In
an effort to assure that requirements for the professional
conduct of lobbying were met, several individuals with extensive
backgrounds in lobbyist and legislative operations met in 1998
to establish the Virginia Association of Professional Lobbyists
(VAPL) as a 501 (C) (3) non-profit membership corporation.
These individuals recognized that the number of lobbyists at
the General Assembly was rapidly increasing on an annual basis
with many of the newer lobbyist often lacking any substantial
prior legislative or public service experience. In addition,
they had observed—and
a number of legislators concurred—increasing
incidences of questionable ethical conduct and practices on
the part of a few lobbyists.
To encourage lobbyists to
better observe higher levels of ethical conduct in their
lobbying activities, the VAPL in 1999 developed a Virginia Lobbyist
Code of Ethics and initiated a series of
seminars and luncheon meetings designed to help promote a
higher level of professionalism and ethical conduct on the
part of both new and experienced lobbyists. The General Assembly
in that same year adopted Senate Resolution 452 (Gartlan)
formally recognizing and commending the important role being
played by the VAPL in the improvement of lobbying ethics
in Virginia.
In 2005–2006, the VAPL
also began the development of a Handbook
for Lobbying in Virginia which
provides a wide variety of information on ethical lobbying
practices; the Do’s and Don’ts of Lobbying;
describes the different types of lobbying; and provides Virginia-specific
lobbying rules, campaign finance laws, conflict of interest
laws, and disclosure statutes.
At the request of its
membership in 2006, the VAPL also initiated a program to
develop a formal set of Virginia
Lobbyist Standards of Practice and Professional Competency as
a means of assisting Virginia Lobbyists to better comply
with both Virginia statute law and the Lobbyist
Code of Ethics. In recognition
of this effort, the Virginia General Assembly that year adopted
House Joint Resolution 230 (Callahan) commending the efforts
of VAPL in continuing to promote higher standards for lobbying
in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Those draft standards of
practice were approved by the VAPL Board of Directors in
2007 and will be considered in 2008 for formal adoption by
the members of the VAPL. |
What
Is A Lobbyist?
The Code of Virginia (Section
2.2-419) defines “lobbying” as:
1. Influencing
or attempting to influence executive
or legislative action through oral or
written communication with an executive
or legislative official; or
2. Solicitation of others to influence an executive or
legislative official.
and a "lobbyist" as:
1. An individual who is employed and receives payments,
or who contracts for economic consideration, including
reimbursement for reasonable travel and living expenses,
for the purpose of lobbying;
2. An individual who represents an organization, association,
or other group for the purpose of lobbying; or
3. A local government employee who lobbies.
It is more likely than not the first lobbyist began to
practice at the same time that a human group endeavored
to choose their first leader. Clearly, that leader was
chosen because, for among other reasons, he/she
worked to convince others in that group that he/she was
the best person to provide that leadership.
The term “lobbyist” was, arguably, coined
in the early 1800s when individuals seeking to influence
members of the U. S. Congress gathered in the lobby of
the Willard Hotel in Washington D. C. to contact the
Congressmen as they left their living quarters to walk
or ride by horseback or carriage the several blocks to
the U. S. Capitol.
A number of well-known early Americans were employed
at one time or another to lobby one or more of the colonial
governments or even the British Parliament. Probably
the best-known American to ever serve as a lobbyist was
Benjamin Franklin, who in 1757, was sent to Great Britain
by the Pennsylvania Assembly as its agent to protest
against the political influence of the Penn family, the
proprietors of that colony. He remained in Great Britain
for five years, lobbying the Parliament and the Crown
to end the proprietors' authority to overturn legislation
from the elected Pennsylvania Assembly and the Penn family’s
exemption from paying taxes on their land. He was not
successful in that effort. |
|
|
