[drone-list] OT: Re: Corporate interests vs. state & local policies

[Gregory Foster]

My reply is off-topic, yhbw.

On 3/21/13 1:02 AM, Al Mac Wow wrote:
> [CREW] have done FOIA against practically every government agency  
> imaginable, to find out to what degree Corporate Citizens are running  
> the show.  They have found that Lobbyists are involved in micro  
> managing every branch of government b legislative, judicial,  
> administrative b every department b every agency b at federal, state,  
> and local levels.


As a private citizen that is actively involved in crafting legislation and 
lobbying elected officials, I resemble that remark. Generalizations are 
sometimes useful, but they always obscure the truth.  And the truth is we 
need more citizen lobbying and less promotion of the belief that lobbying 
is a bad thing.

After becoming actively involved in state politics, it's clear to me why  
lobbyists are able to exert influence that /prima facie/ seems  
problematic: without the assistance of lobbyists (corporate and citizen)  
there would be no way for our elected officials and their staffs to do the 
work that is expected of them.

For example, during the current session in Texas there have been 5,723  
bills filed in the House and Senate.  The Representatives and Senators  
have five months to work through that load, which typically results in  
about 1,400 bills passed.  Each Legislator has no more than ten fulltime  
staffers, often college interns, each with multiple far-flung areas of  
responsibility - not expertise. Legislators are expected to know all about 
the bills they have filed, the bills that pass through their committee 
assignments, and those that they finally vote on.  Yet we feel justified 
ridiculing them if they do not, or if they follow guidance from their 
affiliated party.

Lobbyists have influence because Legislators need all the help they can  
get.  They appreciate it.  And that is how that game is played.

That means that you and I, should we choose, can play that game too.  I  
encourage everyone on this list to try it out.

gf

-- 
Gregory Foster || gfoster at entersection.org
@gregoryfoster <> http://entersection.com/

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