mistake of assuming what an interest group does politically is simply to exert influence on behalf of its members. -This happens when the members all have a clear and similar stake in an issue. -Many issues affect many members in different ways and some members may not even care about the issues and join solely for solidary and material benefits.
THE ACTIVITIES OF INTEREST GROUPS
-Size and wealth are no longer entirely accurate measures of an interest group's influence. -Interest groups require organization to be effective in their goals. INFORMATION: -The single most important tactic of interest groups is supplying credible information. -Information is in short supply for legislators who must take positions on a staggering number of issues. -Nobody needs a lobbyist to access publicly available information, but politicians often covet information that is highly detailed, specific, up-to-date, and not public available in an easy-to-find form. -Lobbyist are specialists who gather information and present in as organized, persuasive and factual a manner as possible. -Misrepresentation or bad advice can embarrass a legislator who takes it and repels the one who detects it in the end leading to the distrust of the lobbyist. The need of contacts and credibility to maintain trust keeps the lobbyist from misrepresentation or bad advice. -The value of the information provided by a lobbyist is often greatest when the issue is fairly narrow. Public officials not only want technical information they also want political cues. -One important way in which these political cues are made known is by ratings that interest groups make of legislators. These ratings are designed to generate public support for various legislators. -Both political information and political cues are becoming much more popular. EARMARKS: -Information can be linked to influence. Lobbyists not only tell facts they also learn information from Washington about what they are doing and they look for ways to sell that. -Earmarks are a provision in a law that provides a direct benefit to a client without the benefit having been review on the merits by all of Congress. -Earmarks have become common lately for two reasons: 1. The Federal Government was doing much more and thus affecting more parts of the society. 2. Lobbying organizations figured out that clients would pay for information about how to convert some bit of federal activity to their benefit. -In 2008, there were more than 11,000 earmarks that had been approved by Congress. -Many members of Congress thing earmarks are good: Why should only the president or congressional committees decide on what things Congress should spend its money? PUBLIC SUPPORT: THE RISE OF NEW POLITICS: -Lobbyists mainly used to use an insider strategy: they worked closely with a few key members of Congress, meeting them privately to exchange information and favors. Things could be discussed leisurely over matters where public opinion did not matter. -Now, interest groups have taken a more outsider strategy which is useful due to the individualistic nature of Congress. -Public opinion polls can be done to measure support for or opposition to legislation. -This kind of grassroots lobbying is central to the outsider strategy. It is designed to generate public pressure on governmental officials. -Not every issues can lend itself to an outsider strategy because many issues are not easy to get people excited about, but some people will join in grassroots lobbying efforts over controversial matters like abortion, Medicare, and affirmative action. -Undoubtedly, new politics creates new conflicts, and politicians dislike this controversy. For this reason, they will listen to the constituency or interest group that agrees with them. -Members of interest groups also primarily work with legislators that agree with them. For interest groups, the target is the undecided legislator or bureaucrat -Lobbyists make major efforts to convince an undecided legislator. They will commission public opinion polls, stimulate local citizens, arrange for constituents, or get newspapers to run editorials supporting their position. -Some groups will deliberately attack actual or potential allies in government in order to embarrass them. -Recently, interest groups have placed great emphasis on developing grassroots support. MONEY AND PACs: -Money is probably one of the less effective ways by which interest groups advance their causes! This was not always the case. -Campaign Finance Laws ended money as an important way to advance causes in two ways: 1. The laws sharply restricted the amount any interest could give to a candidate for federal office. 2. The laws made legal the creation by organizations of political action committees or PACs that could make political contributions. -Today there are more than 4,500 PACs. These PACs is headed by a member of Congress who raises money for other candidates (leadership PACs), while the latter type is an "independent expenditure-only committee" that is not allowed to coordinate with candidates or political party leaders (super PACs). -Commonly organized around ideological views, particular issues, or leading political figures the PACs are set up by and connected to business corporations, labor unions, or other interest groups that raise and spend campaign money from voluntary donations. HOW A PAC WORKS: -Can be formed by: business firms, labor unions, trade associations, and ideological organizations -Must have at least 50 members: Each member can sponsor $5000 per election, the sponsoring firm, association, or ideological group cannot contribute money. -A PAC that contributes to at least five candidates may contribute the following: $5000 to any federal candidate, $15,000 dollar to any national political party, $5,000 to any state or local party -Where the money goes: Business PACs give slightly more to Republicans than to Democrats, Labor unions give more than 90% to Democrats, Ideological PACs give to Democrats and Republicans in about equal amounts. -Some members of Congress tell PACs what to do rather than take orders from them. Members will frequently inform PACs that they expect money from them. -Almost any kind of organization can form a PAC. Over half of all PACs are corporation or trade association sponsored, 6 percent by labor unions, and the rest by various groups. Ideological PACs have risen rapidly. -Both parties have become dependent on PAC money. There is no significant research however that PAC contributions affect how members of Congress vote. Most legislators vote on their own ideological beliefs not on what PACs tell them to. -In 2010, Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court struck down a law that prohibited independent expenditures by business corporations, organizations, and unions to fund "electioneering communications" within 30 days of a primary and 60 days of a general election. -In any case, if interest group money makes a difference, it probably makes it on a certain kinds of issues more than others. "Client Politics" are the politics that these groups will most likely be more influential on. THE "REVOLVING" DOOR: -Hundreds of people leave important jobs in the federal government to take more lucrative positions in private industry. -Many people worry that this "revolving door" may give private interests a way of improperly influencing government decisions. If a federal official uses his or here government position to do something for a corporation in exchange for a cushy job after leaving government than there is a problem. -Many scandals have emerged concerning corrupt dealings between federal officials and industry executives. -Agencies differ in their vulnerability to outside influences. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: -Public display's and disruptive tactics have always been a part of American politics and interest group activity -To understand interest group politics, it is important to remember that making trouble has become a quite conventional political resource and is no longer simply the last resort of groups. -To disrupt the working of some institution so that it is forced to negotiate with you will come to your aid and press your target to negotiate. -Government officials dread this kind of trouble and they find themselves in a no-win situation. If they ignore the disruption, they are accused of being insensitive, unresponsive, or arrogant. If they give in, they encourage more demonstrations.
THE RISE OF INTEREST GROUPS
-There are four factors that explain the rise of interest groups: 1. Broad economic developments have led to the creation of numerous new interests. 2. Government Policy itself helps to create interest groups. 3. Political organization do not emerge automatically, even when government policy permits them and social circumstances seem to require them. Somebody must exercise leadership. 4. The more government does, the more interest groups will arise to influence public policy.
HISTORY OF INTEREST GROUPS
-We are all part of an interest group THEN: -During the 1770s, may groups arose to agitate for independence. In the 1830s and 1840s, the number of religious associations increased sharply, In the 1860s, craft-based trade unions emerged and farmers formed groups. In the 1880s and 1890s, business associations proliferated. NOW: -The wave of interest group formation that occurred in the 1970s led to the emergence of envronmental, consumer and politcal reform organizations. -Interest groups began creating PACs or political action committees in 1973. -The number of interest groups, and lobbyists have increased rapidly in Washington. -Every political era features activists who believed strongly in some ideology, but only recently have these ideological groups become so pervasive. -Four Factors have shaped how and when given interest groups arise in America.
Public-interest lobby
A political organization whose goals will principally benefit nonmembers.
Earmark
A provision in a law that provides a direct benefit to a client without the benefit having been reviewed on the merits by all of Congress.
Purposive Incentives
A benefit that comes from serving a cause or principle.
Political Action Committee (PAC)
A committee set up by a corporation, labor union, or interest group that raises and spends campaign money from voluntary donations.
Interest Group
An organization of people sharing a common interest or goal that seeks to influence public policy.
Ratings
Assessments of a representative's voting record on issues important to an interest group.
Material Incentives
Money or things valued in monetary terms.
Ideological Interest Groups
Political organizations that attract members by appealing to their political convictions or principles.
Incentive
Something of value one cannot get without joining an organization.
Solidary Incentives
The social rewards that lead people to join political organizations.
