Paul Miller Quotes
There’s a real fundamental need for us. You think we have a bad system now? Without us lobbyists, just see what kind of government we would have them
Paul Miller, President, American League of Lobbyists, Statement, December 2006, Quoted in The Progressive, January 2007
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The WWI veterans lobby was formed and they pressured Congress into authorizing a bonus of between $1 and $1.25 for each day of wartime service. However, the catch was that they would not be paid until 1945 unless they did, Hence the name for the bonus. The Bonus March on Washington would eventually march on Washington to get their pay while they were still alive. Finally, the bonuses were paid immediately after Franklin Delano Roosevelt assumed the Presidency even though he personally opposed paying it early. Congress passed the law over his veto.
Hollings who was one of the senior experienced senators was offended by the degree to which the George W. Bush Administration and the Republican leadership had turned to lobbyists to draft legislation and amendments to pending legislation. Lobbyists often have specialized information that members of Congress do not have, so there has been in modern times communications between lobbyists and members of Congress and their staffs. However, during the Bush Presidency the practice reached an extreme where lobbyists would even write the legislative language and give it to the members in whom they had invested by giving them large campaign contributions and many perks. K Street is the fanciest street in Washington DC with some of the most expensive office space. A substantial proportion of the lobbyists have K Street offices, hence the metaphor.
A lobbyist with Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies and a former president of the American League of Lobbyists.
