Corporate lobbying refers to activities by corporations aimed at influencing legislation through professional advocates. Billions are spent each year on lobbying, giving large corporations significant political influence compared to average citizens. While lobbying cannot be banned due to free speech, reforms aim to limit spending and increase transparency around lobbying efforts and their impacts on policymaking.

1. Corporate
Lobbying
by Daniel Zhang
http://emergent-culture.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lobbyists.jpg

2. The Story of S.O.P.A.
• The Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261, or SOPA)
would have expanded law enforcements’ ability to
fight internet piracy.
• Millions of dollars were spent by corporations
fighting for and against this controversial bill,
including staging an internet blackout.
Companies Shown: Reddit, EFF, Wired, Wikipedia,
Google, WordPress, Imgur, Twitter, News Corp, ESPN, Marvel,
Viacom, Universal Studios, MasterCard, Visa, L’Oreal,
NBCUniversal, MPIA, American Online, Yahoo, Facebook, Zynga,
eBay, Reporters Without Borders, Mozilla, 4chan, Mojang, FSF

3. What is Lobbying?
❖ To conduct activities aimed at influencing public officials on
legislation.
❖ A way special interests groups can try to get their cause out
by hiring professional advocates to argue for specific
legislation.
❖ Extremely costly- advocates are well paid, which means only
the rich (e.g. corporations) can afford it.

4. How much do corporations
spend on lobbying?
Company Total (1998-2012) Year Total Year Total
1998 $1.44 Billion 2005 $2.42 Billion
GE $268,015,860
1999 $1.44 Billion 2006 $2.62 Billion
Verizon $168,984,841 2000 $1.56 Billion 2007 $2.85 Billion
Exxon Mobil $173,592,742 2001 $1.64 Billion 2008 $3.30 Billion
2002 $1.82 Billion 2009 $3.50 Billion
Boeing $159,634,310
2003 $2.04 Billion 2010 $3.54 Billion
US Chamber 2004 $2.18 Billion 2011 $3.32 Billion
$857,015,680
of Commerce
Left: Some prominent companies
Google $29,580,000 and how much they spent on lobbying.
Above: Yearly totals of money spent.
Disney $54,519,324

5. Issues with Corporate
Lobbying
✤ Often, groups with more money have the ability to exert more
influence.
✤ Interests groups would donate exorbitant sums to campaign
funds in hopes of receiving ‘favors’ from the possible
incumbent.
✤ As most people aren’t rich enough to afford lobbying, do
corporations (with more money and lobbying power) have
more political power than they should?

6. What to do-
Corporate lobbying can never be completely
eradicated- protected by 1st amendment.
Steps can be taken to control it, though.
Knowledge is power. Spread the word.
Petition for legislation that limits corporate
spending on lobbyists. Visit http://petition.org
for petitions that can change corporate
bureaucracy.

7. QUOTES
“Real lobbying reform must end the practice of corporate lobbyists
writing our laws.” -Marty Meehan
“Its a sorry statement about how broken Washington is that we
could not take advantage of this unique and sad moment in
history and enact serious lobbying reform. We owed it to the
people who sent us to Washington to root out corruption, and the
Senate turned its back on a golden opportunity today.” -Senator
John Kerry

8. finis

9. Bibliography
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"Bill Text - 112th Congress (2011-2012) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)." THOMAS (Library of Congress). Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/
query/z?c112:H.R.3261:>.
Center for Responsible Politics. "Lobbying Database | OpenSecrets." OpenSecrets.org: Money in Politics -- See Who's Giving & Who's Getting. Center for Responsible Politics, n.d. Web. 17 May
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Center for Responsible Politics. "Lobbying Spending Database - Google Inc, 2012 | OpenSecrets." OpenSecrets.org: Money in Politics -- See Who's Giving & Who's Getting. Center for Responsible
Politics, n.d. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000022008&year=2012>.
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"Electronic Frontier Foundation | Defending your rights in the digital world." Electronic Frontier Foundation. Electronic Frontier Foundation, n.d. Web. 17 May 2012. <https://eff.org>.
"Its a sorry statement about how broken Washington is that we could not take advantage of this unique." Quotes and Sayings - Search Quotes. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2012. <http://
www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Its_a_sorry_statement_about_how_broken_Washington_is_that_we_could_not_take_advantage_of_this_unique/24299/>.
"Lobbying Quotes - BrainyQuote." Famous Quotes at BrainyQuote. Bookrags Media Network, n.d. Web. 18 May 2012. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/lobbying.html>.
Marzec, Evangeline. "What Is Corporate Lobbying? | Small Business - Chron.com." Small Business - Chron.com. Hearst Communications, Incorporated, n.d. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://
smallbusiness.chron.com/corporate-lobbying-11729.html>.
Sottek, T.C.. "Money, power, and Congress: how lobbyists will determine the fate of SOPA | The Verge." The Verge. Vox Media, Incorporated, 18 Jan. 2012. Web. 17 May 2012. <http://
www.theverge.com/2012/1/18/2716516/money-power-and-congress-how-lobbyists-will-determine-the-fate-of-sopa>.
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