In Defense of Lobbyists

Ben Smith has an interesting item on Congressman-and-Obama-booster Adam Smith’s tip-toe defense of former lobbyists.*

Rep. Smith makes a good point, and we should all (including Sen. Obama) be duly cautious about painting all lobbyists with the same brush. Qualitatively and quanititatively, “lobby” is not a four-letter word — nor is it a reliable indicator of evil. For every Jack Abramoff, there are two or more ethical, civil, decent people who ply their trade lobbying.

Trust me: I’ve met and worked with several of them. In fact, seasoned staff in the House and Senate will confirm that the best lobbyists are not those who take a scorched-earth approach to pushing their clients’ interests. To the contrary, the best are those who are willing to tell their clients, “No,” as in “No, you’re not going to get everything you want, so let’s get realistic and talk about compromise, about what you can live without.”

Moreover, while I’m not a full-time lobbyist and never have been, part of my charge (in the job for which I actually earn a paycheck) is communicating our company’s perspective to elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels. In a sense, when doing that, I’m “lobbying.” Similarly, in a volunteer capacity, I’ve lobbied for the interests of families who deal with Tourette Syndrome, for lesser restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research, for campaign finance reform, and so on. In short, any time that any of us contact an elected official to make a point, we’re lobbyists.

For all these reasons, Senator Obama would be well advised to follow Rep. Smith’s lead, making sure he appropriately qualifies his remarks on lobbyists and former lobbyists, separating the worthwhile, honorable, freedom-of-speech practice and practitioners (paid and unpaid) from those who are purely in the game to manipulate the system and enrich themselves, no matter what the cost. Otherwise, the good Senator from Illinois may very well discover either that he’s facing a shortage of qualified staff or that his words have returned to haunt him.

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* To the best of my knowledge, Ben and Adam are not related.