Download Interest Groups

INTEREST GROUPS
PLURALISM
• The concept that the American political process is
dominated by the struggle of multiple interest
groups each trying to advance its own political
goals
INTEREST GROUP
• A group of people who come together sharing a
common interest and goal usually focused on one
specific topic
• Example—Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
• Definition
SOME OF THE THINGS INTEREST
GROUPS DO
1. Testifying at hearings
2. Contacting governmental officials directly to present point of view
3. Engaging in informal contacts with officials – conventions, lunch
4. Presenting research or technical information
5. Sending letters to members of the group to inform them about
activities
6. Entering into coalitions with other groups
7. Attempting to shape the implementation of policies
8. Talking with people from the media
9. Consulting with government officials to plan legislative strategy
10. Helping to draft legislation
11. Inspiring letter-writing or telegram campaigns
12. Shaping the government’s agenda by raising new and ignored
issues
13. Mounting grassroots lobbying efforts
14. Having influential constituents contact their member of Congress
15. Helping to draft regulations, rules, or guidelines
16. Serving on advisory commissions and boards
CHARACTERISTICS
• Several characteristics of an
interest group can enhance its
influence over Congress
• Financial resources
• Expertise
• Size
FINANCIAL RESOURCES
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Money enables interest groups to campaign
Make monetary contributions
Buy independent television time
Employee a large staff
EXPERTISE
• Members of Congress will pay attention to and
respect what members of the interest group has to
say
SIZE
• The larger the group the greater the ability to
deliver votes and other resources
• The larger the group the greater the potential for
fund raising and campaign contributions
BECAUSE OF THE PERCEPTION THAT INTEREST
GROUPS EXERT UNDUE INFLUENCE, CONGRESS HAS
REGULATED THE INFLUENCE OF THESE GROUPS.
Registration requirements for lobbyists
Limitations on campaign contributions
Disclosures of campaign contributions
Limitations on independent expenditures—an issue
advocacy ad cannot explicitly endorse a
candidate
• Restrictions on former members of Congress
becoming lobbyists—there is a two year cooling off
period
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EFFECT ON POLITICS
• Often times these groups present issues to the
government and raise awareness for certain
problems a group has with something
• American Medical Association (AMA) Medicare
Campaign Kicks-Off With New TV Ads
EFFECTS ON POLITICS
• All interest groups share a desire to affect
government policy to benefit their causes
• They attempt to achieve their goals by lobbying
• Many interest groups enter the politics when they
believe there is no other way to protect their
interests or because they want to secure
government funding
• Groups sometimes actively recruit candidates for
public office, with the hope that once elected
these individuals will support their cause
LOBBYING
• Any attempt by individuals or private interest groups
to influence the decisions of government
• Definition
• A lobbyist is someone who is paid to persuade
legislators to make laws or policies that benefit the
lobbyist's employer
• Not all causes have enough money to pay for a
lobbyist, this means that some have an advantage
to get their laws passed
LOBBYING
• Lobbying Data
GRASSROOTS LOBBYING
• An interest group encouraging and organizing its
members to contact their representatives in
Congress in support of the interest group’s policy
goals
AMICUS CURIAE BRIEFS
• A Latin term meaning "friend of the court"
• A brief presented by someone interested in
influencing the outcome of a lawsuit but who is not
a party to it
• They are used by interest groups to lobby courts
POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (PAC)
• Political groups that are not formally related to a
particular political party, but are associated with other
groups like labor unions, corporations, etc
• PAC's try to influence elections and candidates by
giving money to them so that they can later have laws
passed that would favor their group
• PACs rose to prominence after the Federal Election
Campaign Act (1971) which, limited the amount of
money any corporation, union, or private individual
could give to a candidate
• PACs allow organizations to contribute money to federal
elections, control the disbursement of funds, solicit
contributions from an organization's shareholders and
employees, and accept contributions from any lawful
source
PACS
• Groups that collect contributions from their
members or politically like-minded citizens,
represent a single interest group, and use their funds
to influence the legislative and executive branches
of government
• Top PACs
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION
• The NRA is an example of a PAC because this
organization contains four million members with the
goal of protecting the Second Amendment
• They have endorsed political candidates such as
Ronald Reagan, and run attacks during election
time on candidates that support gun control
PURPOSE OF PACS
• PACs are "organized for the purpose of raising and
spending money to elect and defeat candidates.
Most PACs represent business, labor or ideological
interests"
• Ex-Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was
formed to "raise money for the re-election of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt"
BUNDLING
• The practice of combining contribution funds of the
maximum legal amount from numerous individuals
and submitting them collectively
• Since individuals may only give a limited sum of
money to a campaign, a group intent on funding
for a candidate may group together individual
contributions forming a large "bundle" of money
that comes from a single organization
• Allows groups to have large impact and sway in
political arenas- a way to undermine contribution
limits and give more influence to wealthy parties
than to individuals
INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURE
• “An expenditure for a communication "expressly
advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified
candidate that is not made in cooperation,
consultation, or concert with, or at the request or
suggestion of, a candidate, a candidate’s authorized
committee, or their agents, or a political party or its
agents." 11 CFR 100.16(a)
• Persons permitted to make contributions in connection
with federal elections (such as individuals and political
committees) may make independent expenditures
• Persons prohibited from making contributions or
expenditures in connection with federal elections (such
as corporations, labor organizations and individuals or
businesses with federal government contracts) are
similarly prohibited from making independent
expenditures
• However, there is one exception to this rule
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
• When an individual, group, or party campaigns for
or against a candidate (assuming that it is legal-unaffiliated with the candidate) it is considered an
independent expenditure
• Independent expenditures give ordinary people the
power to campaign for their favorite candidate
• Can be used to create an advertisement or any
other communication tool that either supports or
disses a specific candidate without permission of
the candidate or his/her advisers/political party
• Hunter - Obama TV Ad
• AFSCME Independent Expenditure Ad - Greed
SUPER PACS
• A new kind of political action committee created in
July 2010 following the outcome of a federal court
case known as SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election
Commission
SUPER PACS
• SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission
• Protecting Americans’ Rights to Organize and
Speak About Politics
SUPER PACS
• Who are they?
• Harold Ford Jr not for Tennessee
SUPER PACS
• NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
• Taking advantage of relaxed campaign finance
laws, a cadre of deep-pocketed donors are
spending gobs of money to bankroll super PACs, a
phenomenon that is reshaping the modern election
cycle
• It is a select group. The top 100 individual super PAC
donors make up just 3.7% of those who have
contributed to the new money vehicles, but
account for more than 80% of the total money
raised, according to data from the Center for
Responsive Politics
527 GROUPS
• A tax-exempt organization created for the purpose
of influencing the election or appointment of public
officials
• The term 527 group is used to refer to political
organizations that are not regulated by the Federal
Election Commission and are not subject to the
same contribution limits as political action
committees
527 GROUPS
• A tax exempt organization in the United States
dedicated to supporting or opposing candidates
for political office or advocating or opposing
certain issues
• For example, a 527 organization may be formed to
campaign for or against banking regulations
• Unless a 527 promotes or denigrates a specific
candidate, there are no limits on its contributions or
spending
• However, 527s must publish the names of their
contributors as well as the donations they make
527 GROUPS
• The most common types of 527s are those affiliated
with interest groups, unions or associations of
elected officials, such as the Republican Governors
Association
• Many of them have associated federal and sate
political committees, and some are affiliated with
other non-profit organizations
• The Sierra Club, which has at least four separate
political and non-profit wings, is one example
• 527 status provides a good deal of flexibility for
political committees
527 GROUPS
• On the federal level, 527s cannot coordinate with or
contribute to a federal candidate in any way
• They also may not expressly advocate for the
election or defeat of a specific federal candidate,
although 527s are quite free to portray federal
candidates in such a way that there is little doubt as
to the message
• Advocacy Group Spending
• Swift Vets ad against Kerry
SOFT MONEY
• In the simplest terms, "Soft money" is money
donated to political parties in a way that leaves the
contribution unregulated
• “Hard money" is from political donations that are
regulated by law through the Federal Election
Commission
• The difference boils down to a few crucial words
and one administrative ruling
SOFT MONEY
• In 1978, the Federal Election Commission issued an
administrative ruling that the funding rules established by
law only applied to political campaigns, and not to
"party building" activities
• The commission didn't go into great detail about what
constituted a party building activity, basically defining it
as something that didn't explicitly tell people to vote for
a specific candidate
• The ruling was issued, and political parties uniformly
ignored it until 1988
• In the 1988 presidential campaigns, people working for
both major parties discovered the "loophole" created by
the 1978 ruling, and the race for soft money was on
SOFT MONEY
• Because soft money is not regulated by election
laws, companies, unions and individuals may give
donations in any amount to a political party for the
purpose of "party building"
• Party building may include ads that educate voters
about issues, as long as the ads don't take the
crucial step of telling voters which candidates to
vote for
SOFT MONEY V. HARD MONEY
• Candidate X runs an ad that says, "I am a good person.
Candidate Y is a bad person. Vote for me on election
day." Because of the "Vote for me..." portion, this is a
political ad, which must be paid for with "hard money“
• Candidate Y runs an ad that says, "Candidate X has a
record that includes awful things. If these awful things
continue, people will come to your house, steal your
money and shoot your dog. Be sure to vote on election
day." Because the ad "educates" people on an issue
and doesn't tell them to vote for a particular candidate,
it's party building, and can be paid for by soft money.
ISSUE ADS
• Advertisements intended to change a person's behavior
or opinion about an issue
• Individuals and groups spend hundreds of millions of
dollars on advertisements
• Although issue ads are not allowed to use words like
"vote for" and "vote against", the ads usually find a way
to communicate advocacy of election or defeat
• In 2003 and 2004, large corporations greatly outspent
citizen-based advocacy groups
• The businesses gained a disproportionate voice in public
debate even though claims in their ads were often false
and misleading
ISSUE ADS
• Political advertising that does not specifically call for
the election or defeat of a named candidate but
focuses on matters of public concern
• "Track Meet"--starring Heather Graham for
MoveOn.org
• Political Science Issue Ad
• Issue advertising has become an issue in recent
years since it affords parties, interest groups, and
wealthy individuals a way to skirt campaign finance
laws in support of their preferred candidates and
policies
• "Sniff Test" - Political Issue Ad
BIPARTISAN CAMPAIGN REFORM ACT
• Act that largely banned party soft money, restored
long-standing prohibition on corporations and labor
unions for using general treasury funds for electoral
purposes, and narrowed the definition of issue
advocacy
• Designed to end the use of nonfederal money (soft
money) for activity affecting federal elections
• Contribution Limits 2011-12
INTEREST GROUP V. POLITICAL PARTY
• A major difference between political parties and
interest groups is that political parties seek to gain
control of government, while interest groups seek to
influence public policy
MEDIA
DISCUSS WITH A PARTNER
• Freedom of the press is a major pillar of democracy,
is crucial to the success of a free society, and
should not be infringed in any way
• Freedom of the press is important, but should not be
allowed to overshadow other important rights and
freedoms
• Freedom of the press has become a danger in the
United States
• Freedom of the press has gone way too far and has
damaged our society in irreparable ways
HISTORICALLY
• Historically, free speech and free press, as a way to reveal
government abuse of power and check the behavior and
power of incumbents, first arose in late 17th century England
• In the American colonies it became an issue with the 1735 trial
of John Peter Zenger. Zenger had been arrested and charged
with seditious libel of Governor Cosby of New York, but was
acquitted on the grounds that his criticism was true
• James Madison, author of the First Amendment, wrote that
one of the principle purposes of freedom of the press is to
permit intensive scrutiny of the behavior of public officials
• Thomas Jefferson believed the value of the freedom of the
press was in its checking power
• Justice Hugo Black wrote, in New York Times v. United States
(1973), The Government’s power to censor the press was
abolished so that the press would remain forever free to
censure the Government”
MEDIA
• The main means of mass communication (esp.
television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet)
regarded collectively
• Press and media are the same
THE MASS MEDIA
• A key linkage institution between the people and
policy makers. (along with interest groups and
political parties)
How?
• Convey the views of the people to government
• Convey information about the government to the people
DISCUSS WITH A PARTNER
• How much power does the media have in
contemporary American politics?
• What is the relationship between the media and
public political debate?
• What is the relationship between media and
politicians?
HOW MUCH MEDIA
• The average young American now spends
practically every waking minute — except for the
time in school — using a smart phone, computer,
television or other electronic device, according to a
new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation
HOW MUCH MEDIA?
• Those ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a
day with such devices, compared with less than six and a half
hours five years ago, when the study was last conducted
• And that does not count the hour and a half that youths
spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their cellphones
• The average American home has a TV on for 7 hours a day
• 98% of American homes have TVs (more than have flush
toilets)
• By the time they graduate high school the average child has
spent more time in front of the TV than in class
• The average American sees 3000 ads a day
• The average American spends one and a half years watching
TV commercials
HOW MUCH MEDIA
• We live in a media state
• In a year the average full time worker puts in
• 1,824 hours on the job
• 2,737 hours in bed
• 3,256 hours exposed to the media (9 hours a day)
• Advertising is a $100 billion a year industry in the US
• $1 million per hour is spent in the US on cosmetics
• Americans spend over $40 billion on cosmetics every year
• Americans spent over $9.4 billion on cosmetic surgery last
year
• 80% of 4th grade girls are on diets
• 92% of all kids play video games. Over half play alone.
• http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia012010nr.cfm
• Where do we get our news?
MEDIA CONGLOMERATION
• What does Time Warner own?
• What does Disney own?
• What does Vivendi own?
THE IMPACT OF THE MEDIA ON
POLITICS
• Kennedy v. Nixon--First Televised Presidential Debate
1960
• A Photographic History of Presidential Campaign
Gaffes
• 10 Most Awkward Political Gaffes
• Rich Media, Poor Democracy
WHAT IS MOST FREQUENTLY
REPORTED?
• Results from public opinion polls that indicate which
candidates are most likely to win is most frequently
reported during a presidential election
IN A CONGRESSIONAL RACE…
• The news media are LEAST likely to focus on indepth reporting on the issues on which the
candidates disagree
MEDIA COVERAGE OF ELECTIONS
• Network news coverage is usually dominated by
reporters who offer relatively short sound bites from
the candidates
POSITIVE EFFECTS FROM THE MASS
MEDIA ON THE POLITICAL PROCESS
• Educating citizens so they can make
informed decisions. Citizens have access to
important information about candidates for
public office, elected officials, and public
policy.
• Through investigative reporting, the media
performs a watchdog role for the political
process. In this role the media uncovers
governmental fraud, waste, and abuse and
helps voters hold public officials
accountable for their actions
POSITIVE EFFECTS FROM THE MASS
MEDIA ON THE POLITICAL PROCESS
• Publicize issues that need
attention
• Connect people with each
other in civil society
NEGATIVE EFFECTS FROM THE MASS
MEDIA ON THE POLITICAL PROCESS
• The media tend to provide superficial coverage of
complex public policy issues
• Because mass media outlets tend to be owned by
profit seeking corporations, the choice of what
news they cover might be influenced by how well it
will sell rather than how important it is to the public
• The media (especially television) are biased
towards stories that generate good pictures
• In political campaigns the media tends to focus
more on the horse race than the issues positions of
the candidates
THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION (FCC)
• Regulates the use of airwaves in three ways:
1.
2.
3.
Prevent near monopoly control of market
Reviews performance of stations
Issues fair treatment rules for politicians
THE “WATCHDOG” FUNCTION OF THE
MEDIA
1.
Gatekeeper - influence what subjects become
national political issues, and for how long.
2.
Scorekeeper - the national media help make
political reputations, note who is being
“mentioned” as presidential candidates and
decide who the winners and losers are in
Washington. This often leads to the coverage of
presidential elections as if they were horse races
(what happens during the primaries).
3.
Watchdog - Following closely the front-runner
candidates, searching for any past or current
history that will make news. Media maintains
close eye on all important happenings of major
candidates.
THE “WATCHDOG” FUNCTION OF THE
MEDIA
5. Agenda setter - TV news influence the standards
by which government, presidents, policies and
candidates are judged.
6. Effect on Political Preferences? Research is lacking
as to the true influence that media plays on public
opinion. While TV may influence the political
agenda to a certain degree, people are very
unlikely to take cues from the media on issues that
affect them personally. Media usually does more
to reinforce beliefs than to change opinion.
DEMOCRACY AND THE MEDIA
• “Information is the fuel of
democracy”
• But news provides more
entertainment than information; it is
superficial
• News is a business, giving people
what they want
OTHER INFO ON THE WEB
• Mass Media and the Public Agenda