The Views of the Candidates

When it comes to lobbyist involvement in government, Senator Barack Obama has taken a clear stance. Obama’s campaign not only refuses to accept contributions from federal lobbyists or political action committees but also addresses lobbyist involvement in government as a problem and has come up with actions to end it. Two of his ideas include making the lobbyist involvement more visible to the American people by creating an internet database of lobbyist activities and putting an end to no-bid contracts. Under his plan, any contract over the amount of $25,000 would have to be competitively awarded. About lobbyists, Sen. Barack Obama was quoted as saying, “I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.”

(http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ethics/)
(http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/08/obama-has-lobby.html)

Senator McCain’s views on lobbyists are not nearly as clear as those of Senator Obama’s. While researching McCain’s views towards this subject, I found that McCain has denounced lobbyist involvement in politics, however, due to the history of his relationships with lobbyists, I determined that while he may not out rightly support lobbyists, he certainly is not opposed to them. McCain’s political career has not only benefited financially from lobbyists, it is currently benefiting tactically from them as well. As of right now, seven of McCain’s top campaign managers and officials were at one time lobbyists. It doesn’t seem that this is the first time McCain has surrounded himself by lobbyists, however, as mccainslobbyists.com shows almost forty lobbyists that he has dealt with in his career.

(http://www.mccainslobbyists.com/)
(http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/09/mccain.lobbying/)

Personally, I am not against lobbyist involvement in government, but I am against allowing these groups to use money as a means of accomplishing their goals. If the objective of their efforts is logical or fair, it seems to me that money would not be needed in order to gain the aid of an elected official. I know there are people who view the campaign contributions and other monetary benefits given as merely a way to keep an elected official with the same views as the lobbying group in power and not to influence that politician’s decisions. In a perfect world this might be plausible. In this world, however, too many politicians use these contributions as a form of job security and allow the lobbying groups to steer the course of many decisions.

Video of Obama's View:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzuPfQuNIcE

Video of McCain's View:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgq5I8l6h7E