Criticism

Washington lobbyists are making a strange request: more regulation of lobbying.

The process of influencing public and government policy at all levels: federal, state, and local.

Recently three separate incidents have been criticized in the media and online outlets for their connections to the lobbying business. Each requires clarification, but can be divided into good, bad and ugly lobbying criticism.

Opponents of the Obama administration's effort to normalize relations with Cuba and some ethics watchdogs are questioning the lack of transparency behind a million-dollar advocacy campaign that pushed for the historic thaw. Two articles - one that was published in the September/October issue of Mother Jones, and another in the January edition of The Nation - detail the back-channel negotiations and behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign leading up to President Obama's December rapprochement to change five decades of U.S. policy and renew ties with the island nation.

Many people are having lots of questions about interest groups. Actually, interest groups are usually called as lobby groups, advocacy groups, pressure groups, special interest groups, and campaign groups.

Lobbying has been a major factor in the fate of the health care overhaul, but what President Obama did not mention in his State of the Union address was that many lobbyists actually worked to support his health care overhaul, not oppose it.

Negative Consequences of Lobbying. Lobbying is an inherent part of modern politics; it promotes the desires of special interest groups. Lobbyist groups come in many different forms, and can be found supporting various kinds of issues.

Lobbying may have exacerbated the financial services bubble - and the consequences of its implosion.

Virtually nothing in society or politics happens in a vacuum - policies which regulate or tax one group have a ripple effect which impacts the lives of many other members of society. Since lobbying has such a pronounced effect on policy aimed towards the welfare of those with lobbyists, it stands to reason that there will also be a significant impact on the rest of society.