1 / 13

Chapter 12

Chapter 12. Lobbyists: Ten Myths About Power and Influence Rogan Kersh. Myth #1 – “Health Care Is Different”. Popular image of health care as a species apart is specious Health care is a big business It attracts a full complement of lobbyists. Myth #2 – “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow”.

dewitt
Download Presentation

Chapter 12

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Chapter 12 Lobbyists: Ten Myths About Power and Influence Rogan Kersh

  2. Myth #1 – “HealthCare Is Different” • Popular image of health care as a species apart is specious • Health care is a big business • It attracts a full complement of lobbyists

  3. Myth #2 – “Here Today,Gone Tomorrow” • Lobbying on health policy has become unpredictable and chaotic • Supremely fluid “issue networks” • Kersh suggests health care lobbying functions around somewhat more stable, semi-permanent “issue regimes”

  4. Myth #3 – “It’s a Man’s World” • Lobbying has traditionally been assumed to be monopolized by men • In health policy, more female lobbyists have entered the business • Nearly matching the number of male lobbyists in this issue area

  5. Myth #4 – “K” is for Republican • Republican-led “K Street Project” • Assumed lobbyists had switched allegiance en masse to the GOP • In terms of campaign contributions and organizational practice • Such claims seem to be exaggerated • Particularly in the area of health policy

  6. Myth #5 – “Lobbying Targets as Rational Choices” • Longstanding assumption holds that lobbyists carefully select “targets” of lobbying • Based largely on their supposed position on an issue

  7. Myth #5 – “Lobbying Targets as Rational Choices” • Evidence suggests inherent legislative chaos and the pooling of resources under lobbying coalitions makes individual decisions of this sort rare

  8. Myth # 6 – “Clients Are King” • It is commonly thought that lobbyists merely serve to transmit the preferences of client firms to decision makers • Thus affecting policy outcome

  9. Myth # 6 – “Clients Are King” • In actuality: • Lobbyists often act somewhat independently in order to burnish overall reputation in policy community • Or push for policy outcome in which one truly believes

  10. Myth #7 – “The Revolving Door Corrupts Completely” • Many believe a revolving door exists between policymaking and lobbying • Creating numerous conflicts of interest • Many former officials go into lobbying because of the passion they feel for certain issues • Not purely out of opportunism

  11. Myth #8 – “Donations Buy Access (Or Even Votes)” • It is often assumed PAC/lobbyist contributions “buy” access to officials, or even policy outcomes • Rationales for such contributions are more varied • Many lobbyists contribute as a form of “insurance” with members of Congress

  12. Myth #9 – “Everybody Does It Abramoff-style” • Corruption on the scale of the Abramoff scandal is assumed to be rife on K Street • Evidence suggest Abramoff is the exception • Rather than the rule on many counts

  13. Myth #10 – “It’s AllAbout the Spin” • “Information” lobbyists provide to members of Congress is assumed to be repackaged depending on the member’s ideological leanings • In actuality, most members received the same information from lobbyists, with only minor differences

More Related