This slide tutorial is a mobile-compatible version of lesson available at:

http://my-ecoach.com/project.php?id=17421

Introduction

In this module you will learn how to use authoritative open-access resources to find information about lobbying and campaign finance. By the end of the module, you will be able to address the following essential questions: How does lobbying impact the development of public policy in the United

States?  Should the current model be changed?

Scenario: You are an analyst for the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Your

team has been asked by the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform to investigate the effects of lobbying on the development of public policy in the United States and make recommendations about potential changes to the current model.

Contents & Tasks: Lobbying Basics Campaign Finance Literature Review Analysis

OpenSecrets.org

1. Select "Issues & Lobbying" tab

2. Select "Lobbying" and then "Issues" in left navigation bar

3. Select an Issue from the list4. Scroll down to see a list of

Clients who have lobbied on that issue; select a Client

5. Find the Client’s "Total Lobbying Expenditures" and note that figure

6. Select the "Bills" tab to find the bills lobbied on that Client’s behalf

OpenSecrets is a project of the Center for Responsive Politics. Most of the data in OpenSecrets has been obtained from an official government source such as the Federal Election Commission or the Senate Office of Public Records.

We will be using OpenSecrets to find information about lobbying, so go ahead and open up their site in a new tab or window.

OpenSecrets Exercise

Choose an issue that interests you (ex: environment, education, etc.) then answer the following questions:

Who are some of the top clients that lobby bills on that issue?

Choose one of the clients; how much were their lobbying expenditures last year?

Review some of the recent bills on which the client has lobbied; is there a trend?

Record your findings as a voicethread (http://voicethread.com/) 

Invite your team members to view and comment on your voicethread report

Campaign Finance

What does lobbying have to do with campaign financing? Most campaign donations are not contributed directly by lobbyists; the majority of donations are contributed by individual "large" donors and Political Action Committees (PACs). Although this money is not coming from lobbyists, lobbyists do represent the interests of their clients, who are generally composed of large individual donors and PACs.

The following video provides a background on current campaign finance law in the United States and a brief history on how it was developed.

MapLight.org

1. Select the "Interest Groups" tab2. Select an Industry from the list3. Select the "Bills Supported &

Opposed" tab4. Select a Bill from the list5. Review the "Contributions by

Vote" data6. Select the "$ Near Votes" tab;

this displays a breakdown of contributions made to individual legislators within 30 days of voting on the bill

7. Select the "Timeline by Contribution" tab to see how contribution amounts vary during the months leading up to the vote on the bill

We know that lobbyist’s clients donate largely to political campaigns. But, do campaign donations influence the decisions of policymakers? 

  MapLight.org is a non-profit, non-

partisan research organization that compiles data on campaign financing from sources such as OpenSecrets and couples that data with voting records from sources such as GovTrack.us and independent research.

We will be using MapLight.org to investigate campaign finance, so go ahead and open up their site in a new window or tab.

MapLight Exercise

Review the "Contributions by Vote" data for several bills across industries then answer the following questions:

Do contributions seem to be predictive of how a legislator will vote?

Do contribution levels change during the period of time leading to a vote?

Record your findings as a voicethread (http://voicethread.com/) 

Invite your team members to view and comment on your voicethread report

Literature Review

Now that you have compiled some data by consulting primary sources, you will need to consult secondary sources (ie. books, journal articles, etc.) to explore the findings and analysis of other scholars and researchers.

Find Books:

To find books about lobbying, search the UCSC library’s online catalog Cruzcat: http://cruzcat.ucsc.edu/ Keywords: lobbying,

power, influence, politics Subject: Lobbying--United

States

Find Journal Articles:

To find journal articles about lobbying, try searching in the following article databases: Academic Search Complete Political Science: Sage Full-Text Col

lection Lexis Nexis Congressional

Tips for searching: Before accessing any database,

log in to Off-Campus Access Use the term "lobb*" to capture

lobbyist, lobbies, lobbying, etc. Other keywords: policy, reform,

power, influence

Share Your Resources

Once you have found several quality resources, share them with you team using diigo.

1. One team member will need to create a diigo group for your team

2. Each team member will add their list of resources to the group's knowledge repository (be sure to include a full citation and URL for each resource)

3. Read at least 4 of the resources from the knowledge repository

Write Your Analysis

Now that you’ve had time to look over the data and think about lobbying, you and your team should assemble your ideas and then write a letter to your representative expressing your views. Remember to address the questions: How does lobbying impact the development of public

policy in the United States? Should the current model be changed?

These sites might be helpful for group collaboration: http://typewith.me/ http://docs.google.com/ http://pbworks.com/

Post Your Analysis

The site Congress.org allows users to discuss all things legislative. Users can also share letters that they have written to their representatives so that other users can send the letter to their respective representatives.

  Upload your analysis in the

form of a letter at Congress.org (and while you’re there, send it to your representative if you like).

Congress.org "Soapbox" tutorial: 1. Register for a free

account at Congress.org2. Select "Get on Your

Soapbox"3. Select "Create a Soapbox

Message Here"4. Fill out the webform and

insert your letter into the Soapbox content box

Additional Resources

Guides for researching legislative histories: Federal Legislative Histories using UCSC Library resour

ces California Legislative Histories using UCSC Library

resources

Find articles related to politics, policy, etc.: UCSC Library Politics Subject Guide

Find government information resources: UCSC Government Publications & Law