Mostly behind closed doors, of course. And to a certain extent you can see by how much it goes up (because companies have to disclose some of this, as do trade associations).
Christopher Buckley’s “Thank You For Smoking” is pretty hilarious on this, btw. And season two of The Wire is pretty heart-breaking…
Only movie I can think of with a lobbyist hero is Dennis Quaid and Cher in
Wikipedia, fwiw.
Lobbying (also lobby) is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in a government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups). Lobbyists may be among a legislator’s constituencies, meaning a voter or block of voters within his or her electoral district, or not; they may engage in lobbying as a business, or not. Professional lobbyists are people whose business is trying to influence legislation on behalf of a group or individual who hires them. Individuals and nonprofit organizations can also lobby as an act of volunteering or as a small part of their normal job (for instance, a CEOmeeting with a representative about a project important to his/her company, or an activist meeting with his/her legislator in an unpaid capacity). Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying that has become influential.
It turns out that
A register of federal lobbyists is kept by the Australian Government and is accessible to the public via its website.[12] Similar registers for State government lobbyists were introduced between 2007 and 2009 around Australia. Since April 2007 in Western Australia, only lobbyists listed on the state’s register are allowed to contact a government representative for the purpose of lobbying.[13] Similar rules have applied in Tasmania since 1 September 2009[14] and in South Australia and Victoria since 1 December 2009.[15][16]
- “Who is on the register?”. Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet. Australian Government. Retrieved 2015-04-15.
marchudson.net 