Well, well, well. A new Gallup poll reveals that Americans view lobbyists as having the lowest honesty and ethical standards of any profession of the 22 surveyed. We’re shocked!
You don’t have to be an expert at studying the internals and crosstabs of a poll to understand that lobbyists’ work contains all the right ingredients for a cocktail of contempt. Lobbyists deal with the government in Washington. Ding! Politics. Ding ding! Political fundraising. Ding ding ding! We do much of our work with a lawyerly patina. Ding ding ding ding!
Lobbying is an unloved industry, with scads of lawyers, politicians and bureaucrats as well as campaign money in the mix, and everybody wants something. Everyone likes to beat up on us, and none more so than President Barack Obama, who grandiosely says things like: “We’re going to have to change the culture in Washington so that lobbyists and special interests aren’t driving the process.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/the-lobbyists-lament-101252.html#ixzz2nqB9ObrG
Haley Barbour and Ed Rogers
12.17
Magnolia Tribune
