Principles for the Ethical Conduct of Lobbying - Essay Example

According to "Principles for the Ethical Conduct of Lobbying" developed by Georgetown's Woodstock Center: Lobbying"means the deliberate attempt to influence political decisions through various forms of advocacy directed at policymakers on behalf of another person, organization or group." This meaning is broader, however, than the legal definition contained in the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, the federal legislation that regulates lobbying Congress (Luneburg, William, Thomas, Susman, and Gordon). This disclosure however from its definition leaves out the activities that falls under the Wood stock principles like the congressional testimony, the general public relations work and even the advocacy on behalf of the churches. This definition also conflicts with other words like consultant, this comes most so in the case where a person is called to consult on behalf of a group with an interest in the policy being debated. Lobbying is therefore, the practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the introduction, defeat, or enactment of legislation before any legislative body; opposing or in any manner influencing the executive approval, veto, or amendment of legislation. It is also the practice of promoting, opposing, or in any manner influencing or attempting to influence the enactment, promulgation, modification, or deletion of regulations before any regulatory body (Smith). A lobbyist is therefore a term that includes the following; a person who receives compensation from another person, group or entity to do the lobbying work. A lobbyist is also the person who lobbies as a regular and usual part of employment irrespective of whether there is compensation in addition to regular salaries and benefits is received. a lobbyist is also the a consultant to the state, county, or municipals parts of the government, they are employed to make an influence legislation or regulations irrespective of whether they are paid or not; in full or in part the funds that relates to these forms of government (Luneburg, William, and Susman). Lobbying is quite an important act given the experience they give to the Lobbyist groups. From research it is clear that experienced and successful lobbyists extensively understands the legislative process and therefore they have a strategic plan which enables them to ensure a close follow up that is quiet significant to the client or group that they present. The understanding of the process is quite complex due to the increased competition of the recent past in the field. Lobbying through the Lobbyists helps the congress to follow issues in a timely manner making issues to be handled quite in time due to the avoidance of the delay likely to be created. This is driven by the fact that opportunities and challenges often present themselves with quite a short time to respond to such allegations prompting the need for lobbying and lobbyist groups. Ongoing, active representation in Canadian legal departments is critical to effectively responding to these situations (Luneburg, William, Thomas, Susman, and Gordon). Lobbying is therefore meant to help specialists groups which may be of a special religion, belief or industry to get their voices to be heard by members of any law making body of a nation. In addition, lobby groups of large amounts of money are able to influence the opinions of the crowds in their favor making politicians against them vulnerable (Smith). Currently, Lobbying has become a way for corporations, religions, and other private and special interest groups present their influence over the legislature and essentially circumvent the standard law-making procedure. Lobbying is therefore protected by the model of government in place and since corporations and other special interests are legally considered a singular entity, they are represented in the same context in Congress (Smith). The data from the office of the Commission of Lobbying of Canada shows us the various lobbying groups that exists in Canada in the vast categories of the names of their representatives, their gender, the group name of the groups they represent and the former political parties of their representation as well as the position that they hold within the groups. The last part of the data describes the profiles of each of the individuals mentioned in the process. The individuals observed are 99 in their total number among which 20 of them are the only females in the group. This is majorly attributed to the fact that women are not so good at negotiations and convincing hence not good at Lobbying, they are mostly if not all staff of their respective organizations which are quite a number. The Lobbyist represents both of the parties in the political divide which are generally the Liberal and conservative parties (Luneburg, William, Thomas, Susman, and Gordon). According to the Federal Lobbying Act as it was enacted in the year 2008, a Lobbyist has a variety of definitions. this is due to the fact that the act is based on four key principles (Holmes, Nancy, and Lithwick); Freedom and access to the government is a vital matter of the public interest, lobbying public office holders is a legitimate activity, it is also desirable that public office holders and the general public be in the position to know who is and who is not engaged in lobbying activities, and lastly, the system of registration of paid lobbyists should not impede free and open access to government. The act mainly applies to individuals who are remunerated to lobby given that people who lobby on a voluntary basis are not required to register (Smith). Therefore, the Federal Lobbying Act gives three forms of lobbyists among which we have the Consultant Lobbyist; this is a person who is hired to present a communication on behalf of a client. Such individuals may be professional lobbyists while at the same time they could just be individuals who communicate with or arranges meetings with a public office in the process of their work to their clients. The other group is the In-House Lobbyist or Corporations who is a person who works for compensation in an entity that operates for profit. The other side of an In-House Lobbyists represents who represents organizations who are people who work for pay in non profit organizations. The registration requirement for the In-house lobbyist groups are dependent on the test of the amount of lobbying activity that they intend to do (Holmes, Nancy, and Lithwick). Works Cited Holmes, Nancy, and Dara Lithwick. The federal lobbying system the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct. Ottawa, Ont.: Library of Parliament, 2011. Print. Luneburg, William V., and Thomas M. Susman. The lobbying manual: a complete guide to federal law governing lawyers and lobbyists. 3rd ed. Chicago: American Bar Association, 2005. Print. Luneburg, William V., Thomas M. Susman, and Rebecca H. Gordon. The lobbying manual: a complete guide to federal lobbying law and practice. 4th ed. Chicago: American Bar Association, 2009. Print. Smith, Dorothy. In our own interest: a handbook for the citizen lobbyist in State legislatures. Seattle: Madrona Publishers, 1979. Print. Read More