Hope for lobbyists in new year

2009 — A new year, a fresh start, a new Congress and a new administration. And with that change comes hope — hope for a nation experiencing unprecedented challenges and hope for the profession that represents its citizens.

Change is often seen as a divergence from the current track; for the lobbying community, we certainly hope so. As we look back at 2008, some in our community will deem it the Year of the Punching Bag.

In 2008, the lobbying community was strapped with more new rules and regulations than seemed humanly possible. Let’s begin with the implementation of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. The title is rather ironic, considering that the lobbying community was never asked to have a seat at the table to discuss the perceived problems. How is it possible to accurately regulate an industry and not include input from those being regulated?

Then there were the constantly morphing LD-203, new GAO audits, a new electronic filing system, the new administration’s rules and, finally — Santa left one final gift under the tree — the new Federal Election Commission regulation on bundling. Oh, and how can we forget the constant campaign rhetoric depicting lobbyists as the root of all evil? The presidential election took demonization of lobbyists to a new level.

Yet despite all of the negativity surrounding the industry, over 17,000 registered lobbying professionals continue to ethically represent their clients, associations, unions, companies and concerned citizens with dignity. And they continue to “just do their jobs” without much of a fuss — all while jumping through the new hoops placed before them. 99.99 percent of lobbyists are continually doing right by their clients and working to ensure that their voices are heard in Washington.

The American League of Lobbyists (ALL) continued to do its part for the community by increasing professional educational opportunities for the Lobbying Certificate Program (which, by the way, was established well before the Jack Abramoff scandal ever arose) and provided experts to discuss HLOGA, LD-203 and the GAO audits to ensure that lobbyists were fully aware of compliance requirements.

Other firms and groups took it upon themselves to educate their internal lobbyists in order to ensure that everyone was aware of what was new.

All in all, does this sound like an industry trying to circumvent the law? I think not. The lobbying community will do as it always has: comply with the rules and regulations put upon it. For those demanding even more transparency, I would ask them this simple question: What other industry in America has to file information basically six times a year that requires a private individual to disclose whom they met with, what the issues were that they met about, how much money they were paid by a client and how much money the individual personally gave to a candidate? The simple answer: None.

With the “change” that everyone is talking about comes the hope that, as a nation, we start focusing on the serious challenges that lie ahead for our country and its citizens. And those issues, quite frankly, have nothing to do with those ethical folks who call themselves lobbyists.

Dave Wenhold, CAE, is a founding partner of Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies, a Washington government-affairs and grassroots lobbying firm. He also serves as the first vice president of the American League of Lobbyists. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .