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This book gets behind the scenes and provides the real stories of how politics works. Interviewees range from a former member of Congress who now lobbies for a living, to individuals whose personal tragedies led them to devote their lives to advocating for change. The author is a professor of political science who has award-winning books and hundreds of articles about interest groups and lobbying. Author will promote the book at political science conferences, including the American Political Science Association meeting in September and the Midwest Political Science Association meeting in April. Both conferences attract more than 5,000 political scientists. The Political Organizations and Parties section of the APSA has a membership comprising virtually all of the people who teach courses on lobbying and interest groups at universities. Author will advertise the book through its listserv. Author has extensive in professional network and will market the book to colleagues for adoption in courses on interest groups. Author will pitch to Matthew Yglesias, whose blog on Slate talked a lot about her last book on lobbying; likewise the blog, Monkey Cage. Author has relevant Washington journalist contacts at The Hill, Roll Call, National Journal, and Washington Post. The interviewees themselves will each bring varying promotional and marketing capabilities to the table: professional networks, professional meetings, social media promotion, and corporate buys.

"Lobbyists at Work is a must-read for anyone interested in the serious business of government. Leech's probing questions reflect her years of research tracking the real impact of money and influence on policy."--Thomas Hale Boggs, Jr. (Chairman, Patton Boggs LLP) Received wisdom has it that lobbyists run the American government on behalf of moneyed interests. But what makes lobbyists run, and how do they induce legislators and bureaucrats to do their bidding? These are questions for which even the harshest critics lack satisfying answers. Lobbyists at Work explores what lobbyists really do and why. It goes behind the scenes and brings back in-depth interviews with fifteen political advocates chosen to represent the breadth and diversity of the lobbying profession. The interviewees profiled in this book range from the top lobbyists-for-hire at the most powerful K Street firms to pro bono lobbyists for the disenfranchised and powerless. The roster spans all types of lobbyists working for all types of clients and seeking to influence all levels and branches of government. The permutations include business-lobbying-government, government-lobbying-government, government-to-business revolving door, regulatory lobbying, state and local lobbying, citizen-advocacy lobbying, single-issue lobbying, and multiple-issue lobbying. In colorful and sometimes hilarious detail, the interviewees take the reader through their arsenals of traditional and next-generation lobbying techniques, including face-to-face persuasion of elected officials and their staffs, educational campaigns and coalition-building, ghost-drafting complex legislation and regulation for government committees and agencies, contributions, and social media campaigns. In Lobbyists at Work, the normally self-effacing subjects open up about themselves and their profession: why they chose to become lobbyists, what motivates them to keep lobbying, how they cultivate their lobbying influence, how they adjust to changes in the rules affecting their lobbying methods, and what they actually do at work each day (and night). As an authority on lobbying respected in Washington for her impartiality, Professor Beth Leech elicits frank disclosures, career tips, and riveting stories about the good, the bad, and the ambivalent on both sides of the symbiotic relationship between government officials and lobbyists

During the past decade, numerous congressional bills and amendments have attempted to curtail lobbying by nonprofit organizations that receive federal grants. These policy efforts grow out of an assumption that federal funds are encouraging advocacy at levels that are excessive and encourage additional government spending. Using survey data on more than 700 organizations based in Washington, DC, this article tests this assumption. The data show that for the most part, organizations receiving federal grants and contracts lobby no more frequently than similar organizations that do not receive such benefits. The exception is contacting federal agencies, which charitable organizations receiving federal funds do slightly more often than similar organizations without such funds. A multivariate analysis assesses federal funding together with other variables theorized to affect lobbying—federal tax status, resource levels, and the nature of the lobbying issue—confirming that while these other variables affect lobbying levels, federal funding does not.

Studies of interest-group influence on politics and studies of mass participation in politics typically have been quite separate undertakings. With a few notable exceptions, research projects have been designed to examine one or the other, not both, and the influence of interest-group activity on mass political activity is too seldom considered. In this broadly integrative book, Kenneth Goldstein makes a convincing argument for why this should not be the case.

The following essays are based on presentations given by the authors during a short course on elite interviewing, held at the 2001 APSA meeting in San Francisco. The short course, sponsored by the Political Organizations & Parties organized section of the APSA, drew nearly 100 participants. Adapted from the source document.

Presents guidance for political scientists obtaining information in semistructured interviews with open-ended questions. Techniques discussed for gaining rapport with the interviewee include putting the respondent at ease, question order for politically sensitive issues, & omitting presuming questions. Recommended types of questions for semistructured interviews are detailed, namely grand tour questions, example questions, & prompts. 6 References. L. Collins