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In this chapter we'll talk about connecting with the political process through interest
groups and political parties. We'll be focusing on California specifically -- interest groups
in California -- and specifically how money plays a role in our system of government in
California. Start with the definition of interest groups -- they're organized groups of individuals
sharing common policy objectives who actively attempt to influence policymakers. They normally
do that through a lobbyist. A lobbyist is a group or organization who attempts to influence
the passage, defeat or the content of legislation and the government's administrative decisions.
The definition of political parties: Groups of political activists who organize to win
elections, operate the government and determine public policy. Let's talk about the difference
between political parties and interest groups. Political parties, as we mentioned, organize
to win elections. The want to determine public policy and they want to operate the government.
On the other hand, interest groups do not want to operate the government but they do
support candidates who will promote their interests. Let's talk about the kinds of interest
groups in California. The umbrella category of economic interest groups. First section
of that is business -- the California Chamber of Commerce and your local chambers of commerce,
the agriculture groups and regional groups such as the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
Another type of economic interest groups -- California Medical Association, California Association
of Realtors, California Teachers Association, California Faculty Association, California
Correctional Peace Officers Association. All groups are professional associations made
up by members and they support their particular issues in the legislative process. We also
have demographic groups. Those are groups that are based on characteristics that distinguish
their members from other segments of the population, characteristics such as ethnicity, gender
age, those are groups such as United Farm Workers, National Organization for Women,
Equality California -- that's a large group that works to elect gay legislators and obtain
passage of equal rights legislation. And you also have the Campaign for California Families
-- which is in contrast with Equality California. The Campaign for California Families defines
marriage as a union only between men and women. You also have single-issue groups such as
the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. They evaluate candidates and ballot propositions
solely in terms of whether their group's objective of no unnecessary taxes and no wasteful spending
are met. The California Abortion Rights Action League, obviously the single issue of abortion.
Public interest groups such as Common Cause and the League of Women Voters and one particularly
large group is local governments -- city and county governments, they are very organized,
they bring a lot of resources to the table when dealing with the lobbying process and
the interest group process. I want to take just a second and talk about an interest group
that's left out of this process. Some have argued that our system of interest group politics
leaves out poor Americans. People who typically do not join groups and they may hold two or
more jobs just to survive and that doesn't really leave them a lot of time to participate
in the process. So some people feel a particular weakness in our system is that it leaves out
the unorganized poor. As I mentioned, environmental groups -- Sierra Club and National Wildlife
Federation. Again, public interest groups -- local governments, the League of California
Cities, the California School Boards Association, and the California Association of Counties.
And also groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Handgun Control, Mothers
Against Drunk Driving and the National Rifle Association. Let's talk for a second about
what makes an interest group powerful. First, the size and the resources. If you have a
lot of members, a lot of members can translate into a strong financial base. Even if you
have individual membership that is relatively small, that will provide an organization with
a strong financial base. The leadership needs to be strong. And the cohesiveness of the
organization needs to be strong. Cohesiveness -- if your group is going to send letters
to representatives, march on Washington or a state Capitol, or work together to defeat
candidates, that can help make your group powerful. Now let's talk for just a few moments
about how money plays a role in politics in California. We'll take a look at an analysis
of more than four dozen lawmakers that was done by the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Here are some of the things that they found about how money entered the political process,
the governing process in our state. For instance, $4.8 million total from health care interests
led by the California Medical Association and the California Dental Association. They
were pushing, as it turns out unsuccessfully, to restore public health programs shuttered
to save the state millions of dollars. So this is a case where money doesn't always
work -- they put a lot of money into the process and were unsuccessful in their efforts. Another
case -- $2.8 million from the state's building trades and construction unions. They were
pushing hard for the controversial high-speed rail project, the biggest public works project
in state history and a prospective source of thousands of construction jobs. Another
example -- $1.8 million from Indian tribes and other gaming interests. These tribes successfully
lobbied to block a bill to allow continued operation of a card club at Hollywood Park
racetrack -- that would have been a competitor to the casinos. $1.5 million from public employee
unions, led by the International Association of Fire Fighters. These unions lined up to
ease the impact of Gov. Brown's public pension cuts, and those cuts were intended to save
the California Public Employees' Retirement Fund system pension fund billions of dollars.
One more example -- a little more than $1 million from the California Teachers Association
and other school employee unions. These unions were lobbying to pensions and education funding.
And the teacher association lobbied to kill a measure that would have made it easier for
school districts to fire bad teachers and those efforts continue today. A final example
-- $1.4 million from telecommunications companies, most of it from AT&T, Time Warner and Verizon.
Those companies won passage of a law that blocks the California Public Utilities Commission
from regulating Internet phone calls. So those are just some examples of how money enters
our process and the role that it plays in our system of government in California. Finally,
I'm going to talk about the concepts that you'll need to know for the quiz. Again, all
the answers to these questions can be found in the text and you'll also want to see the
PowerPoint slides that were provided for the text and you'll find them under Course Documents.
First concept -- how does a political party differ from an interest group? You'll need
to know the definition of lobbyist. You'll need to know the definition of a social movement.
Which group is generally left out of interest group politics? We talked a little bit about
this earlier in the lecture. What is the key to success for interest groups? Interest groups
recognize what as the greatest concern to legislators -- what are legislators most concerned
about as they deal with interest groups? Why do interest groups try to generate public
pressure? You'll want to know what the definition of realignment is -- the definition of realignment
as it relates to government. What is divided government? What is the trend for the number
of voters who identify themselves as independent? Are those numbers staying about the same,
are they growing or are they growing to the point where they're almost at a record high?
Understand those concepts as you prepare for your quiz. Good luck!