ABOUT LOBBYING ACTIVITIES

In general, the activities of a lobbyist are understood to influence different levels of government (local, national, regional or transnational) or different branches of government. When talking about lobbying, the common perspective is often rather negative and reluctant to the activity itself. The public tend to have the idea that lobbying is used primarily for the private sector’s interest. Also, bribery and corruption are sometimes an issue. To deface any of the negative perspectives, it is important for lobbyists or public affairs practitioners to stress the positive side of the profession as  the legitimate part of the democratic system.

For the most part, public policy advocacy is necessary, difficult work performed by law-abiding, highly skilled professionals who help government arrive at better-informed, and hopefully better, decisions. Good lobbyists can contribute a lot to good government. The practice is hardly perfect. There is plenty of room for improvement, especially concerning the public perception on how lobbying and government decision making works.

Ultimately, further improvement in the way lobbying is conducted and the reputation of the profession is in the hands of lobbyists themselves. Lobbyists should in good faith make every effort to comply with the letter and spirit of the laws, and to advise their clients to do so. They need to learn the lobbying and ethics rules and take them as seriously as they do their advocacy. Beyond altruism, there is a very practical reason why lobbyists should observe the law and rely on the quality of their efforts in the practice: if they lack integrity and cannot be trusted, they have no career.

Effective lobbying is an important part of a pluralistic democracy and can lead to improved and politically acceptable government decisions.  Credibility, accuracy, flexibility, and brevity are important tools, more so than personal relations. Lobbying not only requires skill and hard work, but is increasingly multidimensional, given the increased complexity of the world in which we live, the increased diffusion of power and complexity of government, the speed and volume of public policy, and the proliferation of competing, well-represented adversaries. To the critics, it may be said that  helping others to make their case to lawmakers to the best of one’s ability and according to the rules is indeed honorable. There is honor in doing a good thing as well as you can. More so if the job is truly tough and the odds are long. There is honor in helping to find a solution to public policy problems, which is another way to describe lobbying.