Lobbying is a necessary part of the legislation process. The process of introducing new policy or amending old policy is largely attributed to the work of lobbyists who work for special interest groups and other types of campaigns and inform legislators and government officials about new legislation (Holman, 2007). Lobbying is important because lobbyists are a critical source of information for legislators and policy makers (McAfee, 2013). Direct lobbying is not a grassroots type of process but rather an informed individual hired to lobby a legislator, senator, or other public or government official. In 1995, the Lobbying Disclosure Act was signed into law by President Clinton which required lobbyist to register and document their lobbying activities in order to enforce a more transparent and less corrupt system of government.
The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 and the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 signed in by President Bush both are great strides towards the goal of a more transparent and less corrupt system of government. The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act required Lobbyists to submit a quarterly report about their spending practices and places restrictions on presents and other types of gifts and kickbacks that they can give legislators like Congressmen.
These reforms were effective at reducing corruption to a point; however, where there is a will there is a way and in that respect, corruption can’t really be done away with. Another factor that will deter lobbyists from breaking these new rules and laws is the fear of having to pay a fine and or risk going to jail if they are caught. It would be a huge scandal and at a minimum ruin their career. These acts and reforms of Lobbying policy are a great start towards lessening corruption in the American government system (Straus, 2007). In addition, making these reports subject to public inspection is a great way to clean up dirty political messes that have fouled Washington for years.
References
Holman, Craig. “Interest Group & Lobbying.” (2007). (Accessed September 29, 2013).
McAfee, Andrea. Public Policy. Charles Town, WV: APUS, 2012. (Accessed September 29, 2013).
Straus, Jacob R. “Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007: The Role of the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate.” Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2008. (Accessed September 29, 2013).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.