Stealth Lobbying

By Michael Pertschuk, deleted. Posted April 26, 2000.

Here's a modern fable of legislation, though it is not exactly a fabulous story: State Senator Jill Probity, at the urging of the cancer, lung, and heart voluntary associations, introduces a bill to ban all smoking in the state's restaurants. After an initial health committee hearing, at which the bill's proponents present good evidence that environmental tobacco smoke is a significant health hazard, that restaurant smoking bans are working well and have caused no economic hardship in other jurisdictions, and that public opinion polls show majority support for the measure, health committee member Senator Jack Straddle, an honest fellow who would not accept tobacco company campaign contributions, is inclined to support the bill. Then the dark clouds of citizen revolt descend on theCapitol. Straddle's office is besieged with angry calls, hand-written letters, and visits -- not only from smokers, but from citizen activist libertarians decrying the loss ofsmokers' freedom of choice; from outraged small businessmen wondering where the regulatory octopus would ever stop; fromconcerned citizens arguing that conflicts between smokersand non-smokers should be resolved through "commoncourtesy," not law; from leaders of women's, ethnic andminority caucuses, charging that the regulation isdiscriminatory since a larger proportion of theirconstituents are smokers. At the next hearing, a militant "smokers' rights"organization, the state restaurant association, independentscientific experts, law professors, economists, lawenforcement experts, and others appear to charge that thescience supporting the risks of secondhand smoke is dubious;that laws in other jurisdictions caused economic hardship,diverted law enforcement officials from real crime, and werethreats to the constitutional right of free assembly. A new state citizens' coalition appears, STRANGLE! (Stop Totalitarian Regulation Against Necessary, Good, and Legal Enterprises) furiously assailing the bill as another coffin nail in the free enterprise system. Curiously, the cigarette manufacturers themselves are not heard from -- publicly. Other voices whom Senator Straddle would expect to support the bill are silent: school boards and administrators, community organizations, the creative community of concerned artists, musicians, theater groups. One of Sen. Straddle's closest friends and political allies warns him about the political backlash that would strike him if he voted for the bill. Sen. Straddle is deeply troubled. His initial impressions misled him. There is deep and fierce citizen opposition to this bill. He is inclined now to vote against it.But there were a few things he did not know:1) The "grassroots" voices he was hearing were bought andamplified. The tobacco companies had hired a firm whichspecialized in churning up "grassroots" activism, at $300 percall or letter, to simulate the appearance of a spontaneousrevolt against the bill from citizens who would otherwise have been indifferent or mildly opposed.2) The friend who offered Sen. Straddle such cautionary advice was a tobacco company "grasstop" on retainer just to lobby his friend.3) The smokers' rights group was fully funded and staffed bytobacco companies. There were no smokers who cared so deeplyabout the issue that they were willing to volunteer their time. Many members of the restaurant association actually favored the ban, but tobacco companies had offered both money to support the association and a promise of lobbying help on a restaurant tax issue that the owners really did care about. The general business trade association was activated by a not-too-subtle threat from its dues-paying tobacco industry members that they would withdraw from membership if the association didn't get active and aggressive in opposing the ban.4) Cigarette companies were the leading financial supporters of the women's, ethnic, and minority coalitions.5) The school boards were silent because one of the tobaccocompanies has just launched a $3,000,000 project to supportliteracy in the state capital. Community groups and arts groups were silent, hoping that the tobacco companies would continue their sponsorship of community festivals and arts.6) The scientists, economists, law professors, and other experts were supported by research grants and consulting contracts from the tobacco companies, their lawyers, and affiliated foundations.7) Cigarette company subsidiaries were charter members and big contributors to STRANGLE!, which not only testified but developed and sponsored a statewide, paid advertising campaign attacking the smoking ban bill, and firing up libertarian sentiment among smokers and others.So the opposition to the bill was truly smaller than a breadbox. It was neither broad, nor deep, nor passionate. It wascertainly not a spontaneous outpouring of citizen rage, butSenator Jack Straddle never learned that. He, and his constituents, were victims of what we have come to call stealth lobbying - or "astroturf" lobbying, or just plain phony grass roots lobbying.  Wait a minute. Isn't all lobbying inherently stealthy -- sneaky, underhanded, carried out in dark corners, a blight on democracy?  No. True grassroots lobbying -- informed, motivated, activated citizens mobilized in full-throated pursuit of deeply desired public policies can be -- can be -- the glory of participatory democracy!  True grassroots lobbying starts -- as the term says -- from the roots, not from the tops. Alexis de Tocqueville, the early 19th century French observer of the new United States, got it right: Americans, he observed, who individually come to a conclusion that things must change, tend to join together -- to associate -- in common cause to press for change. By so associating they gain cooperation, focus and organizational impact, and they invigorate democracy. Ironically, it's because we still believe in the potential for such true grassroots lobbying that we are disgusted and aroused by the emergence of its Doppelganger -- its ghostly, counterfeit twin: phony, synthetic, spurious "grassroots" lobbying. It's the highjacking of democracy. It's money in citizen voices out. It's the misappropriation of the outward manifestations of grassroots lobbying by commercial lobbying technicians. It's stealth lobbying. With new techniques and technology, stealth lobbying can buy votes indirectly in seven deadly ways. Stealth lobbying money: * buys citizen voices, the "grassroots." * buys community leaders, the "grasstops." * buys legitimacy, by creating wholesome-sounding "fronts." * buys friends, by spreading its largess widely. * buys silence, when it can't buy friends outright. * buys science and authority from willing "experts." * buys minds, through paid advertising and public relations propaganda.A Guide -- Not a Lament The good news is that a line -- a fighting line -- can be drawn, and is being drawn by citizens groups all the time. Given artful investigation and exposure, mercenary lobbying and deception still outrages ordinary citizens. That's why community-based groups, with far more spirit and creativity than money, each day add a new color to an already rich palette of techniques for exposing stealth lobbying tactics and turning the ensuing public outrage to advantage. The Advocacy Institute's By Hook Or By Crook is a guide to stealth lobbying for community-based activists and issue-advocacy groups who encounter well-funded opposition, but may not be aware of the full range of spurious "grassroots" trappings which money can and will buy. At the heart of this guide are lessons drawn from the good works of citizen groups laboring in diverse issue areas but sharing wealthy and stealthy opposition. These are counterstrategies that take smarts, but not much money. And the good news is that a well motivated citizen lobby, armed with a few smart pebbles, can really take down the corporate Goliath's.

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