Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence
American Government 100Part IV
Patterson, pgs. 307-325
Woll, pgs. 248-256, A:AG24-11
Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence
Through Official Contacts
True or False Questions
1. Modern government is not action oriented because of its size and fear of controversy. True or False
2. One of the few unregulated activities is lobbying because it is protected by the First Amendment. True or False
3. Lobbying generally involves simply slipping a cash-filled envelope to a public official.True or False
4. For lobbyists to be fully persuasive, they must understand the policy process as well as the issue under consideration.True or False
5. In order to get what it is they want from members of Congress, lobbyists will misrepresent facts, distort the truth, and arm twist, if necessary. True or False
6. Right-to-life groups have pressured Republican administrations to make opposition to abortion a prerequisite for nomination to the federal benchTrue or False
7. Iron triangles represent the most common pattern of influence and are more dominant today than they were in the past. True or False
8. Unlike iron triangles, where one's position is everything, an issue network is built around specialized interests and information. True or False
9. Whereas an iron triangle has an incentive for the participants to work together over the long term, the issue network disbands once the concern has been resolved. True or False
10. There are no legal limits to the number of candidates that a Political Action Committee (PAC) can support during an election. True or False
11. The same legal limitations that apply to PACs for federal elections also apply to states. True or False
12. Business sponsored PACs only give money to Republicans and not Democrats. True or False
13. According to Patterson, although the American system was designed to prevent a majority faction from trampling on the interests of smaller groups; ironically it also makes it relatively easy for minority factions to gain government support. True or False
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A term that refers broadly to efforts of groups to influence public policy through contact with public officials: a) extortion, b) lobbying, c) influence peddling, d) public corruption.
2. About how many lobbyists are currently in Washington, D.C., according to official records? a) 10,000, b) 20,000, c) 40,000, d) 50,000
3. The following is based on group efforts to develop and maintain close contacts with policymakers through direct access to officials in order to influence their decisions: a) influence peddling, b) quid pro quo, c) inside lobbying, d) larceny.
4. Which of the following is more reflective of modern lobbying techniques? a) providing tangible inducements by giving material benefits to public officials, b) outright bribes to elected officials, c) threatening elected officials with public embarrassment, d) supplying officials with information and indications of group strength.
5. Many lobbyists worked previously in government, and some top officials were once lobbyists. a) revolving door, b) quagmire, c) logrolling, d) networking.
6. The amount of money spent on lobbying in 2009 was: a) $560 million, b) $729 million, c) $1.2 billion, d) $3.5 billion.
7. The following are the most dominant lobbying groups in Washington, D.C. a) labor unions, b) corporations and trade associations, c) agricultural interests, d) single-issue organizations.
8. This group spends over $140 million annually to try and influence government policy: a) U.S. Chamber of Commerce, b) Exxon Mobil, c) Pfizer, d) AARP.
9. When the Republicans took control of the Congress in 1995, they: a) wanted to quickly clean-up the political payoffs that previous Democratic congresses had received by introducing serious campaign reform measures, b) banned lobbyists from congressional offices, making it illegal to directly interact with special interests, c) invited the very corporate lobbyists to not only interact with Republican legislators, but to participate directly in drafting legislation, d) behaved far different then the previous Democratic congresses by telling business interests that the public good would take top priority over corporate profits.
10. What was the negative news that exploded into the airwaves about the FDA in 2004? a) It had prematurely allowed a pain-relieving drug unto the market that caused strokes and heart attacks, b) Officials within the agency had taken bribes from major drug manufactures without assuring the product’s safety, c) The FDA had fought the Bush administration “tooth and nail” to disallow research that the pharmaceutical industry had submitted, d) The FDA had become an unnecessary, bureaucratic institution that seriously interfered with the free market system.
11. The following consists of a small and informal but relatively stable set of bureaucrats, legislators, and lobbyists who seek to develop policies beneficial to a particular interest: a) connected troika, b) iron triangle, c) cooperative policy action, d) organizational attachments.
12. An informal grouping of officials, lobbyists, and policy specialists who come together temporarily around a policy problem: a) legislative carpetbaggers, b) issue network, c) agenda networking, d) policy coordination.
13. What do iron triangles and issue networks have in common? a) They are arenas where organized interests operate, b) They are long-lasting, stable cooperative bodies, c) They have equal amounts of resources that come to bear whenever a public policy arises, d) They can invoke constitutional privilege when arguing that they are entitled to an administrative hearing.
14. Bringing together constituency pressure to bear on policymakers is referred to as: a) group-shared lobbying, b) coordinated lobbying, c) outside lobbying, d) collectivist lobbying.
15. Pressure designed to convince government officials that a group’s policy position has popular support: a) insider trading, b) partisan cooperation, c) influence peddling, d) grassroots lobbying.
16. What is the major reason why the United States has lagged behind other western societies in its handgun control laws? a) the public's opposition to any form of regulation of guns, b) the Constitution's Third Amendment, c) the National Rifle Association, d) the high crime rate.
17. What is the maximum amount of money that a Political Action Committee can legally give to a candidate running for federal office per election cycle (which encompasses both the primary and general election)? a) $1,000, b) $5000, c) $10,000, d) unlimited.
18. Today, PACs account for about how much of the total contributions to congressional campaigns? a) 25%, b) 33%, c) 48%, d) 59%
19. What percent of all PACs are associated with businesses? a) less than 23%, b) about 32%, c) more than 46%, d) more than 60%
20. What limitation does Citizens United place on corporations and labor unions when it comes to federal campaigns? a) They cannot directly coordinate their support and activities with the candidates but only with the parties, b) They cannot directly coordinate their support and activities with the candidates and parties, c) They are prevented from establishing PACs for just one political party while ignoring the other major party, d) The Court essentially decided to crack down on the buying of congressional votes by moneyed interests.
21. For those embracing the pluralist theory of government, they would argue: a) that varied interests erode the legitimacy of government, b) that their views are exactly what the Framers embraced for the American political system, c) that society is best seen as a collection of separate interests, d) corruption has been the order of the day rather than the common good.
22. According to Theordore Lowi, what is a problem with the pluralist theory of government? a) What the interest wants is generally what the people want, b) interest groups are unable to weed out corruption within their ranks, c) there is no concept of the public interest in a system that gives special interests the ability to determine the policies affecting them, d) achieving uniformity is the common goal of all democratic systems to assure greater stability.
23. When a federal law was passed to require auto dealers to list the defects of used cars on window stickers, it was repealed because: a) the auto dealers national association put on a heavy lobbying campaign, contributing money to the campaigns of many members of House, b) the public was opposed to such a law because it created too much unnecessary red tape, c) the Supreme Court ruled the federal law unconstitutional for violating states' rights, d) Congress quickly realized that it did not have the resources, financial and institutional, to implement law.
24. The tendency of officials to support the policy demands of the interest group or groups that have a special stake in a policy: a) conservative pluralism, b) legalized extortion, c) interest-group liberalism, d) free-enterprise.
Fill-in Questions
1. The capture theory holds that, over time, regulatory agencies:
a) side with the ______they are supposed to ______rather
b) than with the ______, which they are supposed to ______.
2. What are some of the advantages that an interest group receives by iron triangles?
a) They have an inside ______to well-positioned legislators and bureaucrats.
b) They can count on getting a full ______on issues affecting them.
c) The groups provide ______support for agency ______and
d) campaign ______to members of Congress.
3. What are some of the flaws in pluralist theory?
a) Rather than policymaking by the ______acting through its elected representatives, interest-group liberalism involves policymaking by narrow segments of society acting on their own behalf with the help of ______.
b) There is also an ______use of society’s ______: groups get what they want, whether or not their priorities match those of society as a whole.
c) Economic interests, particularly ______, are the most highly organized, and studies indicate that group politics works chiefly to the advantage of ______interests.
Misplaced Obsession with PACs
by Larry Sabato (Woll, pgs. 248-256)
True or False Questions
1. Sabato believes that PACs may be making a positive contribution by providing the means to increase the flow of information during elections. True or False
Multiple Choice Questions
1. PACs grew in number from 113 in 1972 to the following number by 1988: a) 1,223, b) 2,427, c) 3,729, d) 4,196.
2. Which of the following PACs raise more money by direct mail and tend to be accountable to no one? a) corporate PACs, b) trade associations, c) ideological PACs, d) labor PACs.
3. What are the overriding factors that determine a legislator's votes? a) Party affiliation, b) ideology, c) constituents' needs and desires, d) all the above.
4. The most fundamental institutional check on PACs, according to Sabato are: a) the press, b) public interest organizations, c) free, regular elections, d) the values of elected officials.
Fill-in Questions
1. When do PACs affect legislative proceedings to a decisive degree?
a) the less ______the issue, the more likely the PAC funds can change or influence congressional votes.
b) PAC money has more of an effect in the ______of the legislative process, such as agenda setting and votes in subcommittees.
c) PACs are also more likely to influence the legislature when the issue is ______and ______, or unopposed by other organized interests.
d) PACs also have a greater impact when large groups of them are ______(such as business and labor).
2. Political parties serve a positive purpose in our pluralistic society for they:
a) help build ______of groups
b) attempt to represent a ______, rather than a narrow one
c) they are a ______force in a diverse society.
Answers
Patterson, pgs. 307-325
True or False Questions
1. False
3. False
5. False
7. False
9. True
11. False
13. True
Multiple Choice Questions
1. b
3. c
5. a
7. b
9. c
11. b
13. a
15. d
17. c
19. d
21. c
23. a
Fill-In Questions
1. a) industries, regulate b) public, protect
3. a) majority, lawmakers, b) inefficient, resources, c) corporations, moneyed
Woll, pgs. 248-256
True or False Question
1. True
Multiple Choice Questions
1. d
3. d
Fill-In Questions
1. a) visible, b) initial stages, c) specialized, narrow, d) allied
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