The Myth of Lobbyists in Healthcare Essay

The Myth of Lobbyists

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Part I: Lobbyists have been part of the U.S. Government system since the early 1800s. Lobbyists play an important role in healthcare, as they are advocates for their interest group. In a 4-5 page paper, analyze two examples of how lobbyists affect healthcare legislation. Conclude your paper with your opinion about whether the actions of lobbyists have a positive or negative effect on healthcare legislation in the United States. Please keep in mind the position and facility you selected. Make sure to include the following:The Myth of Lobbyists in Healthcare Essay

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Discuss the specific interest of the lobbyist in each example.
Discuss in detail some of the ethical issues and moral disputes for each example.
Discuss your position on whether the lobbyists’ actions are positive or negative on healthcare legislation in the United States and support your points with details.
This portion of your assignment will require you to research and examine information from various sources. Use a minimum of five credible sources for your paper, with three being an academic source from the Rasmussen College Online Library (don’t forget to include in-text citations throughout your paper with paraphrasing or quoting)
Make sure to include your APA formatted reference page.
Part II: An agenda can set the tone for a meeting. It’s an important tool to ensure meetings are staying on track and meeting all of the objectives. Create a detailed meeting agenda for a meeting you will hold with your supervisor and fellow department heads discussing your findings (Hint: Microsoft Word has many agenda templates). SkillSurfer in the online tutoring platform offers beginner, intermediate, and advanced tutorials on Microsoft Office products. Make sure to include the following in our agenda:The Myth of Lobbyists in Healthcare Essay

Explain each example
The majority of the agenda should be focused on whether the actions of lobbyists have a positive or negative effect on healthcare legislation in the United States.
Make sure to use audience specific language and tone in your agenda. Remember, your supervisor and other department heads will be in attendance. Also, make sure to follow proper agenda/business formatting guidelines and make sure document is professional in appearance.The Myth of Lobbyists in Healthcare Essay

Lobbying is an honorable profession. In America and perhaps around the
world, that simple statement is more likely to be a sarcastic punch line to a bad
joke than a self-evident proposition. Low public esteem for lobbyists is hardly a
modem phenomenon.’ The reasons why lobbyists have been reviled throughout
history are legion, including the simple, undeniable fact that in some notorious
* A.B. Princeton University (1974); M.A. Oxford University (1976); J.D. Yale
University (1979). Mr. Allard is a partner in the Washington D.C. office of Patton Boggs
LLP, where he co-chairs the firm’s Public Policy and Administrative Law Department. The
views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views
of his partners, firm, clients, or any other party. The author acknowledges Jared Fleisher,
A.B. Harvard College (2005); J.D. Harvard University, whose assistance in all aspects of
researching and writing this essay was invaluable. The research skills of Librarian Stephanie
E. Paup and the efforts of Kathryn L. Smith, Jillian Gibson, and editor Rachel Sofinowski
were indispensable and deeply appreciated.
1. Some wags trace lobbying back to the Garden of Eden and suggest that it is, in fact,
the oldest profession. After all, the Serpent persuaded Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, by
portraying knowledge gained from the apple as a virtue rather than a vice. The first
lobbyist’s reward was to be punished by God by being forced to crawl on his belly in the
dust for eternity. Thomas M. Susman, Lobbying in the 21st Century–Reciprocity and the
Need for Reform, 58 ADMIN. L. REV. 737, 738 (2006) (quoting CHARLES B. LIPSEN &
STEPHEN LESHER, VESTED INTEREST: A LOBBYIST’S ACCOUNT OF WASHINGTON POWER AND
How IT REALLY WORKS 48 (1977)). By the so-called Gilded Age of the Grant  The Myth of Lobbyists in Healthcare Essay
Administration, corruption was so rampant that Walt Whitman described “lobbyers” as “crawling, serpentine men” in his memorandum on the Civil War. WALT WHITMAN,
MEMORANDA DURING THE WAR (Peter Coviello ed., Oxford University Press 2004) (1876).
The 1888 Dictionary of American Politics defined “the lobby” as “a term applied
collectively to men that make a business of corruptly influencing legislators.” See Donald
Wolfensberger, Factions and the Public Interest: Federalist No. 10 in 2001 (May 18, 2001)
(unpublished essay), available at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/events/docs/lobbyintro.pdf. In
the colorful words of a former Senator from a western state, to this day the public ranks
lobbyists somewhere “lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut.”
STANFORD LAW& POLICY RE VIEW
cases lobbyists got their bad reputations the old fashioned way: they earned it.2
However, more remarkable than the persistent image in the public
consciousness of corrupt influence peddlers, is that today, while trust of
professional lobbyists is particularly low, the number of lobbyists and the level
of lobbying activity continues to rise. Highly touted new lobbying laws and
rules have not dampened the demand and need for lobbying services. Instead,
greater regulation has actually coincided with a sharp increase in professional
lobbying, alongside an increase in related work by professionals with
government-relations expertise representing clients facing oversight and public
investigations. Indeed, an unintended consequence of new lobbying rules,
enhanced enforcement, and stricter penalties is that what was once a cottage
industry of government ethics and lobbying compliance training and counseling
is suddenly a booming practice area for Washington law firms. 3 Since the new
rules were issued, proliferating seminars and advice columns by practitioners,
continuing legal education courses, and compliance training sessions are
playing to packed audiences of lobbyists. 4 Observers who, depending on your
2. For vivid descriptions of lobbying practices throughout American history, see, for
example, 2 SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD, Lobbyists, in THE SENATE, 1789-1989: ADDRESSES
ON THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE, S. Doc. No. 100-20 (Mary Sharon Hall ed.,The Myth of Lobbyists in Healthcare Essay
1989), available at http://www.senate.gov/legislative/common/briefing/ByrdHistory_
Lobbying.htm; Jan Witold Baran, Can I Lobby You? Don ‘t Let One Bad Abramoff Spoil the
Whole Bunch, WASH. POST, Jan. 8, 2006, at B1; Brian Wolly, WETA, Washington
Corruption Probe: History of Washington Scandals, ONLINE NEwSHOUR, Feb. 23, 2006,
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth-coverage/law/corruption/history.html (covering
Credit Mobilier, Abscam and the Keating 5, Teapot Dome, and the House Banking Scandal).
See also Sarah Kellogg, Fair Game: Politics, the Media & Scandal, WASH. LAW., Nov.
2007, available at http://www.dcbar.org/for lawyers/resources/publications/washington_
lawyer/november_2007/fair game.cfm.
3. See Sarah Kellogg, Congressional Upheaval: Lawyer-Lobbyists Ride the Political
Riptide, WASH. LAW., Apr. 2007, available at http://www.dcbar.org/for lawyers/resources/
publications/washington lawyer/april_2007/lobbying.cfm.
4. See Elizabeth Williamson, Getting Around Rules on Lobbying: Despite New Law,
Firms Find Ways To Ply Politicians, WASH. POST, Oct. 14, 2007, at Al (noting that the
House and Senate Ethics Committees have fielded more than one thousand questions from
lobbyists seeking guidance and answers and that hundreds of lobbyists have been attending
seminars at Washington law firms); see also Birnbaum, supra note 4 (noting “that questions
about what is and what is not permitted have flooded into law firms,” that one firm was
surprised when more than one hundred lobbyists jammed its largest meeting room beyond
capacity for a two-hour briefing, and that this occurrence has repeated itself at law firms all
over Washington, D.C.). Lawyer lobbyists will receive dozens of invitations to political
compliance programs from CLE courses run by PLI, BNA, bar groups, and countless others.
See, e.g., Bureau of Nat’l Affairs, Conference on Lobbying Law: The New Lobbying: A Sea
Change for Lobbyists, Clients, and Regulators (Nov. 14, 2007) (information available at
http://legaledge.bna.com/PageManager.aspx?pageld=569); Fed. Commc’ns Bar Ass’n,
Conference: Lobbying the FCC and Congress; Ethical and Legal Considerations (Oct. 30,
2007) (information available at www.fcba.org/newsletters/l/files/130/october 2007
news.pdf); Cleta Mitchell, Audio Conference in Washington, D.C.: The New Lobbying and
Ethics Reform Bill: Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (Dec. 10, 2007);
Practicing Law Inst., Corporate Political Activities Conference: Complying with Campaign
[Vol. 19:1
LOBBYING IS AN HONORABLE PROFESSION
perspective, are either insightful or unfairly cynical (or both) say these
lobbyists are trying to learn how to evade the law. 5 In reality, the widespread
effort to learn about the new ethics rules, while inconsistent with popular myths
about lobbying, is evidence supporting the themes advanced here: lobbyists
work hard at their challenging profession. Today, lobbying is more necessary,The Myth of Lobbyists in Healthcare Essay
widespread, and complicated than ever before. It is also more open, more
professional, subject to more rules, and practiced with a greater degree of legal
compliance The Myth of Lobbyists in Healthcare Essay