Astroturf Lobbying, is a term coined by Lloyd Bentsen, long-time Senator from Texas, to describe the artificial grass-roots campaigns that are created by public relations (PR) firms. Astroturf lobbying relies on the covert nature of corporate sponsorship in achieving its effectiveness.
When U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas, discovered a sudden influx of purportedly grassroots letters from local voters was generated by insurance lobbyists, he said in 1985, “A fellow from Texas can tell the difference between grassroots and Astroturf.”
Astroturf lobbying became the phrase the U.S. media and political advocates began using to describe fake mail-in letter or call-in campaigns and the influence of outside money to manipulate voters.
Unlike genuine grassroots activism which tends to be money-poor but people-rich, Astroturf campaigns are typically people-poor but cash-rich. The lobbyists in charge of this type of activism usually come from non-governmental organizations and political public relations firms. Inside these Astroturf organizations are workers hired to rally up people to support a particular cause and instruct them on how to take political action. Many times grassroots organizations have felt interference by these organizations when their efforts are reorganized with an Astroturf–Lobbying approach. Although many don’t agree with this form of activism because it somewhat dismisses the general public’s involvement, Astroturf lobbying groups defend their position, saying that monitoring the collection of peoples voices would infringe on First Amendment rights.
Trends from the past decade in grassroots lobbying have been the increase in aggressive recruiting of volunteers and starting campaigns early on, way before the legislature must make a decision. Also, with increasing technology and modern communication techniques, lobbying groups have been able to create interactive web pages to email, recruit volunteers, assign them to tasks and keep the goal of the lobbying group on the right track. With the added devices of today such as Facebook and Twitter, Grassroots lobbyists have an even easier, cheaper, and faster way to reach the masses and develop a strong base for their issues to be heard.
The major concerns of the general public do not reflect those of the lobbying groups. This is why the lobbying groups feel that they must use the aforementioned tactics to sway the public a certain way on an issue that they may never knew existed. To the general public, crime is the number one problem in the nation, followed by the state of the economy and international affairs. However, the main concern for lobbying groups in the past has been on health concerns. A study done in 2009 shows that over 20 percent of lobbying groups put health concerns such as disease prevention, Medicare, or prescription drugs as a top priority. This interest in health is followed closely by environmental concerns as well.
Lobbying and the stimulation of grassroots lobbying, is protected by the First Amendment rights of speech, association, and petition. Federal law does not mandate grassroots lobbying disclosure, yet, 36 states regulate grassroots lobbying. 22 states define lobbying as direct or indirect communication to public officials, and 14 additional states define lobbying as any attempt to influence public officials.
Broadband for America claims to represent diverse citizen interests but, when asked, many of the groups listed as “members” claimed to have no knowledge of ever being involved with the campaign, according to a recent report. The bulk of funding for Broadband for America comes from the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, a trade group for Internet service providers, and the group has retained the DCI Group, a “grassroots for hire” firm known for orchestrating similar corporate front groups on issues ranging from climate change to computer technology.
A vibrant conversation is happening today about the fears many have about the role of money in politics, laundering money into political power, with little or no disclosure. But what may be more consequential is a sort of “opinion laundering,” in which corporations and industry groups convert their ideas into those expressed by everyday citizens.
Astroturfing could be called “weapons of the weak,” when in fact even Fortune 500 behemoths frequently find that they need to mobilize the grassroots when facing threatening policy changes. Firms like the DCI Group now represent a fully formed industry, ready to mobilize ordinary Americans on behalf of corporate America, on-demand.
To be sure, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a corporation or any other group finding its backers and encouraging them to speak out on issues that will affect them. This is a basic cornerstone of American politics, and it’s vital for businesses to be able to communicate honestly with policymakers.
The issue is when this is done in a fashion that involves fraud, deception, or substantial material incentives for participants.
For example, in April it came out that Intuit, the company behind TurboTax software, engaged in an Astroturfing campaign. Alarmed that an IRS proposal to simplify tax filing would threaten the market for its software, the company and its consultants enlisted members of minority groups and local community organizations to write letters and op-eds opposing the proposal. A report by ProPublica made clear that many of these leaders had no idea that industry groups were behind the requests.
In some cases, apparent supporters can’t even be confirmed to be real people. In an effort to secure a New Jersey regulatory agreement to let itself out of commitments to expand broadband, Verizon facilitated a mass letter-writing campaign earlier this year. When investigative journalists tracked down the ostensible authors, they found that many e-mails bounced back as invalid. Of the writers they did find, some denied sending a letter, and others were either Verizon retirees or from groups with Verizon funding. None seemed to understand the policy for which they were lobbying, and some even opposed it.
Other recent examples of Astroturfing are found among for-profit colleges (Students for Academic Choices), big-box retailers (Working Families for Wal-Mart), food and beverage industries (New Yorkers for Beverage Choices), and fracking companies (United Shale Advocates). Astroturf groups tend to follow a shared template: an independent-sounding name, a slick website proclaiming the broad benefits of the firm or industry’s interests, a member list that looks surprisingly broad and diverse (those with a direct economic interest appear to be only a fraction), and ready-made templates for how you, too, can become a citizen lobbyist.
Evidence suggests that when their backing isn’t revealed, people can be unwittingly swayed by their appeals. What’s more, these practices are especially troubling for American democracy because they offer plausible deniability to policymakers who want to support a special interest’s policy preferences while appearing to be accountable only to constituents.
The good news is that many of us have become wiser about detecting Astroturfing, and the campaigns often backfire. We are far now more skeptical about groups with generic-sounding names like Coalition for Consumer and Online Protection (pro-online gambling industry) or Nebraskans for Jobs and Energy (pro-Keystone XL pipeline). We are even getting help from data scientists who search for patterns in received letters to identify those that derive from a lobbyist’s script.
But lobbying using technology tools is not all that bad.
Independentvoting.org is running a write your Congressional members to support the Open Our Democracy Act.
U.S. Congressman John Delaney (MD-6) recently reintroduced the Open Our Democracy Act. If passed, the bill would enact Top Two nonpartisan primaries for all congressional elections in the United States. The bill would also make Election Day a national holiday and would require the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the feasibility and desirability of enacting national standards and criteria for congressional redistricting.
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NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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