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> You can’t receive campaign contributions from the corporation the lobbyist works for—it’s illegal for corporations to contribute to a campaign. Oh come on, b

> You can’t receive campaign contributions from the corporation the lobbyist works for—it’s illegal for corporations to contribute to a campaign. Oh come on, but PACs can. You're insulting anyone's intelligence you tell what you wrote above to. > You’re giving a citizen who knows about a complex industry access that regular citizens also routinely get. From what I've seen no. Can a regular person call a senator anytime and for him personally to take the phone? Don't think so. Also, the idea that lobbyists 'know' about a complex industry. No, they simply tell you what they want you to 'know' about the industry in order to win your favor/sympathy. It has little to do with how much they know. There are politicians who turned lobbyists within a year or so of being out of government. Do you really think they're senior folks in the industries they represent? > How many politicians leave office to go work for industries that lobbied them? Quite a few and in the case of people like Dick Cheney, it can be deadly for hundreds of thousands of people. Random Google search[1]. 1 - https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/top.php?display=Z https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/top.php?display=Z P.S. I mean this as kindly as possible, but are you, or do you aspire to be a lobbyist by any chance? You sound like one.

rayiner 8y ago
> Oh come on, but PACs can. You're insulting anyone's intelligence you tell what you wrote above to. But corporations cannot contribute to PACs. And PACs can only contribute $5,000 per candidate and $15,000 per party. > Can a regular person call a senator anytime and for him personally to take the phone? Don't think so. Also, the idea that lobbyists 'know' about a complex industry. No, they simply tell you what they want you to 'know' about the industry in order to win your favor/sympathy. It has little to do with how much they know. There are politicians who turned lobbyists within a year or so of being out of government. Do you really think they're senior folks in the industries they represent? Do you have any actual basis for the assertions in this paragraph? Or is it based on how you think lobbying works? Because this is a straw man. > P.S. I mean this as kindly as possible, but are you, or do you aspire to be a lobbyist by any chance? You sound like one. My wife was a lobbyist, and I have some insight into how lobbying actually works (as opposed to fictional assumptions). The fact that people keep repeating FUD like lobbying involves making campaign contributions is evidence that people are attacking a straw man, not the actual business of lobbying.
- AsyncAwait 8y ago
  > But corporations cannot contribute to PACs. And PACs can only contribute $5,000 per candidate and $15,000 per party. PACs can pay for ads, produce media campaigns and generally cover the most expensive items a candidate would want. Why would they donate to the candidate directly? They're working on their behalf, to get them elected. Quoting directly from the FEC website: "Generally, nonconnected PACs may make contributions to influence federal elections, subject to the Act’s limitations and reporting requirements. As nonconnected committees that solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor organizations and other political committees. Political committees that make only independent expenditures and the non-contribution accounts of Hybrid PACs may solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor organizations and other political committees. They may not accept contributions from foreign nationals, federal contractors, national banks or federally chartered corporations." Looks like you have no idea what you're talking about. At all. 0. Nada. > My wife was a lobbyist, and I have some insight into how lobbying actually works (as opposed to fictional assumptions). The fact that people keep repeating FUD like lobbying involves making campaign contributions I knew it! Except people don't generally make the claim that "lobbying involves making campaign contributions", they make the claim that if a company helped to put a candidate into office by donating money toward their run for office, they're much more likely to do what the lobbyist from said company is trying to make them do, once in office. Looks like again, you don't know what you're talking about and thus am done wasting my time on this.

rayiner 8y ago

> Oh come on, but PACs can. You're insulting anyone's intelligence you tell what you wrote above to. But corporations cannot contribute to PACs. And PACs can only contribute $5,000 per candidate and $15,000 per party. > Can a regular person call a senator anytime and for him personally to take the phone? Don't think so. Also, the idea that lobbyists 'know' about a complex industry. No, they simply tell you what they want you to 'know' about the industry in order to win your favor/sympathy. It has little to do with how much they know. There are politicians who turned lobbyists within a year or so of being out of government. Do you really think they're senior folks in the industries they represent? Do you have any actual basis for the assertions in this paragraph? Or is it based on how you think lobbying works? Because this is a straw man. > P.S. I mean this as kindly as possible, but are you, or do you aspire to be a lobbyist by any chance? You sound like one. My wife was a lobbyist, and I have some insight into how lobbying actually works (as opposed to fictional assumptions). The fact that people keep repeating FUD like lobbying involves making campaign contributions is evidence that people are attacking a straw man, not the actual business of lobbying.

AsyncAwait 8y ago
> But corporations cannot contribute to PACs. And PACs can only contribute $5,000 per candidate and $15,000 per party. PACs can pay for ads, produce media campaigns and generally cover the most expensive items a candidate would want. Why would they donate to the candidate directly? They're working on their behalf, to get them elected. Quoting directly from the FEC website: "Generally, nonconnected PACs may make contributions to influence federal elections, subject to the Act’s limitations and reporting requirements. As nonconnected committees that solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor organizations and other political committees. Political committees that make only independent expenditures and the non-contribution accounts of Hybrid PACs may solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor organizations and other political committees. They may not accept contributions from foreign nationals, federal contractors, national banks or federally chartered corporations." Looks like you have no idea what you're talking about. At all. 0. Nada. > My wife was a lobbyist, and I have some insight into how lobbying actually works (as opposed to fictional assumptions). The fact that people keep repeating FUD like lobbying involves making campaign contributions I knew it! Except people don't generally make the claim that "lobbying involves making campaign contributions", they make the claim that if a company helped to put a candidate into office by donating money toward their run for office, they're much more likely to do what the lobbyist from said company is trying to make them do, once in office. Looks like again, you don't know what you're talking about and thus am done wasting my time on this.