IS IT WHOM WE KNOW OR WHAT WE KNOW?

As lobbyists we are experts in providing information to legislators and helping guide their decision-making process. Our expertise is particularly valuable when one considers that neither legislators nor the interest groups that hire us have the technical background or the time to delve into the detailed implications of all the pieces of legislation that are under consideration. Many in the media and the general public hold the view that our main asset is not what we know, but instead whom we know. According to this view, our key asset is not our expertise, but instead our access to various decision-makers through personal connections.

Admittedly our personal contacts to politicians are a relevant asset in defining our job. Connections is simply a way for us to gain access to time-constrained politicians, a ‘chance to tell our story’. Once we have gained access, we may still provide useful information to politicians. Our issue expertise is also a relevant asset in defining our job.

Maintaining connections to politicians is important to what we do. Sometimes although we  are not experts themselves we report to politicians the information produced by expert researchers working for us and thus we are mere ‘messengers’. At other times because of our connections we bring to the table a complementary resource in terms of reputation, credibility or political savvy, in the transmission of information.

Although relationships are important we tend to concentrate our work in a specific area where we have expertise. Even when we hold opposite political views, politicians listen to us when we are issue experts.

While both our expertise and our connections might be at play in the lobbying process connections are the scarcer resource and therefore the one that commands the highest price.  We create value by verifying information provided by interest groups, but we also need to build a reputation vis-à-vis the politicians over time in order for our information to be credible. The lobbying process is a complex activity where both personal connections and issue expertise play a role.