Lecture Notes – American Government and Politics Today – Perno

I. The Role of Interest Groups

A. An interest group is any organization whose members share common objectives and actively attempts to influence government policy. Often, interest groups employ lobbyists, individuals who attempt to influence policy by communication with policymakers. Democratic forms of government are based on participation by the public. When people who have commonly shared interests work together to influence governmental policy they are acting as an interest group. Unless participation is limited to individual participation, there will be interest groups within democratic forms of government. Groups that are organized are more likely to have influence than groups that lack organization. Groups that have more members are more likely to be successful than groups with fewer members. Therefore, groups that are highly organized and have numerous members are likely to be very influential.

B. In his famous book, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote “in no country of the world has the principle of association been more successfully used or applied to a greater multitude of objectives than in America.” If he was amazed at how associations had flourished in the United States in 1834, he would be astounded at the number of associations today. Why have interest groups been so successful in the United States? The American structure of government has lent itself to reinforcing the formation of interest groups.

II. Why Do Americans Join Interest Groups?

A. After an interest group has been formed, the likelihood is that members will recruit new members. The larger the membership is, the greater the likelihood the group will be successful. An individual chooses to join an interest group for a number of different reasons.

B. Solidary Incentives are those incentives associated with social benefits derived from joining a group. Examples of solidary incentives might include a person who joins the Sierra Club because they enjoy Saturday morning hikes with club members, or club-sponsored camping trips. For those active in politics, solidary incentives might include enjoying being recognized by important people, getting invitations to social events and meeting politically active people.

C. Material incentives are those that come from the economic benefits or opportunities derived from participating. Business people might join their local chamber of commerce to “network” and to try to lobby local leaders for business-friendly policies. Other might become active in an interest group in the hopes of gaining employment or business opportunities.

D. Purposive incentives are those that come a personal belief and commitment to an issue. Purposive incentives can be issue-oriented and/or ideological. Examples might include gay rights activists, environmental activists and civil libertarians.

E. Those active in interest groups may have multiple incentives for joining and remaining. For example, an individual could be very committed to the environmental movement and join an environmental interest group because of that commitment. At the same time, the person might hope to gain an opportunity to work as an environmental lobbyist, and in the process come to enjoy the friendships made through interest group activities.

III. Types of Interest Groups

A. There are thousands of interest groups in the United States. Some are active at the national level, others at the state level, some at the local level, and some at all levels of government.

B. Business interest groups are those economic interest groups whose purpose is to influence policy favorable to the overall business community. While there are numerous specific organizations, two examples of interest groups that have been very successful include:

1. National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)

a. has a staff of more than 60 people

b. proponent of the interests of large corporations

c.focus on labor laws, minimum wage rates, corporate taxes, and trade regulations

2. U.S. Chamber of Commerce

a. national organization for local chambers of commerce

b. represents the interests of over 3,500 local chambers and over 200,000 businesses

C. Agricultural interest groups are those economic interest groups whose purpose is to influence policy favorable to production and processing of agricultural commodities and products.

1. American Farm Bureau Federation (focus on large scale agriculture)

2. National Farmers’ Union (focus on the problems of farmers in general)

D. Labor interest groups are economic interest groups whose purpose is to influence policy favorable to individuals involved in manual labor. Millions of workers belong to various labor unions that support specific labor interest groups.

1. American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is the largest labor organization in the United States. It is a federation of numerous, diverse labor organizations, like the American Federation of Teachers, the Teamsters and the ILGWU. Focus is on labor standards, benefits, wages, housing, and foreign trade. The political arm of the AFL-CIO is called COPE, or the Committee on Political Education.

2. International Brotherhood of Teamsters was initially formed for workers in the transportation industry. Today this organization represents workers in various fields of work, including some employees of Disney World and UPS.

3. Public employee pressure groups are relatively new in the arena of interest groups. These organizations represent workers employed by governments. Many employees of fire departments, police departments, sanitation departments, and public schools are members of a union. Examples of public employee unions include AFSCME (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) and the NEA, the National Education Association. These organizations attempt to influence policy locally and nationally concerning: working conditions, wages, benefits, and long-term objectives of public policy related to these areas.

4. Professional interest groups represent organizations whose membership is usually limited to individuals who have attained some type of specific credentials. These type of interest groups attempt to influence policy which would have an impact on the members of the profession.

a. American Bar Association (an organization representing attorneys)

b. American Medical Association (an organization representing doctors)

E. Environmental interest groups are concerned with policy affecting the environment. Unlike many other interest groups in the United States, environmental groups are concerned with global issues not primarily national or state issues. The goal of most interest groups in this category is preservation of resources, land, and living organisms. Examples include the Sierra Club and Greenpeace.

F. Public interest pressure groups are also referred to as consumer pressure groups. The goal of such groups is to influence policy that affects consumers. In the past, consumer interest groups have lobbied to have rear shoulder harnesses installed in all new vehicles, and have succeeded in requiring automobile manufacturer to put eye-level brake lights in cars’ rear windshields. The public interest group movement has been headed by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who ran for president of the United States in 2000 on the Green Party ticket.

G. Many special interest groups focus on a single issue. These are narrowly focused groups that are not involved with any policy that does not directly affect the major issue of the organization. Examples include interest groups concerned with abortion or gun control.

H. Foreign Governments also act as interest groups to promote the goals of the businesses and people of the foreign country by influencing policy by the government of the United States. Because this type of lobbying has received so much public attention, President Clinton has set forth guidelines for members of his administration to not act a lobbyist for an international corporation for five years after leaving office and never to lobby on behalf of a foreign nation.

IV. What Makes an Interest Group Powerful?

A. Size and Resources – the size of membership and the size of financial resources are important indicators of the importance of an interest group.

B. Leadership and Strategy – Individual leaders with power and charisma and the strategies adopted by the interest group are another determinant of a group’s power.

C. Cohesiveness- or how strongly the members of the group believe in their cause and are willing to work for that issue is an important factor in whether an interest group is powerful.

V. Interest Group Strategies

A. In order for an interest group to be successful, it must be able to influence officials who are responsible for making public policy. There are two primary methods used to influence officials of the government, direct action toward the official, and indirect action, which is an attempt to have others directly to influence the official.

B. Direct techniques used to influence governmental officials include:

1. Lobbying: direct discussion with policy makers concerning the views of the interest group. This is usually associated with members of legislature although members of the executive branch are also frequent targets of lobbyists. Effective lobbyists will use all of the following techniques to present information to policy makers which is favorable to the interest group the lobbyist is representing.

a. private meetings with public officials

b. testifying before congressional committees

c. testifying before executive rule making agencies

d. submitting proposed legislation to members of the legislature for introduction

e.arranging social gatherings for informal discussions

f. providing information to legislators

2. Ratings: published voting records on selected votes by members of the legislature. The higher rating means support for issues important to the interest groups. The lower rating means opposition to issues important to the interest group.

3. Building alliances as an effort to unite groups that have common goals. This tactic is useful in projecting a positive image to the public and to the policy makers.

4. Campaign assistance: includes endorsements for election, unpaid volunteers who work for the election of the candidate, and information about voters and potential voters.

C. Indirect techniques used to influence governmental officials include:

1. Generating public pressure by informing the public about a specific issue. Often, this is done by advertising in papers, radio, and television. Such messages are often subtle, intending to slowly gain support for an issue or a group. Recent examples include commercials that promote awareness of the dangers of drunk driving.

2. Using constituents as lobbyists. This requires the interest group to convince members of the interest group to contact a member of the legislature by mail or phone about a specific legislative proposal. The Internet has proved a valuable tool for interest groups, who can use new technologies to easily contacts thousands of members, and facilitate their contact of government officials. The NRA, the National Rifle Association, has succeeded in using its members to lobby government officials.

VI. Interest Groups and Campaign Money

A. Political Action Committees (PACs) are committees set up by and representing a corporation, labor union or special interest group that raises campaign money then provides candidates with contributions for their campaigns.

B. Table 8-2 shows that the number of PACs registered with the Federal Election Commission has increased significantly since 1997.

C. The amount of money being contributed to campaign by PACs also has increased significantly, and as is indicated in Table 8-3, incumbents receive the lion’s share of contributions.

D. In addition, the problem of campaign finance is compounded by the practices of issue advocacy advertising and soft money contributions, which allow contributors to skirt contribution limitations but still influencing the outcome of an election.

VII. Regulating Lobbyists

A. The Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act (1946) set the following guidelines:

1. Individuals or organizations who receive money for the purpose of influencing national legislation must register as a lobbyist or lobbying organization.

2. Individuals registered as lobbyists must reveal their personal financial information relating to lobbying.

3. Registered lobbyists must make public quarterly reports about all lobbying activity.

4. Noncompliance with the above provisions is punishable by a maximum five-year prison term.

B. The Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act was challenged to the Supreme Court in United States v. Harriss (1954) (see Handbook of Selected Court Cases). The Supreme Court ruled that the law did not violate due process, freedom of speech or freedom of the press or the freedom to petition. Thus, the law was constitutional.

C. In 1974 Congress enacted the Federal Election Campaign Act. This law was aimed at restricting the amount of money interest groups could donate to campaigns of candidates for Congress and candidates for president. The provisions of the law include:

1. The formation of a political action committee (PAC) by any organization wanting to contribute money to a candidate for campaign purposes.

2. Each organization is limited to creating one political action committee.

3. In order to qualify as a PAC money must be raised from a minimum of 50 volunteers.

4. The maximum contribution a PAC can make to any candidate is $5,000 per election.

5. The PAC must contribute money to a minimum of five congressional candidates

D. In 1995, the 105th Congress overhauled the lobbying legislation. The new legislation includes the following provisions.

1. A lobbyist is a person who spends 20 percent of the time lobbying members of Congress.

2. Lobbyists, who earn a minimum of $5,000 lobbying, must register within 45 days of making contact with a member of Congress.

3. Reports must disclose the nature of the lobbying business twice a year.

4. Subsidiaries of foreign companies, based in the United States, must register as lobbyists.

5. Tax-exempt organizations and religious organizations are exempt from these requirements.

E. In 2002, the Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act, which ended soft money contributions to the national political parties. The act also limits issue advocacy ads and increased the individual contribution limitations.

VIII. Interest Groups and Representative Democracy

Interest groups play an important role in how governmental decisions are made. The structures of the national and state governments encourage the participation of organized interests. Do these interests have too much power? If they do, what can be done to limit their power without depriving individuals the liberty to organize and petition the government? Before answering either of these questions a review of Madison’s arguments in Federalist #10 could provide invaluable insight as to how the authors of the Constitution perceived the problems of organized interests. While Madison was confronting issues which were important in 1787, when he wrote Federalist #10, the thesis of his argument is still valid for the issues of today.