The Background of Lobbyists

Lobbyists work for large organizations, private individuals, and the general public. No matter who they work for, their strategies remain the same. Their job is persuasion, plain and simple. It’s a much easier job than expected, since congressmen are outnumbered two to one by lobbyists. Occasionally, they even lobby one another. In essence, they hover around the bill process until they get their way.
First of all, lobbyists are controlling. To begin this corrupt process, lobbyists generally write the bills: long ones. The bills get sent to the house, but always with an under-the-radar vote. A prime example of this process came with the Medicare prescription drug bill. It was written by pharmaceutical lobbyists, with over 1,000 pages, and was sent to the house in the morning and voted on by 3:00 am the following morning. Every ounce of the activity was kept under the scope of reporters because the bill’s time in the house was less than 24 hours and took place while the rest of the nation was sleeping. The consequences of this bill: prescription drugs in the United States are the highest in the world and it is illegal to import cheaper drugs from Canada or Mexico.
Also, lobbyists stretch the rules. The ballot for voting on the bill is supposed to be open for 15 minutes; for the Medicare prescription drug bill, it was open for three hours. Leaders were walking around, pulling individuals aside, twisting their arms in order to vote in their favor.
Most importantly, lobbyists are ruthless. A member of the house was interviewed after the bill was put through and this is what he had to say: ‘"We had a good friend from Michigan, Nick Smith, and they threatened to work against his son who wanted to run for his seat when he retired," he recalls. "I saw a woman, a member of the House, a lady, crying when they came around her, trying to get her to change her votes. It was ugly."’ (CBSnews.com)
Lobbyists have an abnormal amount of influence over the legislative branch. Their incredible amounts of wealth keep the opinions of the majority swimming against the current of industry values. Instead of worrying about honest progress, these lobbyists are turning our congressmen into money loving flakes. There needs to be a change in our legislative process, and it starts by the removal of lobbying.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/29/60minutes/main2625305.shtml