In Defense of Lobbyists?

Below is a letter to the editer that I submitted to the Wall Street Journal.

I found the article entitled “In Defense of Lobbyists” written by Mr. Tom C. Korologos and published in the Wall Street Journal on Friday May 30, 2008 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121210874509231275.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries to be an extremely self serving article and does nothing to enhance the public perception of lobbyists.

First of all, Mr. Korologos is correct in stating that all lobbyists should not be tarred with the brush of Jack Abramoff but he also wants us to consider all lobbyists equal in that he equates the lobbyists hired by corporations and industry groups to be the same as those hired by unions and public policy organizations. I doubt that the lobbyists hired by unions and public policy organizations have the same cash resources as corporate and industry lobbyists.

This brings us to the second about the “coin of the realm” of the lobbyists being trust and respect. I would submit that Mr. Korologos is delusional if he thinks that the real coin of the realm of the lobbyist is indeed the money that they can control and generate for the ever growing, ever voracious appetites of political campaign. We need only to look at Tom Delay’s self styled “K Street Project” for evidence of this.

Thirdly, no one should be misled by Mr. Korologos in thinking that lobbyists are performing a public service strictly in the public interest. Organizations do not hire lobbyists to look out for the public’s welfare, whatever that might be. Lobbyists are hired to protect the interests of their respective clients and that should not be forgotten.

Mr. Korologos also equates lobbying with citizens petitioning government for redress. I would submit that lobbying as it is practiced in the United States is a far cry from what the Founding Fathers had intended.

As an experienced reference librarian, I categorically reject the notion that the lobbyist is the best place that legislators, their staffs and executive department agencies can get the information they to make policy. The United States government is the largest single source of information, much of it gathered by agencies such as the Congressional Research Service or agencies of the executive branch.

The real cure for lobbyist abuse is to make the legislature and executive branch agencies less dependent on them for information to assist them in promulgating public policy or the funds to run political campaigns.