Reply #6: Lobbying itself most definitely does not have to be a bribe. [View All]

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

The best way to describe a lobbyist is this:

If you have an issue before the courts, the person you would hire to represent you is a lawyer.

If you have an issue before Congress or the Executive Branch, the person you would hire to represent you is a lobbyist.

While making contributions on behalf of your client IS a part of the job of a lobbyist, it's certainly not the only part, by any means. What we do is act as a liaison between a private entity and the government. The clients I represent are mostly research universities. What I do for them is present the case to the appropriate people within the government as to why they deserve to get Federal funding for their research projects. Being a rather lengthy and complicated process, it's important to have a lobbyist to stay on top of all the things that are required and when they are due. Donations do play part. When you go to a fundraiser, entry to which can cost anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of thousand dollars, it's one of the few occassions when you get guaranteed face-to-face time with the people who can help you out. It also lets them know that you support them and what they do, because quite frankly, no one in ANY industry wants to help out their opponents. Now, are donations REQUIRED to get things done? Absolutely not. We only really go to fundraisers for the ones who've helped us out repeatedly over the years, the ones in key districts, and/or the ones on key committees. Does making a donation increase your chances of success? Absolutely.

Now, is it a bribe? I suppose you could look at it that way. But that would make every person in this country who contributed to a campaign guilty of bribery too. Political contributions have been protected by the Supreme Court as a method of free speech. While I disagree with this interpretation in the case of organizations and corporations, that's the way it is and will continue to be.