the Donor Class & the Lobbyists

Campaigns are Expensive

Lobbyists are Expensive

Who are the Lobbyists?

There is nothing wrong with campaign donations or lobbying. We encourage donations to worthy candidates. It would be wonderful if the Voters Army had a battalion of professional lobbyists. The problem is that the elite can make larger donations and hire more lobbyists. The voters get overruled.

The Donor Class

The term “Donor Class” refers to America’s largest contributors to political campaigns. These include:

• Corporations and trade associations
Companies may contribute through PACs or through advocacy organizations.

• Special interest groups
Including those representing real estate, healthcare, energy, insurance, and other sectors.

• High-net-worth individuals and families
Billionaires, centi-millionaires, CEOs, hedge fund managers, tech founders, etc.

The use of lobbyists separates the donor class from other campaign donors. Lobbyists ensure large donations yield legislative victories. Donors desire extreme returns on their campaign investments.

Campaigns are Expensive

This chart shows federal campaign expenditures from 1998 to 2024. Open Secrets

Small donations ($200 or less) ballooned from $1 billion in 2016 to $4 billion in 2020, and an estimated $3 billion in 2024, but the big money still dominates.

Lobbyists Are Expensive

Total Spending & Lobbyists Open Secrets

Adjusted for inflation, spending on lobbyists has been over $4 billion per year since 2008. We have over 12,000 lobbyists.

Business interests dominate the market for Lobbyists, with over 87% of the spending. Open Secrets

Who are the Lobbyists?

The lobbyist ranks include career lobbyists, former high-ranking employees of government agencies, and former elected officeholders. They may be independent consultants or work for these organizations:

Lobbying firms - including K Street firms and law firms with lobbying arms.

In-house corporate affairs / public policy departments of large corporations.

Trade associations and political advocacy organizations, including PACs.

What Lobbyists Do

Access & Relationships
Knowing which committee members matter, which regulators matter, and maintaining relationships with them.

Friendly Persuasion
Lobbyists employ a range of tactics, including direct lobbying meetings, hearings, testimony, and behind-the-scenes persuasion.

Policy Drafting & Technical Expertise
Lobbyists often help draft language for bills, amendments, and regulatory proposals to ensure that industry-preferred language makes it into legislation and regulations.

Election Campaigns
Lobbyists may direct independent expenditures made by PACs or assist election campaigns.

Coalition Building & Media Campaigns
Some lobbyists build networks of allied groups to push an issue. Others oversee media campaigns to influence public opinion.

Revolving Doors

Business interests maintain the upper hand with a lucrative “revolving door” system:
• Friendly legislators and key staff members are promised future jobs as high-paid lobbyists or other plum positions.
• High-ranking regulatory agency officials see the same opportunities.
• Corporate officers, industry representatives, and lobbyists become government regulators. The foxes guard the henhouse.

This is more than campaign donations. It is a parallel governance structure that prioritizes the biggest spenders over the voters.

Campaign donations and lobbying are not inherently evil. But when the wealthy and giant corporations dominate the game, it becomes legalized class warfare. This is not a secretive “Deep State.” It is more in your face than behind your back.

Our task is to find politicians who can resist the temptations offered by lobbyists representing billionaires and large corporations.