Chapter 6 Questions
What is EMILY's List? What is their purpose?
"Early Money is Like Yeast" raises money from individuals committed to electing democratic women who are pro-choice on abortion
What strategies did republicans develop?
"K-Street Project"
Whats another name for an interest group?
"special interests" that conveys a selfish or narrow view, one that probably lacks credibility
What are the limits on PACs contributions? Individuals?
$10,000 per election cycle and individuals are limited to $4,600 per candidate per election cycle
How does the constitution and its provisions limit the "mischief in factions"?
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How has the NAACP used litigation to accomplish its political goals?
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What does Section 501c of the tax code permit?
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What has been done to slow down the revolving door?
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What is Madison saying in the quote that begins "the cause of faction..."?
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What makes NEA different from other PSIG's?
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Which groups have heavily used independent expenditures?
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how do interest groups spend money on elections?
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What are three types of members any mass-member organizations have?
1. A relatively small number of formal leaders who may hold full-time paid positions or devote much time, effort, and money the groups activities 2. Few 100 people intensity involved in the group who identify with its aims, attend meetings, pay dues, and do leg work. 3. 1,000s of people who are members in name only and cannot be depended on to vote in election or act as leadership wants
What are 3 examples of ideological groups?
1. Club for Growth 2. Concord Coalition 3. Anti-Saloon League
What are the four types of economic interest groups? Examples
1. Corporation--> GM, AT&T, Coca-cola 2. Trade and other associations--> Chamber of Commerce 3. Labor--> AFL, CIO 4. Professional Associations--> ABA
What types of tangible incentives do interest groups give to attract free riders?
1. Exclusive magazines 2. Travel Benefits 3. Professional meetings and job opportunities 4. Discounts on insurance 5. Merchandise 6. Admission to CUltural Institutions
When have political parties been formed? Is this being done now?
1. Free-soil Party(1840's) to work against spread of slavery 2. Prohibition Party (1860's) to ban the sale of liquor 3. Green Party (today)
What types of groups make up most NGO's? Three Examples?
1. Greenpeace 2.Amnesty International 3. Humane Society of US
How does government regulate professions?
1. Lawyers licensed by states which set standards 2. Use courts to pursue agendas
What is a groups' Resources?
1. Money 2. Volunteers 3. Expertise 4. Reputation
Summarize possible organizational structures?
1. Strong formal organization 2. Loose state or national federation in which they retain a measure of separate power and independence
What are the 5 broad types of interest groups?
1. economic 2. ideological or single issue 3. public interest 4. foreign policy 5. government
How have minor parties spoiled a major candidate
1997 Green Party won 17% taking democrat votes
About how much did PACs contribute in 2005-6?
360 million
What percentage of PAC contributions go to dems ?reps? How is this different in the Senate?
60%-->Democrats 40%-->Republicans
What was A Day Without Immigrants?
600,000 protestors gathered in LA to focus greater media attention on the important role immigrants play in economy
What % of unionized labor does AFL-CIO speak for?
66%
How has labor favored the democrats?
AFL-CIO has supported every Democratic presidential candidate since the New Deal
How are groups using the internet to mobilize its members?
BIPAC have used Internet to communicate with members and employees of affiliated business
What helped PACs importance grow in the 70's?
Because of campaign finance reform legislation
Why do many workers choose not to affiliate with a union in open shop states?
Because they can secure the same benefits that unionized workers enojy without incurring the cost of joining the union
What is the free-rider problem?
Benefits from the group efforts are shared with everyone, including those who don't participate in work of securing the benefit
How does the bill of rights protect movements?
By supporting free assembly, free speech, and due process. Those who disagree with government policies don't have to engage in violence or other extreme activities in US, and don't need to fear persecution for demonstration peacefully
What is Common Cause?
Campaigns for electoral reform, making political process more open and participatory and stem media consolidation
What is the limit of interest groups' power?
Competition among interest groups
What was the Teapot Dome Scandal?
Congress passed the Federal Corrupt Practices act of 1925 in response to Harding allowing private companies to secretly lease public land in order to extract oil than has been reserved for the navy
How do groups try to be friendly with winners?
Contribute to incumbents
What does it mean that campaign contributions are correlated with lobbying patterns?
Contributions to reps and senators are more likely t result in committee action
What's the purpose of helping to elect a candidate?
Creates a relationship between the interest group and the elected official that a group may exploit in the policy process
What dod the disclosure provisions in FECA do?
Defined electioneering ads as communications that use words such as "vote for" or "vote against" and made them subject to disclosure and spending limits
What was the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995?
Definition of a lobbyist was expanded to include part-time lobbyists
What was the Anti-Saloon League?
Devoted solely to barring the sale and manufacture of alcoholic beverages and it didn't care whether legislators were drunk or sober as long as they voted right.
What are the main arguments against interest groups?
Do not represent people equally
Why do groups use individuals expenditures?
Enable groups to direct more money to a particular race than they can through PAC contributions
How are governors organized?Cities?Counties?
Governors-->National Governor Association Cities--> National League of Cities Counties--> National Association of Counties
How does the free rider problem give little incentive to join or support a union?
Groups sometimes attempt to sanction or punish free riders , which is why unions prefer that only union workers be employed in a given firm or industry
What was the daunting problem the founders of the constitution faced in regards to factions?
How to establish a stable and orderly constitutional system that would both respect the liberty of free citizens and prevent the tyranny of the majority or of a single dominant interest.
What is political information?
Includes such matters as who supports or opposes legislation, including the executive branch, and how strongly they feel about it
What would madison think of politics today?
Interest groups and variety wouldn't surprise him
Why do we use the term interest groups over "special interests"?
It is a neutral term and it's speaking for some not all.
How have like-minded groups formed cooperative groups?
Leadership conference on Civil Rights and People for the American Way brought together many groups to defeat the nomination of outspoken federal judge Robert Bork to US Supreme Court
What is the Club for Growth?
Libertarian, anti-tax group, that sees itself as applying the same techniques as EMILY's list but for pro-growth and anti-tax candidates who are mainly Republicans
How effective is electioneering by interest groups?
Mass-membership organizations fail to mobilize full membership in elections
What is the argument that interest group influence are exaggerated?
May receive money, but only a fraction comes from a single group
What is the most important thing lobbyists provide to members of congress?
Money for reelection
Why are interest groups forming political parties?
Not to win an election but to publicize a cause
What do foreign policy interest groups do?
Organize to promote or oppose foreign poic
How did PACs first come about?
Organized labor invented this device John L. Lewis
What are different ways that PACs invest their money?
PACs give to the most influential incumbents, to committee chairs, to party leaders and whips, and to the Speaker of the house. More pragmatic PAcs give not only to the majority party but also to key incumbents in minority party, because today's minority could be tomorrow's majority
What useful functions do lobbyists perform?
PRovide information for decision makers in all three branches of government, help prepare legislation and testify before legislative hearings and contribute a large share of the costs of campaigns
What is the typical image of a lobbyist?
Powerful, hard-nosed lobbyists who use a combination of knowledge, persuasiveness, personal influence, charm, and money to influence legislators and bureaucrats
How can an interest group work to modify rules?
Pressuring Congress to change the legal mandate for the governing agency or reduce its budget, making it difficult to enforce rules
What was the Credit Mobiler Scandal?
Promoted company in exchange for the right to make huge profits by buying its stock below market value
What are PIRG's? What do they do?
Public interest research groups seek to influence policy on capitol hill
How have presidents spoken out against interest groups?
Reagan--> warned power of "special interests" groups Eisenhower--> warned against "military-industrial complex"
How do repubs tend to reach members/votes? Dems?
Repub--> learned from labor techniques Dems--> rely on unions
During the 2004 election were there more dems or republican 527 organizations?
Republicans
What was the Federal Corrust Practices of 1925?
Required disclosure reports, before and after elections of receipts and expenditures by Senate and House candidates and by political committees
How do ideological groups target certain candidates?
Seek to change their positions or influence voters against them
What are some ways that interest groups vary and are different from one another?
Some are formal associations or organizations like NRA; others have no formal organizations. Some are organized primarily to persuade public officials on issues of concern to the group such as reducing greenhouse gases; others conduct research or influence public opinion with public reports and mass mailings
How did groups exploit issue advocacy?
Spent an estimated $35million in '96 mostly against Republican
What is substantive information?
Such as the impact of proposed laws may not be available from any other
What is the AIPAC?Why are the important?
The American Israel Political Action. Most influential foreign policies group with most than 50,000
What is an interest group spread?
The extent to which membership is concentrated or dispersed
How have PACs gotten around these limits?
They can host fundraisers attended by other PAcs to boost their ... the candidate or the can bundle
Why do many fear about lobbyists?
They fear they have too much influence on government and add to legislative gridlock by stopping action on pressing problems
Why is it that PACs invest more to incumbents?
They spend more on who is more likely to win
How did interest groups reach voters via mail before computers? How do they reach them now?
They would call lists of people to contact from phone directories and other sources or send mail indiscriminately. Today computerized mailing-list technology can target personalized letters to specific groupd
How do well-staffed associations use the register?
To obtain the specific language and deadlines for pending legislation
How do interest groups use media to reach voters?
Use media to influence during elections and motivate them to contact their representatives between elections
What is interest group pluralism?
Varied and overlapping nature of interest groups in the US
How does a group reach their maximum influence?
When their intersts are directly attaced or with assimilation with two major parties
HOw do interest groups influence employees, members and stockholders?
by persuading their employees
Why is a group leadership so difficult?
must know when to lead and when to follow
What are NGO's?
nonprofit association or group operating outside government that advocates and pursues policy objectives
How do contributions in state and local elections affect the election?
small-scale undertakings in which big contributions make a difference
