GOVT

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GOVT

• Chapter 6
• Interest Groups

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Learning Objectives
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Interest Groups and American Government
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How Interest Groups Form

• An interest group is an organization of people
  sharing common objectives who actively attempt to
  influence government policymakers through direct
  and indirect methods.
• Interest groups may form in response to change
  a political or economic change, a shift in
  population or technology, or a change in social
  values.

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Interest Groups Financing

• An interest group must have patrons people or
  organizations willing to finance the group.
• Groups usually collect fees or donations from
  members, but few can survive without large grants
  and donations.

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Interest Groups

• Surveys show that at least 85 of Americans
  belong to at least one group.
• The existence of persons who benefit but do not
  contribute is called the free rider problem.
• If an interest group is successful in lobbying
  for laws that will improve air quality, everyone
  will benefit whether they paid for the lobbying
  effort or not.

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How Interest Groups Function in American
Government

• Interest groups serve several purposes in
  American politics
• Help to bridge the gap between citizens and
  government.
• Help raise public awareness and inspire action.
• Often provide public officials with specialized
  and detailed information that might be difficult
  to obtain otherwise.
• Serve as another check on public officials to
  make sure that they are carrying out their duties
  responsibly.

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Interest Groups in American Government

• According to the pluralist theory, politics is a
  contest among various interest groups.
• Pluralists maintain that the influence of
  interest groups on government is not undemocratic
  because individual interests are indirectly
  represented in the policymaking process through
  these groups.

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How Do Interest Groups Differ from Political
Parties?
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Interest Groups v. Political Parties

• Interest Groups

• Political Parties

• Are often policy specialists. They have only a
  handful of key policies to push.
• Are usually more tightly organized than political
  parties and financed through contributions or
  dues-paying memberships.
• Try to influence the outcome of elections but do
  not compete for public office.

• Policy generalists. They are broad-based
  organizations that must attract the support of
  many opposing groups and consider a large number
  of issues.
• Are more loosely organized than interest groups.
• Main sphere of influence is the electoral system
  parties run candidates for political office.

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Different Types of Interest Groups
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Business Interest Groups

• Two umbrella organizations that include large and
  small corporations and businesses are the U.S.
  Chamber of Commerce and the National Association
  of Manufacturers.
• Hundreds of trade organizations are less visible,
  but are also important in seeking policies that
  assist their members.
• Trade organizations usually support policies that
  benefit specific industries.
• Business interest groups have been viewed as
  staunch supporters of the Republican Party
  because Republicans are more likely to promote a
  hands-off government policy toward business.

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Labor Interest Groups

• Interest groups representing labor have been some
  of the most influential groups in our countrys
  history.
• The largest and most powerful labor interest
  group today is the AFL-CIO (the American
  Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
  Organizations), a confederation of fifty-six
  national and international labor unions
  representing 11 million members.
• Unions not affiliated with the AFL-CIO also
  represent millions of members.

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Labor Interest Groups

• Although unions were highly influential in the
  1930s through the 1950s, their strength and
  political power have waned in the last several
  decades.
• Today, members of organized labor make up only
  12.4 of the labor force all of the people over
  the age of sixteen who are working.

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Agricultural Interest Groups

• Three broad-based agricultural groups represent
  millions of American farmers.
• The American Farm Bureau Federation (Farm Bureau)
• The National Grange
• The National Farmers Union
• The Farm Bureau is the largest, representing more
  than 5.5 million families. Founded in 1919, it
  achieved one of its greatest early successes when
  it helped to obtain government guarantees of
  fair prices during the Great Depression of the
  1930s.

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Consumer Interest Groups

• Groups organized for the protection of consumer
  rights were very active in the 1960s and 1970s.
  
• Consumer groups deal with such problems as poor
  housing, discrimination against minorities and
  women, discrimination in the granting of credit,
  and business inaction on consumer complaints.

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Senior Citizen Interest Groups

• While the population of the nation as a whole has
  tripled since 1900, the number of elderly persons
  has increased eightfold.
• Persons over the age of sixty-five now account
  for 13 of the population, and many of these
  people have united to call attention to their
  special needs and concerns.
• These interest groups have been very outspoken
  and persuasive.

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Environmental Interest Groups

• Environmental interest groups are becoming some
  of the most powerful in Washington, D.C.
• Environmental groups have organized to support
  pollution controls, wilderness protection, and
  clean-air legislation.
• They have opposed strip-mining, nuclear power
  plants, logging, chemical waste dumps, and many
  other potential hazards.

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Environmental Interest Groups

• Environmental groups are greatly concerned about
  global warming and have supported recent attempts
  to control pollutants that may contribute to the
  problem.
• The issue of carbon taxes on imports has united
  environmentalists with U.S. industries that worry
  about foreign competition.

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Professional Interest Groups

• Most professions that require advanced education
  or specialized training have organizations to
  protect and promote their interests.
• These groups are concerned mainly with the
  standards of their professions, but also work to
  influence government policy. Some also function
  as labor unions.
• Four major professional groups are
• The American Medical Association
• The American Bar Association
• The National Education Association
• The American Federation of Teachers

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Single-Issue Interest Groups

• Numerous interest groups focus on a single issue.
  
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) lobbies for
  stiffer penalties for drunk-driving convictions.
• The abortion debate has created various
  single-issue groups such as the Right to Life
  Organization and NARAL Pro-Choice America.
• Other examples are the NRA and the American
  Israel Public Affairs Committee.

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Government Interest Groups

• Efforts by state and local governments to lobby
  the federal government have escalated in recent
  years.
• The federal government has sometimes lobbied in
  individual states, too.
• For example, during the 2004 elections, the U.S.
  Attorney Generals office lobbied against medical
  marijuana use in states that were considering
  ballot measures on the issue.

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How Interest Groups Shape Policy
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Direct Techniques

• Lobbying and providing election support are two
  important direct techniques used by interest
  groups to influence government policy.

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Direct Techniques Lobbying

• Lobbying refers to all of the attempts by
  organizations or individuals to influence
  legislation or the administrative decisions of
  government. It is one of the most widely used and
  effective ways to influence legislative activity.
• A lobbyist is an individual who handles a
  particular interest groups lobbying efforts.
• Lobbying can be directed at the legislative
  branch, at administrative agencies, and even at
  the courts.

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Direct Techniques Providing Election Support

• Interest groups often become directly involved in
  the election process. They provide campaign
  support for legislators who favor their policies
  and urge their members to vote for candidates who
  support the views of the group.
• They can also threaten candidates with the
  withdrawal of votes.
• Since the 1970s, federal laws governing campaign
  financing have allowed corporations, labor
  unions, and special interest groups to raise
  funds and make campaign contributions through
  political action committees (PACs).

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Indirect Techniques

• Interest groups also try to influence public
  policy through third parties or the general
  public.
• These indirect techniques can be particularly
  effective because public officials are often more
  impressed by contacts from voters than from
  lobbyists.
• Indirect techniques include
• Shaping public opinion
• Issuing ads
• Mobilizing constituents
• Going to court
• Demonstrating

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Indirect Techniques Shaping Public Opinion

• To cultivate public opinion, efforts may include
  television publicity, newspaper and magazine
  advertisements, online campaigns, mass mailings,
  and the use of public relations techniques.
• Some interest groups use rating systems, rating
  legislators according to the percentage of times
  they vote favorably on select issues.
• One of the most powerful indirect techniques used
  by interest groups is the issue ad a TV or
  radio ad taking a position on a particular issue.

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Indirect Techniques Mobilizing Constituents

• Interest groups sometimes urge members and other
  constituents to contact government officials to
  show their support for or opposition to a certain
  policy.
• The NRA has successfully used this tactic to
  fight strict federal gun control legislation by
  delivering half a million letters to Congress
  within a few weeks.

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Indirect Techniques Going to Court

• Civil rights groups paved the way for interest
  group litigation in the 1950s and 1960s with
  major victories concerning equal housing, school
  desegregation, etc.
• Interest groups can also influence the outcome of
  litigation without being a party to a lawsuit.
• Frequently, an interest group files an amicus
  curiae (friend of the court) brief in an
  appellate court.
• Often, interest groups have statistics and
  research that support their position on a certain
  issue, and this research can have influence on
  the justices deciding the case.

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Indirect Techniques Demonstration

• Some interest groups stage protests to make a
  statement in a dramatic way. The Boston Tea Party
  of 1773 is testimony to how long this tactic has
  been around.
• Over the years, many groups have organized
  protest marches and rallies to support or oppose
  issues.
• Not all demonstration techniques are peaceful.

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Todays Lobbying Establishment
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Why Do Interest Groups Get Bad Press?

• Despite their importance to democratic
  government, interest groups are often criticized
  by both the public and the press.
• Congress has tried to impose stricter regulations
  on lobbyists. The most important legislation
  regulating lobbyists was passed in 1946 and was
  revised in 1995 and again in 2007.
• The problem with stricter regulation is that it
  could abridge First Amendment rights.

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The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995

• This act reformed the 1946 act
• Defined a lobbyist as anyone who either spends at
  least 20 of his or her time lobbying members of
  Congress, their staffs, or executive-branch
  officials, or is paid more than 5000 in a
  six-month period for such work.
• Lobbyists must report their clients, the issues
  on which they lobbied, and the agency or chamber
  of Congress they contacted.

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Lobbying Scandals in the 2000s

• In 2005, a number of lobbying scandals in
  Washington, D.C. came to light. A major figure in
  the scandals was Jack Abramoff, an influential
  lobbyist who had ties to many Republicans (and a
  few Democrats) in Congress and to various
  officials in the Bush administration.
• Eventually, Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges of
  fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to bribe
  public officials. Abramoff received a prison
  sentence in 2006.
• The following year, Congressman Robert Ney (R.,
  Ohio) and former Bush administration official
  Steven Griles also received prison sentences for
  their part in the scandal.

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Lobbying Reform Efforts in 2007

• Following the 2006 midterm elections, the new
  Democratic majority in the Senate and the House
  undertook a lobbying reform effort. The goal was
  to force lobbyists to disclose their expenditures
  on House and Senate election campaigns above and
  beyond straight campaign contributions.
• Bundled campaign contributions, in which a
  lobbyist arranges for contributions from a
  variety of sources, would have to be reported.
• Expenditures on the sometimes lavish parties to
  benefit candidates would have to be reported as
  well. The new rules covered PACs as well as
  registered lobbyists.
• President Bush signed the resulting Honest
  Leadership and Open Government Act in September
  2007.

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Lobbyists and the Obama Administration

• During his campaign for the presidency, Barack
  Obama pledged that lobbyists wont find a job in
  my White House.
• That pledge turned out to be unenforceable. Out
  of 267 senior administration officials appointed
  by May 2009, 30 had served as lobbyists within
  the past five years.
• Appointees signed a pledge not to work on issues
  for which they lobbied in the previous two years,
  but given the positions that many of these
  appointees filled, such a pledge was probably
  unworkable as well.

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Lobbyists and the Obama Administration

• Other restrictions imposed included a rule that
  all communications with lobbyists over economic
  stimulus projects had to be in writing.
• When Obama spoke at a congressional fund-raiser
  in June 2009, lobbyists were banned from
  attending.
• Many old hands in Washington considered Obamas
  policies toward lobbyists absurd and predicted
  that they would not last.

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Politics on the Web

• www.ipl.org/div/aon
• www.nra.org
• www.aarp.org
• www.nea.org
• www.nrdc.org
• www.4ltrpress.cengage.com/govt