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Alex · 04-11-2007, 09:08 AM

It isn't really any easier to communicate now with a senator than it was before, you just save the cost of a stamp.

What would define a "professional" lobbyist? If I had a business saying "Hey! Most of you suck as writing letters to your Congressman. So before you send that email forward it to me and for $2 I'll give it a polish that is sure to get it noticed!"

What about "Hey, I'm a wheat farmer and I have real concerns about HB2323 which will raise my harvesting costs significantly. So I'm going go visit our senator in Washington and laid out how I feel. Since we can't all afford to take four days to go to Washington, anybody interested in signing this letter letting him know how many of us share my concerns?"

How about "We're in the middle of our harvest so I can't get to Washington but it so happens that Larry, my accountant, will be there and he's willing to drop a letter off personally at the senator's office. Anybody want to sign it with me?"

How about "You know, we've had Larry present five letters from us to the senator in the last year and it's really eating into his other responsibilies. Why don't we just pay Larry to live in an SRO in Washington to make sure the senator remembers we're out here and we're really concerned about these bills?"

At what point do you say some level of cooperation and organization in trying to sway political opinion is no longer acceptable? Is there a bright line that is easy to enforce? Paying a guy to talk about the pork industry to a congressman at every opportunity is different how from being a professional "radical" organizing anti-war protests at every appearance by
the same congressman. Both of them are lobbying and both of them are doing it as their primary livelihood (even if one is much better paid than the other).

Is it legal to be paid to speak to all of Congress (Rush Limbaugh) but not a single congressman (the AARP lobbyist)?

Certain methods of lobbying should be against the law since they are essentially bribery or blackmail but at root, lobbying is just talking.

04-11-2007, 09:08 AM	#10
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	It isn't really any easier to communicate now with a senator than it was before, you just save the cost of a stamp. What would define a "professional" lobbyist? If I had a business saying "Hey! Most of you suck as writing letters to your Congressman. So before you send that email forward it to me and for $2 I'll give it a polish that is sure to get it noticed!" What about "Hey, I'm a wheat farmer and I have real concerns about HB2323 which will raise my harvesting costs significantly. So I'm going go visit our senator in Washington and laid out how I feel. Since we can't all afford to take four days to go to Washington, anybody interested in signing this letter letting him know how many of us share my concerns?" How about "We're in the middle of our harvest so I can't get to Washington but it so happens that Larry, my accountant, will be there and he's willing to drop a letter off personally at the senator's office. Anybody want to sign it with me?" How about "You know, we've had Larry present five letters from us to the senator in the last year and it's really eating into his other responsibilies. Why don't we just pay Larry to live in an SRO in Washington to make sure the senator remembers we're out here and we're really concerned about these bills?" At what point do you say some level of cooperation and organization in trying to sway political opinion is no longer acceptable? Is there a bright line that is easy to enforce? Paying a guy to talk about the pork industry to a congressman at every opportunity is different how from being a professional "radical" organizing anti-war protests at every appearance by the same congressman. Both of them are lobbying and both of them are doing it as their primary livelihood (even if one is much better paid than the other). Is it legal to be paid to speak to all of Congress (Rush Limbaugh) but not a single congressman (the AARP lobbyist)? Certain methods of lobbying should be against the law since they are essentially bribery or blackmail but at root, lobbying is just talking.
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