WHY OUR SENATORS AND THE HOUSE, DON´T REALLY WORK FOR "WE THE PEOPLE"

Gary Ater

June 24, 2009

Looking for work? I understand the Washington lobbyists are hiring.

…The luxurious Hay-Adams Hotel…….where the D.C. lobbyist put their big-business clients

Isn´t it disturbing that after "we the people", elect our Senators and Representatives and send them off to Washington DC to work on our behalf. Shortly thereafter, it usually all starts falling apart.

The first sign is when those newly elected officials begin breaking their campaign promises and they stop doing what we elected them to do. It isn´t until sometime later that we realize that this is all happening because of the power of the big money that they have started receiving from those DC, K Street lobbyists.

Today, we all know that there is something really wrong with this picture, but I seriously don´t see it changing any time soon.

As further proof today of how big this problem is, you will notice that during the current down economy, the lobbying community is definitely not included in today´s higher unemployment numbers. In fact, the massive spending by the DC lobbyists has not only, NOT been curtailed, it is now at its highest level ever.

In fact, most major US corporations have learned over the past 30 years that using and paying lobbyists has the highest levels of "return-on-investment" when one considers the billion dollar government contracts that can be scored just by "buying a Senate or a House Committee Chairman".

We are all aware today that lobbying has been going on since politics began. In fact, the term "lobbyist" originated centuries ago in Great Britain when the members of their Labor Party were constantly being approached for favors while walking through the "lobby" of the House of Parliament.

To put some reality into the US current situation, here is some information compiled by the non-profit; "Open Secrets" organization that keeps track of the activities of official US lobbyists:

Growth of the number of registered US Lobbyists:

1998: 10,684 Lobbyists

2008: 15,223 Lobbyists

Billions Spent by US Lobbyists:

1998: $1,440,000,000

2008: $3,270,000,000 (and rising)

This is why President Obama chose to focus his election campaign on receiving more smaller, individual donors and why he avoided any PAC money or donations from the official DC lobbyists. Even under these circumstances, Obama still received donations via various law firms and supporters for more than an individual´s $1,000. dollar donation limit.

But Ben LaBolt of the Obama campaign told ABC News; "Our campaign was fueled by contributions from over 3.95 million Americans, and we didn´t accept a dime from PACs or Washington lobbyists. 91% of our contributions were in amounts of $100 or less, and while the total contributions from some donors who gave a small amount to the campaign each month over the course of two years did surpass $200, there's no doubt that small dollar contributors played the critical and unprecedented role in Barack Obama's victory."

In going forward however, the reality is that America must eventually go the way of Great Britain, and other democratic countries, that require publically funded political campaigns with a limited amount of weeks or months for campaigning. Until then, American political officials will either need to be independently wealthy (as many are today), or they will continue to be in the pockets of the lobbyists that represent wealthy big-business and special interests with very fat check books.

As an example, let´s look at why these American politicians continue to depend on, and take donations from the lobbyists. In addition, we´ll see what it means regarding the actual "costs" for anyone today, running a successful campaign, while pursuing a US Senate seat or for re-election to the US Senate.

The University of Washington has had some past political projects in tracking or "auditing" the overall costs of US Senate campaigns. The latest information that I have been able to locate was from the 2006 US Senate campaigns, but it is consistent with today´s campaigns.

Now the costs that I will be using do not include those major "exception" type campaigns, such as the record breaking $63 Million dollar campaign in New Jersey for Senator John Corzine, or the $30 Million dollar campaign in New York for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. The numbers I use will instead be the average US campaign costs, broken down from the most conservative campaigns to the high-end spending campaigns.

To put this all in perspective, and even though only 1/3rd of the US Senate runs for office every 2 years, a whopping total of $450 Million dollars was spent on all of the US Senate campaigns for 2006.

AVERAGE CAMPAIGN COSTS:

Based on the above, the UofW came to the following average cost numbers:

>>> Average cost and spending on a very "conservative" election campaign: $3.9 Million

>>> Average cost and spending on a "median level" election campaigns: $10.5 Million

>>> Average cost and spending on a "higher-end" election campaigns: $12.1 Million

Now let´s look at how much money a US citizen or a current US Senator must raise for their election, or re-election campaign, in days, weeks and months, (24 / 7) for a six year term, in order to finance all three of these campaign categories:

>>> Needed revenue to raise for running for a "conservative" Senate campaign ($3.9 Million total):

$1,781 per day for 6 years

$12,500 per week for 6 years

$54,167 per month for 6 years

>>> Needed revenue to raise for running for a "median" Senate campaign ($10.5 Million total):

$4,795 per day for 6 years

$33,654 per week for 6 years

$145,833 per month for 6 years

>>> Needed revenue to raise for running for a "high-end" Senate campaign ($12.1 Million total):

$5,525 per day for 6 years

$38,782 per week for 6 years

$168,055 per month for 6 years

So now, one can see why there is such a growth of today´s DC lobbyists, more available lobbying funds today, and why it is so hard for US Senators to do what their constituents want, instead of what their lobbying "bosses" want.

What this means is that before a senator even votes for one bill or debates one issue, these are the "average" dollars they need to raise every day for their re-election, as they get out of bed.

This is why campaign reform "must" eventually be changed to publically funded campaigns in order to get away from the government being controlled by the big-business lobbyists.

AND WHAT WOULD IT COST FOR AMERICANS TO FINANCE THESE CAMPAIGNS?

For all of us in the US, when we send in our federal income tax forms every April, if we would check the box to dedicate just $10. for paying for federally financed elections, after the first 4 years, there would be over $4 Billion dollars available for financing US elections. (And this would be more than enough to cover what the lobbyists are donating to the politicians today.)

SO, WHY HASN´T THIS HAPPENED?

It´s because the lobbyists have had such a strong hold on the US elected officials, these officials are afraid of giving up the millions of dollars of donations they currently get from the lobbyists today. The politicians know and understand the logic of the situation, but the "bird-in-the-hand" situation prevents them from venturing off into what to them would be the great "unknown". And the lobbyists are sitting on the Senate and Congressional Rep´s door steps reminding them of this fact, every day they´re in office.

I´m afraid that just as it has gone with the health care issues, nothing will occur in the election reform area in the US until things get so bad, that the elected officials are being overwhelmed by their constituents,. Only then, will they present the necessary bills to change how the current congressional and Senate business is done.

And human nature says, that until the problem actually effects the average voter, nothing will happen. This finally occurred with the latest high costs of health care finally hitting the average household. This now needs to also happen with how we elect our Senators and Representatives, so that they will start working for us and not the lobbyists.

But, unfortunately, it´s probably not going to happen in my life-time.

Copyright G.Ater 2009

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