The list of those tarnished by Washington's lobbying scandals just keeps on growing.
One of the latest casualties is Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, believed to be "Representative No. 1" in an ongoing federal corruption investigation. Ney, who had close ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, announced Aug. 7 he would not seek re-election.
By comparison, no lawmaker has been accused of having a relationship with, say, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, or with Catholic Charities USA, or other advocacy organizations that is so cozy it borders on the improper or illegal.
"We don't have money to influence people," said Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "We have to appeal to the moral and religious values of our public officials, and it's a much nobler way of doing things."
Sister Simone Campbell, a Sister of Social Service who is executive director of Network, a social justice lobby founded by U.S. women's religious orders, spends about one-third of her time lobbying in Washington. Previously, she had been a lobbyist in California. She was quick to note the differences.
"Legislators themselves are way more accessible at the state level than they are at the federal level," Sister Campbell said. "There's more engagement with solving problems at the state level, than, in my experience, there is here."
"While money talks at the state level, it's not the only voice," she added. "Groups representing people can actually get in and affect policy. And it's way smaller --- we only had to deal with 120 elected officials and the governor in California." In Washington there are 535 members of the House and Senate.
Candy Hill, who joined Catholic Charities USA last year as senior vice president for social policy, had spent much of her adult life in Michigan before coming to Washington. Asked if she thought her experience was similar to being a minor league ballplayer promoted to the majors, Hill said with a laugh, "It's not even the same sport!"
She added, "It is more than I anticipated in some respects. Watching partisan politics has been extremely disappointing to me, actually, on the issues we care about. It's a tough fight right now for social policy issues in the country. I don't know that I've completely acquired the taste for some of this yet, but I'm learning."
There are those who may look more askance now at lobbyists in light of the current scandals, but Jim McDonald, vice president of policy and programming at Bread for the World, a Christian citizens' anti-hunger lobbying group, said, "I'm not afraid to use the word 'lobbyist.' Some people use the word 'advocate.'
"We're lobbyists for Jesus," McDonald added. "We don't come with money and we're not working for our own self-interests. We don't have well-heeled clients. What we're trying to do is bring a Christian voice of our constituents on moral issues. I don't mind using the word 'lobbyist.' We're just the good lobbyists. We're lobbying for those who don't have a voice in our government in order to make it responsive to their needs as well."
McDonald said that, when he first started lobbying for Bread for the World in 1998, "I was struck with the fact that it's a lot about relationships, and getting to know people," even if it's a staffer in a member of Congress' office.
"Some people worry that if you're talking to staff you're not really getting through to the member," McDonald said, "but I found that in many cases the staff actually reflect the personality and the interest of the member herself or himself."
Sister Campbell's experience differs from McDonald's: "The corporate reality is so potent here on the whole. Some industries will say, 'We can't get access either and it's really hard,' but the corporate folks have way more access to the leadership, to where the power is, than us membership organizations, the nonprofits. Now we can get access to lower-level folks, but it doesn't change policy or really have an impact."
Thanking lawmakers takes on a different tone, too.
"I'm having a hard enough time using Network money to pay salaries. Golfing trips to Scotland are out of the question," Sister Campbell said, referring to an Abramoff junket for some lawmakers.
What Network does, she added, is visit each House and Senate member who had a 100 percent voting record on Network's issues that year --- in 2005, 135 in the House and 25 in the Senate did --- with a request to vote Network's way on a couple of key issues in the year to come.
"This year we instituted a visit with Catholic legislators who got 25 percent or below (on Network issues) to find out how they look at Catholic social teaching," Sister Campbell added. There were 18 in the House, six in the Senate. "Let me tell you, it was hard to get access," she said.
Stoops said if the budgets of every homeless advocacy group in Washington were totaled, the sum would still be dwarfed by lobbyists who "represent 800,000 Exxon stations. We represent 800,000 homeless people and 3.5 million others (who go homeless) in the course of the year. We also advocate for low-income people. We do a lot for very little. We're as effective as we can be without a lot of money."
He added, "If I had to choose between being fat and sassy or being lean and mean, I'd rather be lean and mean."
---CNS |