Interest Groups

Chapter 11

Interest Group Power

Interest Groups =

• Organizations outside the government that attempt to influence the government’s behavior,

decision-making, and allocation of resources• Interest groups usually work within the

framework of government and employ tactics such as lobbying to achieve their goals

The Interest Group Explosion

• 1959: 5,843

• 1970: 10,308

• 1980: 14,726

• Mid-1990s: 22,200

Why has there been such a large growth in

interest groups over the last forty years?

Number of national-level interest group organizations in the United

States

Major Organized Interest Groups

Money and Politics

PAC

•Political arm of an interest group

•Legally entitled to raise money in order to contribute funds to favored candidates or political parties

•PACs representing business interests have grown the most since the 1970s

Soft Money

•Money raised in unlimited amounts by political parties for party-building

purposes• Made illegal in 2002 by BCRA

(McCain-Feingold Act)

Hard Money

•Political contributions given to a party or candidate

•Limited in amount and fully disclosed

Total PAC Contributions to Federal Candidates, 1979-2004 (in millions)

Spending by Political Action Committees (PACs), 2003-2004

PACs that Gave the Most to Federal Candidates, 2000-2004 (Millions of Dollars)

All Time Big-Money

Contributors

Contributors to the Republican and Democratic Parties by Sector

Union Membership in the United States Compared to Other Countries

The Decline in Union Membership

Historical Statistics of the United States, vol. 1, 178; Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1998, 444; U.S. Census Bureau; Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2003, 432, 433.

Types of Interest Groups: Ideological or Single-Interest Groups

The Christian Coalition distributes voter guides before elections as one

means of influencing politics

The National Rifle Association

• After the Columbine High School tragedy, public opinion solidly favored stricter gun laws

• NRA spent $3 million to fight gun control bills

• Gun control legislation did not pass

NRA Issue Ads

AARP: The Nation’s Most Powerful Interest Group

• 36 million members• Offers a wide array of material benefits like

insurance and magazines• One of the most influential lobbying groups

in Washington

Divided We Fail AARP Ads

Types of Interest Groups: Public Interest Groups

• Unsafe at Any Speed (1965)

• Ran for president as Green Party candidate in 1996 and 2000 and as independent in 2004 and 2008

Ralph Nader

Types of Interest Groups: Foreign Policy and Public Sector Interest Groups

Foreign Policy Interest Groups

• Council on Foreign Relations

• American-Israel Political Action Committee

Public Sector Interest Groups

• National Governors Association

• National League of Cities

• National Educational Association

Interest Groups: Cohesiveness

Types of members in an organization

Small number of

formal members

People intensely involved with the group

People who are members in name only

Ex.) National Education Association (NEA)

Interest Groups: Techniques

Publicity and Mass Appeals

Influence on Rule Making

Litigation

Election Activities

Forming a Political Party

Cooperative Lobbying

Mass Mailing

Who are the Lobbyists?

The Iron Triangle

Interest groups

Congress membersBureaucratic leaders and experts

The Iron Triangle

• iron triangle – a policy-making alliance that involves very strong ties among a congressional committee, an interest group, and a federal department or agency (such as a House and/or Senate authorizing committee)– each side supports the other 2

• Ex.) Policy making for veterans is made thru iron triangle of Dept. of Veterans Affairs, House and Senate Veterans Committees, and a long list of interest groups that represent veterans

The “Revolving Door”

• Federal government workers leave to take more lucrative positions in private industry (lobbying, consulting, executive positions)

• This may give private interests a way to improperly influence government decisions

• Nearly half of all retiring congressmen have gone into lobbying in recent years, as have many high-level staffers

Obama’s Ads on Lobbyists

McCain’s Ad on Interest Groups

What Do Lobbyists Do?

Techniques

• Providing technical information at

hearings (best way to influence

legislators)

• Grass-roots mobilization

• Protests and demonstrations

• Coalition building

• Boycotts

• Meeting with legislators at conferences

• “Wining and dining”

Soft Money and Issue Advocacy

The 1996 election was a watershed in the involvement of interest groups and individuals in

financing campaigns

•Great increase in issue advocacy – – unlimited and undisclosed spending by an individual or

group on communications that do not use words like “vote for” or “vote against,” although much of this activity is actually about electing or defeating candidates

– serves as a way for interest groups to circumvent disclosure and contribution limits

Born Alive Issue Ad

Obama’s Response

moveon.org

BCRA and Interest Group Electioneering

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) was passed and signed into law by President George W. Bush in February, 2002

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)

The Effectiveness of Interest Group Activity in Elections

• Tendency of PACs to give money to incumbents has meant that challengers face real difficulties in getting their campaigns funded

• “Too often, members’ first thought is not what is right or what they believe, but how it will affect fundraising. Who, after all, can seriously contend that a $100,000 donation does not alter the way one thinks about--and quite possibly votes on--an issue?” - Former U. S. Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY)

Sources of House Candidates’ Receipts, 2003-2004

Sources of Senate Candidates’ Receipts, 2003-2004

Federal and State Regulation

• Serious campaign finance reform began in 1971 with the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)

• Buckley v. Valeo (1976) – Supreme Court case that overturned several of FECA’s provisions on grounds that they violated 1st Amendment– said legislatures couldn’t limit how much of their own

money people spend on their own campaigns independent of a candidate or political party, but Congress may limit how much people contribute to somebody else’s campaign

Characteristics of Individual Political Contributors