What Is Direct Lobbying?

Lobbying can sometimes influence certain bills in Congress.

Lobbying is action people take to influence those in the government to pass certain bills. While there are specific rules on lobbying, a lobbyist can have a direct influence on whether a bill passes or not. The two types of lobbying--grassroots and direct--can influence legislators.

Direct Influence

This type of lobbying involves a person telling his views to someone directly involved with developing legislation. A government employee, staff member or legislator are those with whom you should communicate your views.

Characteristics of a Lobbyist

Direct lobbyists are more direct than indirect or grassroots lobbyists. Those who are involved with direct lobbying must have certain personality characteristics. The person should be persuasive, well-informed and self-confident.

Specific Legislature Proposal

You must have a "specific legislature proposal" for it to be considered direct lobbying. Even if a bill isn't in the legislation process, you could still be lobbying if what you're lobbying for needs legislation. So, if you want to fund an agency, this is considered a cause to lobby. This involves providing government officials with information about a specific bill. The lobbyist will use a myriad of resources and materials such as charts and graphs to influence the legislator to vote in the lobbyist's favor.

Interacting

In some instances the lobbyist will sit with the legislator to help draft up the specific bill for which he's campaigning. A direct lobbyist might also host parties to speak with legislators in a more informal setting.

Money

People who spend and contribute money and time to the campaign to lobby for a specific bill are also considered direct lobbyists. While giving money directly to the legislator to influence the signing of a specific bill isn't allowed, the lobbyist and other members can raise money for re-election campaigns of certain legislators.

The Public

You might also try direct lobbying by influencing the public with ballot initiatives. By trying to influence the public, more people will be informed about the bill and more attention will be drawn to it.

References

• The Princeton Review: Lobbyist
• GLSEN: What Is Lobbying?