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esotericish37 karma

Places like the EFF or the Sunlight Foundation employ lobbyists. Donate to them.

esotericish23 karma

I, too, am a lobbyist. Remy (sp?) in House of Cards is definitely a dramatization, but those people do exist, more or less. They make a ton of money. And they are all former very senior staffers to Members - think former chief of staff of a committee chair, for example.

esotericish20 karma

To follow up, "lobbyist group" is a bit confusing. In DC the industry is government relations, and a lot of places hire people right out of college (or ideally graduate school). Hill experience is definitely the fastest way, but getting started working on the Hill is probably one of the worst jobs in DC. You make no money, probably have to work as an unpaid intern for a number of months, and there's no guarantee for quick upward mobility.

And also, many non profits, universities, associations, etc hire government relations staff. Many of these people begin by simply following what happens in the federal government but don't do much of what you would consider "lobbying". This is also a good start.

esotericish15 karma

Lobbyists legally have to register themselves, which is open to the public. Given OPs name you could find this info.

esotericish14 karma

Seriously, anybody can lobby the federal government. You just need to have a basic understanding of the process, a clear "ask" when you meet with staff, and the time to do it. The problem is with things like Net Neutrality (and this may be changing if netflix and google get involved) is that you have a large business community, many of which employee thousands of people in important members' districts, who have an organized, consistent voice in talking with legislators. Meanwhile, the general populous doesn't do much of anything - no calling, writing, or talking with their representatives. I've worked in congressional offices and I've seen the impact of hundreds or thousands of calls or letters from constituents on an issue that my boss didn't really have a previous position on.