Specifically looking at
the New Hampshire State House, lobbyists have a goal and that goal is to
persuade Senators and Representatives to vote for or against a specific issue.
With that being said, how exactly do they tend to do such work, is it just
giving facts for or against an issue or is it much more? In the NH State House
there are over 900 registered lobbyists (New Hampshire Secretary of State Lobbyists) . Though much of what
one sees is a lobbyist in a committee hearing pointing out facts for or against
a specific issue, this may be all one does in some situations, but from personal
experience there is a lot more to it. The first thing any lobbyist must do is
create a name for themselves, this will give their word some depth to the
people they are speaking to. To create a name is not done in a group, they must
create an influence on each Representative or Senator they meet. Before meeting
the Representatives or Senators they do their research and this includes what
side of the isle they are on, stance on issues, family history, friends, past
work experience and much more. In reality this is the only way to do it. In my
personal experience as a State Representative lobbyists will come up to me and
start talking about the people in my personal life of which are influential and
how they work with them or are on good terms with them. The goal behind this is
to create a base to work off of. Using these people as starters is a way to
show they are trustworthy enough and have previous influence. With my personal
experience, little did this one know, I also did my research on the lobbyists
in my area and already knew more about him than he probably knew about me.
This is not a method all Lobbyists use by any means, but has
been done by many and it generally works. The reason why is very basic, you
will always take a person’s word of someone you know before a stranger’s. It is
just that simple, once you have a general idea of who they are, you are more
likely to take their word and facts to a much more serious degree than a person
you may have met that morning. No Lobbyist is the same though, while they all
will generally know your stance in general issues and what side of the isle you
are on, it is the Lobbyist themselves to see how in depth they go.
Bibliography
New Hampshire Secretary of State Lobbyists. 2017. http://sos.nh.gov/lobby.aspx. 7 March 2017.
3 comments:
As interesting and ambitious as it is for lobbyists to put so much effort into researching a voters' background just to gain a vote, it is extremely shameful. Using your likeness or your relation to another in order to gain a persons similarity in views is wrong. It is one thing to campaign, but it is another thing to go out of your way to target somebody so that they can think the way that you do.
I agree with Connor. While effective, this is manipulative and invasive. I think it is appropriate and expected to do political research and identify mutual professional connections, but involving friends or family (as you implied) is too far in most situations. Also, thank you for a great overview! I learned a lot.
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