Lobbyists and Their Role in Government Politics

The job that a lobbyist has when summed up is to bring pressure against legislators to create change in laws for or against their cause. Their major job is to work for those matters that benefit their clients and against those that may harm them. By working with the government and trying to get change a good lobbyist understands the procedures of government and the correct way to persuade a government figure one way or another. Lobbyists are not usually people who are picked randomly but usually someone who has worked close within the government field before becoming a lobbyist. This includes past legislative representatives, journalists, and lawyers. Lobbyists use many techniques to get their was such as bringing grass roots. Grass roots means of or from the people, the average voters. This means that a lobbyist knows that they can start a chain of events that spreads out through the community to those who are not in government. They can do this by emails, snail mail, the news, and many other ways if they do not get their way or if they do get their way. Many interest groups now publish ratings of congress members. These rankings are based on the votes cast by members of congress on whether or not they support their cause or not. They publish these rankings o that these officials will hopefully be removed from their seta in future elections and someone who supports their cause will take their place. Interest groups make sure that the media gets these ratings. If all else fails lobbyists are very willing to make campaign contributions, provide information, write speeches, and even draft legislation. By doing this lobbyists are creating discussion on the floor of congress and are having he biggest affect.

The first major attempt to destroy corral lobbying came in 1946 when congress passed the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act. This requires that lobbyists register with the clerk of the House and the secretary of the senate so that they could not in a sense hide. This law had a loop hole though because in the writing it says that it only as to register if the groups "principle purpose" was to influence legislation. They finally fixed this law after years of criticism in 1995. This required all lobbyist and staff members to register from the president down. They must provide their name, place of business, and a brief description of what they do. They must also keep track of what they do so that they can present semiannual reports about their whereabouts. On top of registering States also must have their own laws on lobbying activities. Some states have extremely rigorous laws that barley allow lobbyists any room to breath while others have very limited laws.