• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Open Government>
  3. open government>

War on lobbying profession is discrimination for political gain

Paul A. Miller
August 06, 2019
War on lobbying profession is discrimination for political gain

The United States Capitol

Zach Gibson/Getty Images

Miller is president of the National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics and principal of the lobbying firm Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies.

Attacking lobbyists isn't a new phenomenon, it's been happening for decades. It happens every election cycle when candidates troll for cash and votes. It happens when Washington is gridlocked. It's an easy way for some to dodge the hard questions from constituents about why things aren't getting done in D.C. It's easier to simply blame those damn special interests for shutting down the process than it is to explain your own actions.

What's new is the growing intensity against everyone's right to petition their government — even if it means playing fast and loose with the Constitution. I get that a lot of this is for the public and ensuring candidates get elected.

The problem with that belief is that we are a social-media-driven society that can quickly turn fake news into real news (or reality) within minutes. The concerning part isn't the words, but how quickly the information is shared and how little facts play into it being viewed as truth.


As a profession, we need to set the record straight when it comes to attacks on our work. We need to be concerned that a portion of those elected to Congress are using the Constitution as a political tool to silence some and strengthen the voice of others. Our Founding Fathers meant for the Constitution to be a document that protects everyone's rights. Lobbyists give voice to those who want to be heard and that makes legislating hard when people won't blindly follow or simply support your own personal policy agenda. This makes us a target.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

We've heard a lot recently about discrimination, especially when it comes to the issue of equal pay thanks to the U.S. women's soccer team. We've seen members of Congress stand up for Team USA, demanding that they get paid equal to the men's team. Yet, in the very next breath, these same leaders want to interpret the Constitution another way when it comes to the lobbying profession.

When it comes to us, there is no hesitation to take our voice away or create discriminatory policies against lobbyists solely based on our profession. This view comes from those who rely on us for information. From those who need our help getting elected. From those who go to great lengths to ask for our financial support. We are today's necessity, tomorrow's fall guy.

Words matter; just ask those who protest every time the president tweets. Words matter here, too. A spokesman for Sen. Elizabeth Warren stated, "The first thing she would do as president would be to pass her anti-corruption bill that would end lobbying as we know it." We need to take a comment like that very seriously. It's broad and can mean almost anything. Just so I didn't misunderstand Warren's spokesman, I went back and looked at her proposal and this is what I found and why we need to wake up to comments like this.

The Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act legislates issues already in law. For example, it would ban lobbyists from giving gifts. This is already current law. The legislation has two standards: It bans corporations from having their voice heard but does not set the same standard for labor. Her legislation bans federal employees from lobbying their former offices for two years. Already in law. That ban extends to six years for corporate lobbyists, but she says nothing about the same applying to labor lobbyists. Warren's legislation creates a new expanded definition of what a lobbyist is. It then creates a corporate lobbyist definition. Again, nothing on a new definition for labor lobbyists.

The reality is, if you create a new definition for what a lobbyist is, shouldn't it apply across the board?

It appears this is a bill that discriminates against a group of people (former members of Congress and corporate lobbyists) simply based on their chosen profession. This bill looks to reward others who choose the same profession but may be more in line with the senator's views. Her bill prohibits lobbyists from taking government jobs for two-years after lobbying. It does grant waivers if such hiring is deemed in the national interest. This waiver process only applies to non-corporate lobbyists. That sounds like a special-interest carve-out to me.

I'm not sure this is what our Founding Fathers had in mind.

We cannot continue to sit back and allow some to push a policy agenda that violates the very document giving every citizen the right to petition the government. We cannot sit back and allow some to discriminate against us simply because of the profession we've chosen. If we do nothing, they get away with it. Social media gives credence to ideas like this. Social media builds momentum for discriminatory ideas like this. Just look at the number of followers some of these people have and the reach they have. Words matter and we better start caring.

The Constitution clearly states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." It's time for some to remember this and it's time for our profession to stand up and protect it.

open government

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Does partisanship impact happiness?

Lynn Schmidt
7h

Return copyright to its roots: Compensate human creators

Samantha Close
7h

It’s the institutional design, stupid! With a parliamentary system, America could avoid gridlock and instability

Milind Thakar
06 February

Poll: Americans’ legislative wish list for new congress shows frustration with political systems

Benjamin Clary
06 February

Podcast: Why Democrats fail with rural voters

Our Staff
06 February

Your Take: Religious beliefs

Our Staff
03 February
Videos

Video: America's civic education gap: What can business do?

Our Staff

Video: What does it mean to be Black?

Our Staff

Video: The dignity index

Our Staff

Video: The Supreme Court and originalism

Our Staff

Video: How the baby boom changed American politics

Our Staff

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Why Democrats fail with rural voters

Our Staff
06 February

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Our Staff
03 February

Podcast: 2024 Senate: Democrats have a lot of defending to do

Our Staff
02 February

Podcast: Collage: The promise of Black History Month

Our Staff
01 February
Recommended
Does partisanship impact happiness?

Does partisanship impact happiness?

Big Picture
Return copyright to its roots: Compensate human creators

Return copyright to its roots: Compensate human creators

Business & Democracy
Video: America's civic education gap: What can business do?

Video: America's civic education gap: What can business do?

Video: What does it mean to be Black?

Video: What does it mean to be Black?

It’s the institutional design, stupid! With a parliamentary system, America could avoid gridlock and instability

It’s the institutional design, stupid! With a parliamentary system, America could avoid gridlock and instability

Government
Poll: Americans’ legislative wish list for new congress shows frustration with political systems

Poll: Americans’ legislative wish list for new congress shows frustration with political systems

Government