Direct lobbying in the United States
[7] Washington, D.C. is the home to many firms that employ these strategies, with 11,140 registered lobbyists currently residing in the area.
[11] The results suggest that groups lobby in ways designed obtain the most influence for their view.
[10] When strong district ties are not present, groups tend to rely on direct lobbying with committee allies, because they assume that their political friends will be drawn to participate with the lobbyist view.
[14] The sector includes insurance companies, securities and investment firms, real estate interests and commercial banks.
[15] The top lobbying clients from 1998–2010 are the US Chamber of Commerce with $738,825,680, American Medical Association with $243,277,500, and General Electric with $236,580,000.
[16] These groups include opposing view-points, such as support or opposition to legal abortion care, and other strongly controversial issues.
[21] University of California spent $1,264,704 on lobbying, making it the top spender in the education group for the 2009–2010 fiscal year period.
[24] The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 was passed by the U.S. Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 15, 1995.
[25] Under a revision done on January 1, 2006, the Act state that any lobbying entity must be registered with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives.
Those that do not follow in accordance with the Disclosure Act are penalized, including fines of over $50,000 and being reported to the United States Attorney.
[27] Organizations must elect to use the Public Charity Law, and when so doing, the spending on lobbying may increase to 20% for the first $500,000 of their annual expenditures, followed by 15% for the next $500,000, up to 1 million dollars.
[28] We recommend the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia complete efforts to develop plans for a structured approach to focus limited resources on those lobbyists that continually fail to file as required or are otherwise not in compliance.In lobbying, the revolving door is the cycling of former federal employees into jobs as lobbyists while former K Street employees are pulled into government positions.
[30] Government officials can only work certain terms in their positions, for example senators, and afterwards they form valuable connections that could help influence future law making.
[30] A U.S. Congress member has a limited amount of serving time, and has the possibility of not being re-elected, or stepping down.
[41][42] Throughout most of its history, the FCC has been a relatively invisible part of the U.S. government, known mostly to industry stakeholders, lobbyists, and officials.
[43] Jeff Chester, the executive director of Center for Digital Democracy, "The FCC has long been the second home to a legion of (lawyers and lobbyists) ... whose occupation is convincing the staff and commissioners to approve policies that benefit a particular company or industry.
[44] The strong, direct relationships that have developed over the years between regulators and corporate media lobbyists, is essential to greater influence.
History has shown, due to the fact that FCC Commissioners are appointed only to five-year terms, that there is a revolving door between the Commission and industry.
[47] Politicians and businesses want the most knowledgeable and well-connected individuals working for them, which keeps the pool of potential hires quite small.
