“Thank you for smoking” by Jason Reitman(2005) Homework Help

Should lobbyists be prohibited by law from gifts to elected officials?

With tobacco related diseases being regarded as one of the leading causes of death (preventable death) in the US, legislative measures have been considered fundamental in creation of comprehensive scheme to lower the use of tobacco and consequently reduce the number of preventable deaths. In order to achieve such an objective, campaign contributors and lobbyist (or lobbying activities) have been pointed out as two important aspects that influence the legislators’ voting conduct. The lobbyists have the capability of providing information that can influence legislators and hence influence others too to either support or reject legislations that are proposed by the national assembly. Campaign contributors on the other hand can influence the out come of the legislature by using financial incentives (contributions) in supporting candidates who share the same thoughts as them. The contributions can also be used to buy access to the lobbyists and therefore help in augmenting the message by lobbyists and therefore sway legislators when they are elected.  Studies that have been carried out show that the extensive lobbying and the immense campaign contributions have got an influence on the positions those legislators have on the positions they take regarding tobacco related issues (Samuels, Glantz, 1991 & Jacobson, Wasserman, Raube, 1993). This kind of relationship has been the subject of criticism with allegations being made that the influence lobbyists and campaign contributors assert is normally to their own advantage and mostly to the detriment of the general public. This has led to constant debates of whether the government should altogether ban the act of giving gifts to elected officials by lobbyists. Are lobbyists and campaign contributors’ actions always selfish or do they also serve the interests of the general public? This paper is going to look into these questions in order to conclude whether the lobbyists should altogether be banned.
Support for the Lobby groups
Lobbying generally revolves round advocating of interests that are potentially and actually affected by the government’s decision. This process is carried out by individuals or interest groups who share the same thoughts. This practise as mentioned has been considered important in ensuring the proper functionality of the US government. AIDitionally lobbying is fundamentally protected by the 1^st Amendment which posits that the Congress shall not make any laws that prohibits the petition the rights of the people to peaceably petition the government to redress grievances. The lobbying practice is aIDitionally considered useful in the resolution of conflicts revolving around competing views as they help in provision of information, opinions and analysis to the legislators and the government alike and hence allow them to make balanced and informed choices and therefore creating a structure that acts as a system of checks and balances which paves way for completion with other interested groupings. This helps in ensuring that a lone figure is not permanently embeIDed in positions of power. The process has always been hailed because it increases expediency in legislators’ duties as it provides accurate assessment and reliable data on the effects of a bill, policies or regulations. What should be understood by the general public especially the critic is that lobby groups have a vertical power system. The influence that a particular group has largely depends on the amount of resources (both time and money) at its disposal. This is to mean that equality does not exist amongst individual lobbyists, and therefore the thought that all lobby groups wield much power should be discarded.

Criticism against lobby groups
Critics of lobby groups sight one specific disadvantage that lobby groups have; the wielding of too much power. This they have argued makes the groups susceptible to corruption.
Attempts to regulate lobbying
Although as discussed above lobbying is protected by the US constitution, several attempts have been made to regulate their activities. The efforts have been in place chronologically from 1907 when campaign contributors were banned from sponsoring election candidates. The affected bodies included banks and corporations. In 1911, the first restrictions against domestic lobbying were proposed but it was not until 1946 when the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act was passed. This was however challenged by lobbyists in 1954 (See, United States v. Harriss) where the court upheld the constitutionality of the Act but narrowed the application and scope of the Act and asserted that the Act subsequently applied to paid lobbyists who communicated on a one to one basis with Congress members on crucial proposed and pending legislations
Should Lobbyist be Prohibited from giving gifts to elected officials therefore?
The questions of whether to bar lobbyists from giving elected officials gifts depends entirely on the way a person views the issue. Constitutionally the right to lobby is protected by the 1^st Amendment and therefore asking to ban lobbying is fundamentally setting aside the provisions of the 1^st Amendment. AIDitionally lobbying especially amongst tobacco lobby groups has been found by studies to be of great importance especially since it gives better information on tobacco related issues and has been found to be of great importance to non0profit organisations (Joanna et al, 1997). What should be done is regulation of the lobbyists through appropriate legislations and policies. This is important since the right is guaranteed under the constitution, however as it should be appreciated, not all rights and freedoms are absolute; the government has got the power to regulate these rights. So instead of banning the lobby groups from doing its activities it should be regulated.

Work Cited

Jacobson, P.D., Wasserman, J. & Raube, K. The Politics of Anti-Smoking Legislation. J Health Policy Law. 18: 787-819 (1993).print.

Joanna, E.C et al. State Legislators’ Perceptions of Lobbyists and Lobbying on Tobacco Control Issues. 6:332-336 (1997). Print.

Samuels, B. Glantz, S.A. The Politics of Tobacco Control. JAMA. 266:2110-7 (1991). Print.

United States v. Harriss, 347 U.S. 612, 74 S. Ct. 808

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