Download U.S. Constitution Quiz

Interest Groups in SC
Bob Botsch
The Founding Fathers and
“Factions” (Federalist Number 10)
• Factions = interest groups + parties
• Factions a natural outgrowth of freedom
and human nature
• Undermine the public interest
• Endanger stability
• Solution is republican principle +
democratic pluralism in large nation
• Problem in SC: lack of sufficient diversity
for pluralism—but growing
Range of Interest Groups in SC
and why active
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Business groups #1 in size and power
Agriculture in long term decline (Farm Bureau)
Professional/Occupation groups growing (SCEA; Bar)
Unions and workers groups, natural counterweight to
business are extremely weak (Teamsters) (SC State
Employees)
Ideological/single/public interest issue groups growing
(SC Policy Council)
Intergovernmental groups (Municipal Association)
“Free rider” problem particularly a problem for public
interest groups like the Coastal Conservation
League
Targets/Techniques of Interest
Group Activity
• Legislature: information, campaign
support, “smoozing” or “wining and dining”
• Bureaucracy: information, political support,
litigation
• Grassroots (us!): public relations to alter
public opinion—the goal: “what is good for
___ is good for SC!”
Growth in Registered Lobbyists
Year
Number
Registered
Lobbyists
Percentage Increase
1974
121
--
1984
255
111%
1994
331
30%
2000
363
10%
2011
532
47%
Lobbying, 2011: #’s & $
Figures compiled by Phil Noble
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SC has 542 registered lobbyists, and 545 lobbyist principals (the people
who pay the lobbyist)
there are 822 different lobbying contracts, often with one principal hiring
multiple lobbyists
12 state agencies have lobbyists, mostly colleges and universities
36 separate contracts is the largest number of contracts for one lobbyist
$11,118 is the average size of a lobbyist contract
$142,000 is the biggest single lobbying contract from a single principal
22 lobbyists make over $100,000 a year in direct lobbying contracts alone
$525,802 is the largest amount paid in various contracts to a single lobbyist
$11,385,031 is the total paid to lobbyists in 2011 for lobbying contracts
$12,113,965 is the total of lobbyist payments, including contracts and
expenses
$71,258 per legislator is the total lobbying cost per legislator, for 124
Representatives and 46 Senators (does not include campaign $)
The 2000 Lottery Battle and
Interest Group Power
• Lesson: large groups do not always win
• Especially when the smaller groups have
more $
• and more unity
• Social conservative groups not as
dominant as they once were as culture of
state changes, but regional differences
remain
Region and the 2000 Lottery
Vote: Up vs Low Country
lottery -- Percentage v oting in f av or of the Constitutional Amendment to allow an educational lottery in the state.
Values
41.2
49.2
52.5
57.1
63.6
Missing Data
To
To
To
To
To
47.9
51.8
56.5
63.2
88.2
N
( 9)
( 9)
( 9)
( 9)
(10)
Factors that Affect Interest Group
Power
• State policy domain: changes from year to year, e.g.
payday lending in 2009; budget cuts & state retirement in
2012
• Inter-governmental spending and policy making: efforts
shift depending on where money is and who makes
policy, e.g. today? Rejection of federal $ for education
• Political Attitudes: “traditionalist” culture less likely to get
organized and protest
• Level of integration/fragmentation: higher means more
opportunity (access points) for interest groups and their
lobbyists
• Professionalism: interest groups match level in govt
• Socioeconomic development: increases diversity and
possibility of pluralism
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How to Determine the Power of
Interest Groups and Who is
Powerful
Reputational approach—business—tables
Decisions approach—varies with decision
Non-decisions approach—business
Groups resources approach—business
How well democratic pluralism
applies to South Carolina
• Growing diversity within business sector—
no longer “King Cotton”
• Growing educated middle class, especially
with in-migrant retirees (“non-southerners”
about 12% of population in 2011)
• Still primarily conservative Protestant
• Unions still weak
• Liberal groups still weak (e.g. civil rights,
environment)
Conclusions
1. Interest groups still dominant force in SC
2. More important than political parties
3. Conditions for pluralism increasing