With IECA’s Government Relations Committee involving more members and becoming more active, the current U.S. Lobbying scandal could cause IECA members to worry about our more active role. This article is intended to answer questions and eliminate any fears that IECA, being a not-for-profit organization, is at risk of doing something improper.The emphasis placed on political fundraising in the US by lobbyists such as the scandal-plagued Jack Abramoff is a growing problem in Washington. A growing number of lobbyists see channeling campaign funds as the main entrée to the political arena in which their client’s interests will be determined. This fixation on campaign funds has dramatically changed the tenor on Capitol Hill.

Campaign contributions, if made legally, are not evil. Currently the cost of running a competitive Senate campaign costs close to $10 million. The Center for Public Integrity estimates that of about 30,000 registered lobbyists, 14,000 are active. Nearly 250 are former members of Congress or former agency heads, pursuing interests on behalf of everyone from universities and Indian tribes to companies selling everything from machine guns to candy bars to pharmaceuticals. Lobbyists spent nearly $13 billion between 1998 and 2004 to influence members of Congress and federal officials on legislation and regulations.

Lobbying has a rich history tied to the foundation of the US government, and its practitioners have often been viewed skeptically. As one story goes, it was in the early 1870’s that President Grant coined the term “lobbyist.” After a long day in the Oval Office, Grant would escape for a cigar and brandy in the Lobby of the Willard Hotel. Many would-be power brokers approached him on individual causes. Grant called these people “lobbyists.”

Webster defines Lobbyists as “people acting for special-interest groups, who try to influence the introduction of or voting on legislation or the decisions of government administrators.” Their work is considered by many to be vital to policy making and is protected under the First Amendment right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

There are a few general classes under which lobbyists fall. Corporate lobbyists represent individual companies that employ them to push company interests on Capitol Hill. Nonprofit and public-interest lobbyists work for grass-roots causes or voluntary organizations. If IECA does anything that would ever be considered lobbying, this would be the category it would fall in. Contract lobbyists work for whoever hires them, private companies, unions, or any other group interested in persuading a lawmaker to vote in a certain way. The common thread among lobbyists is a desire to contribute to public-policy formulation. One Member of Congress I know said he often finds lobbyists to be a valuable asset because they focus on particular subject matters that he could not get anywhere else.

There are laws to keep lobbyists in check. The lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, PL 104-65, says anyone employed for services that include more than one lobbying contact—an oral or written communication, including emails with an executive branch official, member of Congress or congressional staffer—during a six-month period must register with the secretary of the Senate and the clerk of the House. The Act is directed at professional lobbyists, those who receive payment to lobby for a client. Those lobbyists are required to register and report certain information and provide general, broad financial data. The law’s registration requirements are not separately triggered by “grass roots” lobbying activities of the type IECA may engage in.

An organization that engages only in “grass roots” lobbying, regardless of the extent of the “grass roots” lobbying activities, will not be required to register its members, officers or employees who engage in such activities. PL 104-65 also contains dollar amount thresholds for spending on lobbying activities that IECA does not come close to meeting. Two other Acts could also come into play, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, and the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Neither of those Acts would likely affect IECA.

Currently in Washington there are 16 different lobbying firms that have more than 100 lobbyists each. That’s more than the Senate has senators. The vast majority of lobbyists are ethical, honest, have integrity and do their jobs well with honor. Any suggestion that Abramoff is at all typical of the standard way of doing business is erroneous.

The constitution protects the right of lobbyists to spend money to influence politicians, a key hurdle prosecutors will have to overcome to prove someone like Abramoff or the circle of elected officials tied to him have committed a crime. In cases involving a “quid pro quo” between a lobbyist and a lawmaker, prosecutors must have evidence showing that the transaction crossed the line between federal bribery law—which bars the offering or acceptance of anything of value in exchange for influence—and the First amendment, which specifically protects the right to petition the government.

My purpose for this article is to assure IECA leaders and members that our Government Relations activity is completely within the rules and is part and parcel of the process of government. We are unpaid volunteers and are erosion and sediment control experts with information vital to members of Congress as they do their duty. We do not give any funds to politicians. While the Abramoff Scandal is a particular problem for Republicans now, it has ensnared Republicans and Democrats alike.

I’m reminded that the more we choose to believe our US lobbying problems come from not having enough laws, the more we distort the truth that the problem is corrupt people, not a corrupt system. As the saying goes, for a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail. The politicians’ hammer is legislation and they’re always ready to use it.

There is a great incentive to write new laws. After all, politicians always want to be perceived as “doing something.” We should recall, before we start trying again to fix this latest corruption with new laws, the famous words of George Washington: Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of particular structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. Slowly but surely we seem to be losing our sense of right and wrong.

John Peterson, PE, CPESC
IECA Government Relations Committee Chairman