What is an iron triangle?
a. a joining together of interest groups or individuals to achieve common goals
b. a form of subgovernment, composed of leaders of interest groups, government agencies, and legislative committees
c. an activity directed at government officials with the hope of influencing their decision
d. a nonprofit tax-free policy planning organization that concentrates on policy development
e. an organization that solicits and receives campaign
contributions from corporations, unions, trade associations, and other groups
1. Campaign contributions- one of the main ways interest groups try to influence the government is by contributing money to political parties and candidates during election campaigns.
ex] Eventually, campaign finance laws were passed by Congress in the early 1970s placed limits on some types of campaign contributions. But these laws allowed the creation of new funding organizations called Political Action Committees [PACs].
-Furthermore, many believe that campaign
contributions give interest groups too much influence over elected officials. Nevertheless, most research shows that PAC money does not buy votes in Congress. It does, however, give contributors greater access to lawmakers.
2. Lobbying- It is an attempt to influence the policy process by persuading public officials to favor or oppose action on a specific issue. Lobbyists often provide useful information that helps officials create policies that serve the public interest.
ex: Senator
Kennedy noted that lobbyists play a useful role in the political process. "Without lobbying, government could not function," he said. "The flow of information [from lobbyists] to Congress and to every federal agency is a vital part of our democratic system."
3. Research and policy proposals- Some interest groups carry out research and write policy proposals that support their goals.
ex] When interest groups use think tanks to carry out their information
4. Litigation- an
interest groups may also try litigation, or the bringing of lawsuits, to influence policy
ex] NAACP is an interest group that has successfully used litigation and they used lawyers and brought numerous lawsuits to court to advance the cause of civil rights. The NAACP's most famous victory came in the 1954 Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, which helped bring an end to segregation in public schools.
5. Grassroots mobilization- Rallying strong and vocal support from a
large group of people at the local level.
ex]Public demonstrations, such as antiwar protests or antiabortion rallies.
-All economic interests are ultimately concerned with wages, prices, and profits.
-Business executives, factory workers, and farmers seek to influence government because regulations, taxes, subsidies, and international economic policy all affect their economic livelihoods.
-Labor has more affiliated members than any other interest group aside from the AARP. American unions press for policies to ensure better working conditions and higher
wages. Unions have fought to establish the union shop, which requires new employees to join the union representing them.
Only 3 percent of Americans make their living as farmers. There are several broad-based agricultural groups and commodity associations that represent farmers. Policymakers, bureaucrats, and commodity associations often provide classic examples of subgovernments.
Business is well organized for political action. Business PACs have increased more dramatically than any other category of PACs. The National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Congress speak for general business interests while hundreds of trade and product associations pursue policy goals for their members.
a.] Campaign contributions, candidate ratings endorsements, 501[c]4, 527, GOTV efforts, independent expenditures, issue ads, PACs,
providing information on issue and candidates
funneling volunteers to campaigns [lobbying to gain allies], and donating money
b.] -Interest groups participate in issue networks by providing money, information, and resources in hopes of obtaining political support from Congress, the bureaucracy, or the White
House.
-Interest groups use amicus briefs to inform the Court in hopes of influencing the acceptance of cases, Court reasoning, or decisions.
c.] Media can act as a gatekeeper of information or a watchdog of interest group behavior.
-Pluralism limits interest group influence because of the competition among a vast number of
groups.
-Size and wealth are no longer entirely accurate measures of an interest group's influence.
-Interest groups require organization to be effective in their goals.
INFORMATION:
-The single most important tactic of interest groups is supplying credible information.
-Information is in short supply for legislators who must take positions on a staggering number of issues.
-Nobody needs a lobbyist to access publicly available information, but politicians often covet
information that is highly detailed, specific, up-to-date, and not public available in an easy-to-find form.
-Lobbyist are specialists who gather information and present in as organized, persuasive and factual a manner as possible.
-Misrepresentation or bad advice can embarrass a legislator who takes it and repels the one who detects it in the end leading to the distrust of the lobbyist. The need of contacts and credibility to maintain trust keeps the lobbyist from misrepresentation or bad
advice.
-The value of the information provided by a lobbyist is often greatest when the issue is fairly narrow. Public officials not only want technical information they also want political cues.
-One important way in which these political cues are made known is by ratings that interest groups make of legislators. These ratings are designed to generate public support for various legislators.
-Both political information and political cues are becoming much more popular.
EARMARKS:
-Information
can be linked to influence. Lobbyists not only tell facts they also learn information from Washington about what they are doing and they look for ways to sell that.
-Earmarks are a provision in a law that provides a direct benefit to a client without the benefit having been review on the merits by all of Congress.
-Earmarks have become common lately for two reasons:
1. The Federal Government was doing much more and thus affecting more parts of the society.
2. Lobbying organizations
figured out that clients would pay for information about how to convert some bit of federal activity to their benefit.
-In 2008, there were more than 11,000 earmarks that had been approved by Congress.
-Many members of Congress thing earmarks are good: Why should only the president or congressional committees decide on what things Congress should spend its money?
PUBLIC SUPPORT: THE RISE OF NEW POLITICS:
-Lobbyists mainly used to use an insider strategy: they worked closely with a
few key members of Congress, meeting them privately to exchange information and favors. Things could be discussed leisurely over matters where public opinion did not matter.
-Now, interest groups have taken a more outsider strategy which is useful due to the individualistic nature of Congress.
-Public opinion polls can be done to measure support for or opposition to legislation.
-This kind of grassroots lobbying is central to the outsider strategy. It is designed to generate public
pressure on governmental officials.
-Not every issues can lend itself to an outsider strategy because many issues are not easy to get people excited about, but some people will join in grassroots lobbying efforts over controversial matters like abortion, Medicare, and affirmative action.
-Undoubtedly, new politics creates new conflicts, and politicians dislike this controversy. For this reason, they will listen to the constituency or interest group that agrees with them.
-Members of
interest groups also primarily work with legislators that agree with them. For interest groups, the target is the undecided legislator or bureaucrat
-Lobbyists make major efforts to convince an undecided legislator. They will commission public opinion polls, stimulate local citizens, arrange for constituents, or get newspapers to run editorials supporting their position.
-Some groups will deliberately attack actual or potential allies in government in order to embarrass
them.
-Recently, interest groups have placed great emphasis on developing grassroots support.
MONEY AND PACs:
-Money is probably one of the less effective ways by which interest groups advance their causes! This was not always the case.
-Campaign Finance Laws ended money as an important way to advance causes in two ways:
1. The laws sharply restricted the amount any interest could give to a candidate for federal office.
2. The laws made legal the creation by organizations
of political action committees or PACs that could make political contributions.
-Today there are more than 4,500 PACs. These PACs is headed by a member of Congress who raises money for other candidates [leadership PACs], while the latter type is an "independent expenditure-only committee" that is not allowed to coordinate with candidates or political party leaders [super PACs].
-Commonly organized around ideological views, particular issues, or leading political figures the PACs are set up
by and connected to business corporations, labor unions, or other interest groups that raise and spend campaign money from voluntary donations.
HOW A PAC WORKS:
-Can be formed by: business firms, labor unions, trade associations, and ideological organizations
-Must have at least 50 members: Each member can sponsor $5000 per election, the sponsoring firm, association, or ideological group cannot contribute money.
-A PAC that contributes to at least five candidates may contribute the
following: $5000 to any federal candidate, $15,000 dollar to any national political party, $5,000 to any state or local party
-Where the money goes: Business PACs give slightly more to Republicans than to Democrats, Labor unions give more than 90% to Democrats, Ideological PACs give to Democrats and Republicans in about equal amounts.
-Some members of Congress tell PACs what to do rather than take orders from them. Members will frequently inform PACs that they expect money from them.
-Almost any kind of organization can form a PAC. Over half of all PACs are corporation or trade association sponsored, 6 percent by labor unions, and the rest by various groups. Ideological PACs have risen rapidly.
-Both parties have become dependent on PAC money. There is no significant research however that PAC contributions affect how members of Congress vote. Most legislators vote on their own ideological beliefs not on what PACs tell them to.
-In 2010, Citizens United v. FEC, the
Supreme Court struck down a law that prohibited independent expenditures by business corporations, organizations, and unions to fund "electioneering communications" within 30 days of a primary and 60 days of a general election.
-In any case, if interest group money makes a difference, it probably makes it on a certain kinds of issues more than others. "Client Politics" are the politics that these groups will most likely be more influential on.
THE "REVOLVING" DOOR:
-Hundreds of
people leave important jobs in the federal government to take more lucrative positions in private industry.
-Many people worry that this "revolving door" may give private interests a way of improperly influencing government decisions. If a federal official uses his or here government position to do something for a corporation in exchange for a cushy job after leaving government than there is a problem.
-Many scandals have emerged concerning corrupt dealings between federal officials and
industry executives.
-Agencies differ in their vulnerability to outside influences.
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE:
-Public display's and disruptive tactics have always been a part of American politics and interest group activity
-To understand interest group politics, it is important to remember that making trouble has become a quite conventional political resource and is no longer simply the last resort of groups.
-To disrupt the working of some institution so that it is forced to
negotiate with you will come to your aid and press your target to negotiate.
-Government officials dread this kind of trouble and they find themselves in a no-win situation. If they ignore the disruption, they are accused of being insensitive, unresponsive, or arrogant. If they give in, they encourage more demonstrations.