Role Of Lobbying Firms | Political Report Cards

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ROLE OF LOBBYING FIRMS

Lobbying Firms are specialist companies that primarily represent clients to politicians and government regulators. While there are no clear boundaries between what is lobbying and what is PR, lobbying firms often play specific roles within a broader campaign plan.

Lobbyists raise gobs of money for elected officials, they write laws themselves and lobbyists effectively bribe members of Congress with lucrative job offers to become lobbyists luring them with massive salary raises.

The phenomenon of members of Congress heading off to work for lobbying firms and their clients is know as “the revolving door.” In the 1970s, less than 5% of retiring legislators went on to become lobbyists. Now, half of retiring senators and a third of retiring house members become lobbyists.

TOP 5 LOBBYING FIRMS – FUNDING SOURCES

1. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck (BHFS) is a Denver-based corporate law and lobbying firm with offices in Albuquerque, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, Reno, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Sante Fe and Washington D.C. There are 250 attorneys and policy consultants on staff, and its main areas of practice are corporate and business, government relations and public policy, litigation, natural resources, and real estate.

2. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP is an Washington DC-based law and lobbying firm.The firm said “focus is on developing solutions for clients facing challenges in the legislative, regulatory, constituency, corporate and public relations arenas at the state, federal and international levels.”

3. BGR Holdings LLC, is a Washington D.C.-based public relations and lobbying. On its website it states “the firm represents a diverse, blue-chip clientele which includes Fortune 500 companies, international governments, trade associations, non-profits, academic institutions, hospitals, coalitions, and state and local governments.

4. Cornerstone Government Affairs is a full service, bipartisan consulting firm specializing in federal and state government relations, public and strategic communications and advisory services.

5. Holland & Knight has approximately 1,600 lawyers and other professionals in 30 offices.The firm is dedicate to target key growth markets and industries like the infrastructure plan approved by congress.