Understand Lobbying in 12 Minutes (Part I) - YouTube

lobbying is something everyone has an opinion about but not everybody knows

what lobbyists can and can't do

we're gonna talk briefly about what lobbyists are allowed to give to the people

they're trying to influence

which included what travel they can pay for we use the federal rules as an

example because each state has their own variations

at the federal level there were almost 13,000 registered lobbyists spending over

3.3 billion dollars in 2011

now before we go any further let's be clear on what lobbying is

here we're talking about spending money to convince a politician or a senior

federal official about a specific law or regulation

either one on one or as a group

just talking about things you would like to see happen to issues that concern you

isn't considered lobbying

spending money to build a grassroots campaign for or against the law or

regulation isn't considered lobbying either

this means that while federal funds given to organizations can't be used

to support lobbying efforts

they could be used to support grassroots outreach though federal agencies are not

allowed to spend any money on grassroots campaigns

lobbyists can still donate money in politics like anyone else

they can also form political action committees to take donations and give

them to candidates

lobbyists can also contribute money to ballot initiatives

though in all cases they have to disclose anything

they gave over $200

for more information about how campaign finance works check out the video on

this very channel

better to give than to receive right

but there are some gifts lobbyists just can't give at all politicians can't accept

gifts from lobbyists to any organization they control

like a charity business or foundation they also can't accept contributions to

charities made for them

politicians are also not allowed to accept contributions to their legal

defense funds from lobbyists

though they can accept contributions to legal expense funds for legal expenses

associated with their official duties

one would assume that being politicians, trying to stay out of jail would count

as an official duty

politicians and their staffs may only accept gifts valued at $50

or less at any one time

and may only get gifts valuing less than $100

from any one source in a year

they also can't accept gifts they're just money or its equivalent

like stocks or gold

nor can they accept gifts to a concert or a sports game with a fake lower value

finally they can't accept any gift in a situation where someone might believe

the gift was influencing their performance of their jobs

because, you know, the lobbyists just want to be nice

because these are politicians we're talking about

there are exceptions to these rules they can accept a gift

if they pay market value for it

or if it's something given ordinarily as part of an outside job

or business of their own

or of their spouse or if it's a gift from a friend or relative

or from another politician or from the politician's staff

on holidays or special occasions

they can accept retirement benefits from a previous job

or honorary degrees and any food or lodging for the ceremony

though they do have to disclose it if it is valued

at more than $250

or informational materials or products from their home state that they show off

in their offices like Hershey's chocolate for Pennsylvania politicians

or any prize open to the public or any expenses for

attending training except food and lodging

they can accept gifts from foreign governments though anything valuable

will be displayed by Congress

and they can attend any public event for free

they can take free hospitality from anyone who's not a lobbyist

or small amounts of food and small items like T-shirts in greeting cards

the House and Senate ethics committees can also grant waivers allowing

politicians to accept a gift

because if there's one set of people you can trust to watch politicians

it's other politicians senior federal agency officials can use some

of these gift exceptions as well

but not all of them paid travel is not treated much differently than gifts

all official travel paid for by an outside group must be approved by the

ethics committee and posted to a public database

politicians are required to pay the going rate for the aircraft for use

even if it's someone's private aircraft members of the House of Representatives

are only allowed to fly commercial

usually lobbyists aren't allowed to pay for official travel unless they work for

charities or colleges

but they can pay for 1 to 2 day trips as long as there's an actual event

to attend and then only if the lobbyists are only a part of side meetings and not

the official event

other private entities can pay for official travel if it's

related to an official purpose

and to what the entity does and if the location was chosen because it the

purpose of the visit and not because it's near a bunch of golf courses

the travel must be less than 3 to 4 days domestic

or a week international

any expenses must be for travel or lodging and must be reasonable

entertainment is only allowed if it's for everyone who comes

including non politicians

and politicians may only bring one relative

now, if it's just regular private travel other people can pay for

politicians and their staffs

though the person paying is not allowed to do it because of their position and

the trip has to be

the same version of a trip to anyone else would get

a politician's friend can pay to send them some more for less than $250

anytime or more than that was a waiver from the ethics committee

these are friends much more generous than mine a local or state government

can pay for any kind of travel for Congresspeople that it wants to

and there are not that many restrictions on the kinds of official travel that

Congress can give itself

odd how that worked out

and there you have it