So Damn Much Money

"The reason I suggested it is, firstly, that Kaiser has been in Washington for 40 years. He could thus write with insight, having watched Washington for many years. Secondly, it’s the latest book on ‘lobbying.’ But it presents a point of view which I think is sophomoric. Too simplistic. Basically he says that Washington is dysfunctional because of lobbyists. And I think yes, lobbyists put stones in the wheels. But some of that is warranted because it’s the expression of legitimate interest groups. He focuses a lot on earmarks. Well, some people want earmarks, but that’s not what our major problems are. I think the real problem with the US is much more than lobbyists – it’s people wanting more from government than they are willing to pay for. I don’t think our entitlement programs are the result of lobbyists. There’s no question, even though Obama said they didn’t, that lobbyists made off with the health care bill. The insurance industry supported the health care bill, and why did they support it? They may have supported it because they want Americans to have health care, but they also supported it because there were deals made with them. As Bismarck said, making laws is like making sausages, it’s not a pretty sight. Yes. It’s the seduction issue again. Cassidy came to Washington as a liberal Democrat, a McGovernite, food stamps, all of that. And then, he became a lobbyist and it wasn’t even broad issues that he was representing – it was gimmies to specific clients. And the irony was it wasn’t Indian tribes, it was nice things like universities, including the University of West Virginia. So you had the late Senator Byrd of West Virginia, one of the most powerful Senators, the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, saying ‘Why are you hiring this lobbyist? I represent my constituents! If the University of West Virginia wants a grant don’t hire this guy, come to me directly!’ So you’ve got the human story of lobbying, idealists being seduced by the aphrodisiac of Washington. Why can’t WVU go directly to Senator Byrd? Unfortunately the reality is that WVU may not think it is skilled in the legislative process, it may feel awkward or guilty about a special grant. But any Member of Congress would die to try to do something for their constituent. Yes, this is interesting, and so they have to go to the lobbyists and special interest groups [to raise the money]. So what’s the solution? Why does it cost that much? Is it the TV and media costs in a political campaign? Some argue that one could allocate free time on TV for candidates, but I’m a little bit nervous on posing the costs of democracy on a select number of businesses. There may be a better answer. He’s presenting a problem, but I’m not sure the lobbyist is the problem per se. You need to have avenues open for the citizenry to influence their legislatures, for the governed to influence the governors. It’s a legitimate expression of democracy, and the role of interest groups. And when you talk about interest groups, there are some arguments that Political Action Committees, for example, allow individuals to band together. On the other hand, lobbying can be corrupting, lobbying can skew public policy makers. What we may be concerned about is, of course, the payoffs. Also, in some sectors of the economy interest groups are more powerful than others. But which entity was providing the most money in this last election? It was the public employees union. They are public employees, working for the government, but they’re also influencing the government: that’s a concern some people might raise. But if the NRA wasn’t there and I was running for public office in Montana, I’d probably still be for guns. Yes, because of the NRA supporters of freedom to bear guns have more influence than if they didn’t have a ‘lobby.’ They can mobilize their people in minutes to contact their Member of Congress. But remember that the opponents of guns have their own organization, the ‘Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.’ It’s not as powerful as the NRA but it’s there and it prevails on occasion. Intruding in people’s right to petition their representatives is a slippery slope that can hurt the right as well as the left, the gun lobby as well as the environmental lobby. So how does one deal with it? In Kaiser’s book, well intentioned reforms are suggested. One that is already in place is the ‘the toothpick rule.’ Under recent reforms, to avoid people like me having influence, I cannot take a Congressman or staffer to breakfast, lunch or dinner anymore. I also cannot give gifts worth more than $25 as a lobbyist. It sounds like a good idea but these limitations don’t apply when you go to a fundraiser. Also, the unions are furious because their members are primarily represented by union lobbyists, while CEOs can still go to the White House for dinner because they are CEOs not lobbyists. Congressmen and Senators can’t accept a meal but there’s a toothpick rule: that is to say, if the food can be picked up on toothpicks, it’s not really that dangerous, it’s not really that big. There’s also the rule of 25, if there are more than 25 people it’s a well-attended event and it’s OK. Sure I’m allowed to have my ‘evenings’. Actually we don’t have seated dinners anymore, just a roundtable discussion because frankly journalists, Members of Congress and businessmen want to go home and spend time with their families or prepare for the next day or they’re on a diet. There are always more than 25 people. I comply with the law and all rules and regulations. So one is the technical issue, I comply with the 25 person exception. What is more important and often can’t be captured in rules and regulation is human nature, human frailty and behavior. I feel comfortable because there are conservative and liberal and the most cynical of journalists there and we’re discussing broad issues. There is even a well-known, very influential American journalist who once attended one my evenings, which actually was a true miracle because he is terrified of talking to a ‘lobbyist’ or going to meetings where a ‘lobbyist’ might appear for fear of being perceived as corrupted. Often those worth corrupting are probably least likely to be corrupted… If you get the Kaiser book you can have a look. It gets very difficult because what does lobbying mean? Strategic advice is not lobbying. How much contact do you have? What kind of contact? How does one eliminate corruption? There may be rules, so what you do, for example, is if you’re a former Senator or congressman. You’re not allowed to lobby the first year or so – and so you sit there and don’t register but your underlings do and they’re the ones who do the work. The behavior under Samuel Ward was worse than today. Let’s use the example of Bob Kaiser, the esteemed gentleman from the Washington Post. Some eager beaver at the Washington Post, his newspaper, decided to have dinners – just like Sam Ward. Specifically they were going to charge $25,000 to introduce people to editorialists and journalists so they could have their shot at determining the press coverage and the editorial coverage of their positions. It turned out to be not accepted behavior and it fell apart . We also have Jeffrey Birnbaum, author of The Lobbyists , who I got in touch with last week. He went from the Wall Street Journal to the Washington Post, to the Washington Times, to — and I’m not going to make a judgment about it — to head of public relations at a lobbying firm."