Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) – People or corporations that have common views and try to influence the political process NRA NEA UAW MADD PETA AARP NAACP ACLU …and about a million others

Special Interest Groups work with . . . . Lobbyists In order to directly influence law making Political Action Committees In order to directly influence elections

Lobbyists Are individual people that meet with lawmakers (representatives, senators, presidents) on behalf of SIGs They pay for dinners, sports tickets, concert tickets, etc. They have to follow a set of strict rules set by the government They are mostly lawyers that work out of “Lobbying Firms” There are over 10,000 registered lobbyists in Washington D.C. They can even work on state and local levels

Political Action Committees Groups that represent multiple Special Interest Groups working together for a common goal (NAACP, UAW, NEA)(NRA, Right to Life) Try to get certain people elected Mostly work to collect money and use that money on advertisements Responsible for most of the campaign ads you see on T.V.

Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010) Supreme Court Case that looked at the issue of “money in politics” Citizens United wanted to air an anti-Hillary movie leading up to a general election (which was illegal at the time) The FEC stated that it was illegal The Supreme Court sided with Citizens United 5-4 (conservative) Because of this court case people and corporations are now allowed to donate unlimited amounts of money for political campaigns

Lets take a closer look

The History of Special Interest Groups Special Interest Groups have existed in the United States since the forming of our constitution The Founding Fathers believed that special interest groups could only be “checked” by other special interest groups, so they made sure to include their protection when they wrote the “bill of rights” Special Interest groups were intended to be protected by the 1st amendment The Founding Fathers called them “factions”

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”

Which parts of the 1st Amendment protect SIGs? “Congress shall make no law . . . . abridging the freedom of speech” “Right of the people peaceably to assemble” “Right of the people . . . . to petition the government”

Lobbying was done very “discreetly” throughout the 1700s It became much more common during the time period following the civil war (this is known as “The Reconstruction”) Lobbying was mostly at the state level, because the federal government was fairly weak at the time

Controversy of SIGs In the early 1900s the life insurance industry was bribing politicians During the 1970’s “Watergate Scandal” it was revealed that the milk industry had been donating large sums of money to the president and certain representatives for favorable agricultural policies In the mid 2000’s a fake petition was organized by a gambling SIG in order to protect Indian Casinos from competing casinos.

Victories of SIGs NAACP, SNCC, and the ACLU were important during the victories of the civil rights movement The AWSA was important in getting women the right to vote The Federalists were important in getting the country to adopt the Constitution of the United States