Lobbying: Legal corruption; but, is it Constitutional?

[JQPublic1]

Lobbyist are paid well to defend and promote the interests of various enterprises at all levels of government.

Bribes are common tools for lobbyists and it seems they are having an enormous impact on keeping toxins and carcinogens in our air and drinking water. Public safety be damned!

Not even the might of OSHA or the EPA can stand against the monetary incentives used to bribe legislators and agency heads. It's not fair, but I guess life generally is not fair. Is lobbying constitutional? The general consensus is that it is; and ,that it is vested under the auspices of the 1st amendment of the US Constitution. Whereas defenders of lobbying insist:

First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Frankly, I don't see it. How can petitioning the government to choose a bribe over public safety be construed to be a legal and valid transaction. Yet, it happens without regard to party affiliation!

Your thoughts:



The Right to Lobby

 

[nodoginnafight]

If it is "legal" it's constitutional. If it is unconstitutional it is illegal. By definition .

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Lobbying isn't 'bribery.'

Otherwise, your issue is with your fellow Americans who have elected to abdicate their role and responsibility as involved and informed voters.

 

[2aguy]

Americans have the right to petition our government for a redress of grievances.....every citizen is a lobbyist in one form or another....if you belong to a union....you have some of the biggest lobbyists there are....would you prefer that unions not lobby congress?

 

[JQPublic1]

You all make some very good points. However, I'll play the devil's advocate for a moment and pose another question to you: Congressmen respond to Unions because as a collective voting bloc they can sway the outcome of elections my influencing members to vote one way or another. Corporations and other conglomerates don't generally have the power to sway their employees to vote in the interest of the organization. Lobbying with monetary incentives as bait is the most viable alternative to get a congressperson's attention. If the issue at hand is one that supports the entity's agenda but runs counter to public interests, where is the line in the sand drawn? Isn't the Will of The People trivialized in some manner by corporate lobbying combined with monetary incentives?

 

[2aguy]

No. corporations have as much right to lobby their political,representatives as anyone else, and if you look at who pays the most money to politicians you will see that unions are some of the biggest payers. the problem with the lobbying of public unions.....they pay the politicians who will eventually decide how much to pay the union members, creating a cycle of abuse that is bankrupting the states...in particular my state Illinois.

so unions often influence politicians to vote against the public interest.....more so than corporations because corporations aren't bankrupting states with their pensions and benefits...I heard today on the radio that in the next couple of years 1 dollar out of every three brought in in taxes will go to just pay for pensions from the public sector unions...and they are already in the red by billions......

 

[Daryl Hunt]

Lobbying isn't 'bribery.'

Otherwise, your issue is with your fellow Americans who have elected to abdicate their role and responsibility as involved and informed voters.

over half of the Congress Critters end up entering a Lobbyist Organization within 2 years. The Aides are paid hansdsomely by the various Lobbyests. When they are in office or working for an office, it would be illegal to pay them for their services. But it's perfectly legal to promise them high paying jobs when they leave "Public Service" to get bills tailored favorably for whomever the Lobbyiests are representing.

A Congress Critter has to wait one year before they can join a lobbyist organization. The way they get around that is that they will become a "Advisor" who is not working directly for the Lobbyist Organization. Case in point is Congressman Scott McInnis who was caught in some pretty damning things after he left office. He failed to run for Governor and is now a Mesa County Commissioner. Nothing like recycling crooks. The only good thing about this sordid mess is that he's just about out of "Public Service" jobs. About the only two jobs he hasn't filled is Governor and US Senator. He's about done.

An Aide can leave directly from "Public Service" directly into a Lobbyist job.

Yes, it's all messed up and designed to continue to buy off our elected and unelected officials. The only way to get it changes would be for the "Elected" officials to pass laws to prevent this. Good luck on that ever happening. The Inmates are in charge of the country.