4 ms·

Does anyone know the true cost of lobbying? Salaries + whatever other expenses are involved. It would be interesting to see a kickstarter style company for hiri

Does anyone know the true cost of lobbying? Salaries + whatever other expenses are involved. It would be interesting to see a kickstarter style company for hiring lobbyists for more public interest causes.

Kye 8y ago
These exist. They're called nonprofit organizations.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  Would they matter? If representatives ignore the good of their citizens (in preference of lobbyists providing campaign contributions), you might have to find alternative methods to bring about positive change.
  - DogOnTheWeb 8y ago
    My partner runs an advocacy non-profit and they definitely influence policy. Lobbying isn't just greasing palms. Most of the work is showing up at public hearings, meeting regularly with politicians, and organizing people to support your position.
  - rcpt 8y ago
    There's a strong argument that lobbying is more of a "legislative subsidy" than it is vote buying or persuasion. The idea is that most of the information governments need to craft policy is only provided by lobbyists and that government staffers are typically less informed about a given field than expert lobbyists. Congressional staffers don't make a ton of money and typically aren't PhDs. One way to reduce the impact of lobbying would be to offer very high salaries to staffers so that we could attract world experts to our side of the table. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/lobbying-as-legislative-subsidy/AE4B5D8AB9C2487BB78C2A51BB53E03F https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-s...
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rayiner 8y ago
The costs are similar to hiring a lawyer at a large law firm, on a per hour basis. Total costs tend to be lower than litigation because it’s not as hours/manpower heavy.
craftyguy 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Interest_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Interest_Group
darkhorn 8y ago
Cost of lobbying? What the heck is this? There is something called democracy. What is wrong with you USA?
- Joakal 8y ago
  I funded both major party candidates in your area to be anti-darkhorn. Other people in your seat agree that anti-darkhorn is a bad thing but they fear their vote won't be counted if they support any third party. So, all your friends, family and educated voters still vote for one of the major parties. In other countries (other than Canada/UK), you would have the support of your friends, family and other voters, even if their vote didn't count initially, the vote is counted in other ways to give representation. Welcome to FPTP where people don't have much representation. Allowing people like me to lobby for anti-darkhorn policies.

Kye 8y ago

These exist. They're called nonprofit organizations.

toomuchtodo 8y ago
Would they matter? If representatives ignore the good of their citizens (in preference of lobbyists providing campaign contributions), you might have to find alternative methods to bring about positive change.
- DogOnTheWeb 8y ago
  My partner runs an advocacy non-profit and they definitely influence policy. Lobbying isn't just greasing palms. Most of the work is showing up at public hearings, meeting regularly with politicians, and organizing people to support your position.
- rcpt 8y ago
  There's a strong argument that lobbying is more of a "legislative subsidy" than it is vote buying or persuasion. The idea is that most of the information governments need to craft policy is only provided by lobbyists and that government staffers are typically less informed about a given field than expert lobbyists. Congressional staffers don't make a ton of money and typically aren't PhDs. One way to reduce the impact of lobbying would be to offer very high salaries to staffers so that we could attract world experts to our side of the table. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/lobbying-as-legislative-subsidy/AE4B5D8AB9C2487BB78C2A51BB53E03F https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-s...
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    [deleted]

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rayiner 8y ago

The costs are similar to hiring a lawyer at a large law firm, on a per hour basis. Total costs tend to be lower than litigation because it’s not as hours/manpower heavy.

craftyguy 8y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Interest_Group https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Interest_Group

darkhorn 8y ago

Cost of lobbying? What the heck is this? There is something called democracy. What is wrong with you USA?

Joakal 8y ago
I funded both major party candidates in your area to be anti-darkhorn. Other people in your seat agree that anti-darkhorn is a bad thing but they fear their vote won't be counted if they support any third party. So, all your friends, family and educated voters still vote for one of the major parties. In other countries (other than Canada/UK), you would have the support of your friends, family and other voters, even if their vote didn't count initially, the vote is counted in other ways to give representation. Welcome to FPTP where people don't have much representation. Allowing people like me to lobby for anti-darkhorn policies.