Snakes in the grass: how slick corporate lobbyists are co-opting grassroots techniques.

AuthorBailey, Charles W.
PositionIncludes related article on public relations management of Mike Malik

How slick corporate lobbyists are co-opting grassroots techniques

In the days of Norman Rockwell, the image summoned up by the phrase "grass roots" was definitely benign. It evoked visions of pipe-smoking farmers exchanging pithy aphorisms around the stove in the general store, or small-town businessmen swapping common-sense comments on the day's news at the Main Street cafe.

But today that image is as out of date as the Model T. "Grass roots" has a new meaning--more astroturf than grass, more sinister than benign, more fake than real, more Orwell than Rockwell. The aim, one practitioner said, is "to make a strategically planned campaign look like a spontaneous explosion of community support." Another Washington public relations man put it this way: "The purpose of the grassroots program is not to get more Americans involved in the political system. The purpose of a grassroots program is one purpose, period, and that is to influence legislative policy."

Older, more traditional forms of lobbying--campaign contributions, one-on-one persuasion by Washington lawyer-lobbyists, and the like--are still in use and continue to swallow large amounts of money. But new technology and a changed political context have put a greater value on the new kind of lobbying. Some find it ironic that corporate America has adopted and adapted this technique. After all, "grassroots lobbying" is itself an oxymoron. And it was pioneered by big business's traditional enemies, the labor unions and the public interest groups--the Naderites, the anti-nukes, the environmentalists.

Corporate America's co-option of this technique is different--and more dangerous--for several reasons. The corporations and their hired hands, the lawyer-lobbyists and PR firms, work on a continuing basis, planning for the long haul. Their plans are ambitious--and they are bad news for the ordinary citizen.

Jack Faris, president of the National Federation of Independent Business, which claims to represent 600,000 small businesses nationwide, discussed his plans with Haynes Johnson and David Broder, authors of The System:

Our goal for the year 2000 for the election of the president of the United States...is to have candidates from both parties who are sold out for small business and free enterprise....In the Senate our goal is to have at least 60 members that either own small businesses or have proven by their voting records they understand what's good for small business. We want 250 votes in the House of Representatives either to be small-business owners and/or those who support small-business owners.

Grassroots lobbying is a means--a very effective means--to that end. It's no coincidence that, whether in opposing health care or supporting the...

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