I'm pretty sure that when sneaking in laws like this, the people who write $100K checks don't even want explicit public support for their positions. Lobbying fo

I'm pretty sure that when sneaking in laws like this, the people who write $100K checks don't even want explicit public support for their positions. Lobbying for public support means intentionally publicizing the thing you're trying to sneakily do. Maybe you convert one person to your side, but in order to do that, you've told five people what you're going to do. For some opinions, you can't find anyone who publicly holds them who isn't being paid in some way. The best you can do is find a thinktank that is also being paid to support the idea, but which is also being paid to write the apologia that others will repeat parts of when confronted. If you hear politicians repeating the same phrases, google them and you might find the original. A supportive WaPo/NYT oped will also be written by the thinktank (often signed by a congressperson or celebrity), but if they can't quid-pro-quo into the editorial pages of one of those two, they'll still have a half-dozen on Politico/The Hill that will lead you to a paper.