Miriam Bryson
Jul 20, 2017 · 2 min read

The way business’ interacted with the government always seemed to be corrupt or at least conspicuous in some manner to me. There was always backdoor deals or even worse. A lobbyist was someone who could manipulate the government to do anything with a few bucks. This line of logic was broken throughout this project. When I started I found that corporations spend $2.1 billon on lobbying, obviously a money bribe doesn’t work. Lobbying only started recently around the 1970's. Now lobbying has changed where politics and lobbying come hand and hand. Lobbying changed how coporations and governments talked to one another. Coporations wanted to get along with the government rather than push them away. I realized lobbying wasn’t something that just started in the 2000's and that it was a form of communication. After that research I found a lobbyist who matched my assumed characteristics, Jack Abramoff. I had never heard of this man prior to this project, but many people knew his name during the early 2000's as he was being prosecuted. Abramoff was known for flying out senators to the best gold resorts in Scotland, free meals at his restaurant, and “anonymous donations”. Turns out the way I thought was based on some truth, Jack Abramoff really was the stereotypical lobbyist. One aspect that shocked me though was not lobbyist were bad, but it was open to interpretations. Corporations played a part as well, they overall could tell that lobbyist to stop with their dubious methods. A polar example is Bernie Sanders, he talked all about how horrible lobbying was done on capital hill. Ironical enough though one group that supported Sanders in the election was National Cannabis Industry Association. This was one of the large corporations who had one of their own lobbyist, Michael Correia. Correia was different even though he was with a large company, he didn’t have the same methods as Abramoff. His methods differed from Abramoff’s as he didn’t use flashy material things, but more of research and used past connections. Abramoff knew his strategies worked, ethics didn’t necessarily matter to him as long as the check came in. Abramoff and Correia are one way a business interacts with the government. Lobbying is not the only way corporations make sure there are interests are met. The topic is so broad that I only focused on one aspect. Michael Correia and Jack Abramoff both represented interest groups, but had different methods. They showed me the spectrum of lobbying, that it isn’t either good or bad. It is more nuanced than a simple label to put a bow on such a broad range.

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