2008 Woodie Awards
The truth about lobbyists
John Latini Jr.
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: Letter to the Editor
Lobbying is a mystery to most Americans. Until this summer it was a mystery to me. Even as a political science major I knew what a lobbyist was but I never understood how they did their jobs. I assumed they just met with politicians and threw money at them to try and influence their vote. I could not have been more wrong.
I spent my summer in Washington, DC interning and taking classes at Georgetown University. I interned with a real estate organization called The Real Estate Roundtable. The Roundtable is a lobbying organization created by the top commercial real estate owners in the country that represents their interests to the federal government. Two of the three classes I took at Georgetown were taught by lobbyists. From my experiences this summer I learned the true role of a lobbyist: to educate. Lobbyists are not much different than professors here at this University.
Lobbyists are hired by a particular interest to represent what is best for that group. They meet with staff members of Congress- mostly Legislative Assistants-and make a presentation to that staff member about how an upcoming law will affect their group. That's pretty much it. Lobbyists themselves rarely host fundraisers and make huge donations to politicians in hope of influencing them. Lobbyists try to educate lawmakers to make the best decision for their interest. For example, the real estate organization I interned with was concerned about a bill being debated in Congress that would drive their building insurance rates through the roof. At no time did anyone in the office talk about profits. If the bill passes, real estate owners will have to lay people off because they will not be able to afford the building insurance. Since the real estate industry is responsible for about one third of the nations economy, it would have a disastrous impact on the overall economy if they have to lay off 10 million people just to keep their buildings insured. Now I am sure they were motivated somewhat by wanting to keep their profits high but, at the same time, they need workers to keep their profits high. They do not want to fire people, but they will if they are forced too. Every intern I met this summer explained a similar situation to me, but in industries such as communications, oil, gas, electric, water, banking and just about anything else you can think of.
I spent my summer in Washington, DC interning and taking classes at Georgetown University. I interned with a real estate organization called The Real Estate Roundtable. The Roundtable is a lobbying organization created by the top commercial real estate owners in the country that represents their interests to the federal government. Two of the three classes I took at Georgetown were taught by lobbyists. From my experiences this summer I learned the true role of a lobbyist: to educate. Lobbyists are not much different than professors here at this University.
Lobbyists are hired by a particular interest to represent what is best for that group. They meet with staff members of Congress- mostly Legislative Assistants-and make a presentation to that staff member about how an upcoming law will affect their group. That's pretty much it. Lobbyists themselves rarely host fundraisers and make huge donations to politicians in hope of influencing them. Lobbyists try to educate lawmakers to make the best decision for their interest. For example, the real estate organization I interned with was concerned about a bill being debated in Congress that would drive their building insurance rates through the roof. At no time did anyone in the office talk about profits. If the bill passes, real estate owners will have to lay people off because they will not be able to afford the building insurance. Since the real estate industry is responsible for about one third of the nations economy, it would have a disastrous impact on the overall economy if they have to lay off 10 million people just to keep their buildings insured. Now I am sure they were motivated somewhat by wanting to keep their profits high but, at the same time, they need workers to keep their profits high. They do not want to fire people, but they will if they are forced too. Every intern I met this summer explained a similar situation to me, but in industries such as communications, oil, gas, electric, water, banking and just about anything else you can think of.