American League of Lobbyists

print page

Recent Press Highlights

Zanesville Times Recorder - Editorial
A Different Perspective on Lobbyists
28 August 2006

Now that U.S. Rep. Bob Ney has ended his re-election campaign, I can speak without appearing to take sides. I have read the blogs about Ney's decision and am astounded at how little people know about their government in Washington.

We elect people from our communities and send them to Washington to solve our problems -- taxes, health, energy, the economy, foreign relations, inflation, and so on. We somehow think our elected officials are superheroes who, by being elected, become endowed with magical powers that let them know what everyone back home is thinking and become experts overnight.

It just ain't so.

Washington is an intimidating place where agendas and procedures rule. You have to learn how to play the game of politics and someone has to teach you how.

As much as we would like to think that being honest, having integrity and the guts to stand up for what you believe should make you a successful politician, it is not enough. It is knowing the system and the people who make the system work. In many cases, the people who know are the lobbyists. Lobbyists got their name because citizens, hundreds of years ago, would wait in the lobbies of hotels where the "citizen" legislators stayed while in Washington hoping to express their point of view directly to their officials.

In fact, the First Amendment prohibits Congress from making laws that limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Citizens use lobbyists to petition U.S. government. You might say, "Well, no lobbyist represents me." My response:

Are you a senior citizen, or a farmer, a union worker, or a small businessman?
Are you a woman, a child, a minority?
Do you work in the health field?
Are you for or against gun control?
For or against higher taxes?
For or against privatizing Social Security?

Then you have a lobbyist fighting for you in Washington.

Recently, a few lobbyists have run afoul of the law. Lobbyists who work hard and lawfully for their clients are getting hit with a very broad and negative brush.

Most lobbyists help elected officials become knowledgeable in areas that are unfamiliar to them. It is simply not possible for today's Washington to function without them.

It is indeed a shame that the public judges all these professionals by the actions of the few bad actors that make the headlines.

What is even worse is the great loss of young talent in Washington. Unsuspecting, young, bright and sincere staffers, aides and congressmen were sucked into a vortex created by one corrupt lobbyist, as they did their jobs in a town where going to lunch, dinner, playing golf or even traveling to Ireland don't mean squat. It is how people from both parties get their work done in Washington. I know that is difficult for hardworking southeastern Ohioans to understand but it is simply how most business is conducted, public and private.

Bob Ney has always been there when I asked him for help in the fight to defend Ohio jobs from unfair Chinese imports. And I have never given the man a dime in campaign contributions.

The loss of his experience and talent is a loss for us all. I trust the voters of Ohio will elect a new official who will fight as hard as Bob Ney did to defend our jobs, which are so desperately needed today.

George Pappas Sr. of Norwich is a citizen member of the Times Recorder Editorial Board.