title: Joan Capdevila

text: On 6 February 2008, Capdevila scored the winner in Spain's 1–0 victory over France in a friendly in Málaga. He was subsequently called up to the squad for Euro 2008, where he featured in all the games save one for the eventual champions. During the tournament he established himself as first choice, his clearance in the dying seconds against Sweden being a crucial part of David Villa's late winner to make the score 2–1; together with right-back Sergio Ramos and central defenders Carles Puyol and Carlos Marchena, he helped keep clean sheets during all three matches of the knock-out stages.


title: Joan Capdevila

text: During the first game of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup on 14 June 2009, Capdevila set up Fernando Torres's third goal of his hat-trick, and also assisted for Cesc Fàbregas's second international goal as Spain thrashed New Zealand 5–0 – in fact, all five goals were created from the left wing, with him playing a crucial part in the Spanish attack. In the second game against Iraq, three days later, he assisted Villa's on his 55th-minute goal (the match's only), which allowed for a run to the semi-finals of the competition. Eventually he, Puyol, Villa and Torres were named in the team of the tournament, as the national side finished third. During the group stages of the competition, he provided the most assists (three) and made the joint second–highest number of solo runs (ten).


title: Joan Capdevila

text: On 20 May 2010, after appearing in all the fixtures during the qualifying stages, contributing one goal in Spain's 4–0 home defeat of Armenia, Capdevila was selected by manager Vicente del Bosque to the squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he played all the games and minutes for the eventual champions, being the only member of the starting line-up for the final who was not a Real Madrid or FC Barcelona player, considering Villa had been signed by the latter days before the tournament. He was among the top ten players of the competition in terms of distance covered, having run 71.79 km.


title: Joan Capdevila

text: An offensive–minded left-sided full-back or wing-back, Capdevila was known for his speed and passing ability, which enabled him to get forward, make overlapping runs, provide width to his team and link-up with the attack. Regarded as one of the best left-backs in the world in his prime, although he was not as flashy as other players in his position, he was also known for his leadership and consistency as well as his defensive ability, although he was stronger in the offensive aspect of his game.


title: Fan Zhendong

text: Fan Zhendong (; born 22 January 1997) is a Chinese professional table tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 for men's singles by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). After joining the Chinese National Table Tennis Team in 2012 as the youngest member of the team, he went on to become the youngest ITTF World Tour Champion and the youngest World Table Tennis Champion. He achieved the top spot in the world rankings after holding position No. 2 for 29 consecutive months, starting from November 2015.


title: Fan Zhendong

text: Fan's attacking style of play involves explosive footwork and powerful forehand loops. His thick-set build has led fans and commentators to affectionately refer to him as "Little Fatty" (). His continuous rise to becoming one of the top table tennis players in the world has garnered him a large fanbase worldwide, with over half a million followers on Chinese social media site Weibo. In 2016, he won the ITTF Star Point Award, and he was nominated for the Best Male Star Award every year between 2013 and 2016.


title: Fan Zhendong

text: Fan was a Stiga sponsored athlete. However, he used a Butterfly Viscaria blade but changed to a Stiga Infinity VPS V handle because of sponsoring Stiga. He uses a black DHS Hurricane 3 neo National Blue Sponge for forehand and a Red Tenergy 05 for backhand. During the 2019 world table tennis championships, he changed to the new Butterfly Dignics 05 on his backhand that had just been released on 1 April 2019. Butterfly announced its signing of Fan Zhendong on November 1, 2021.


title: Fan Zhendong

text: A right-handed shakehand-grip player, Fan plays an attacking style of table tennis using his explosive footwork and thunderous forehand loops to finish off his opponents. Emerging as a 16-year-old wunderkind, Fan's playing style is often compared to his senior compatriot Ma Long. In addition to being trained by national team coaches, he has been specially trained by both Wang Hao and Ma Lin. His encounters against senior players in the Chinese national team have drawn much speculation and anticipation. His fearlessness and technique allow him to challenge highly rated, experienced players, sometimes even beating top players in thrilling style.


title: Fan Zhendong

text: In May, Fan played in the Chinese Olympic Scrimmages. He won all his group matches 3–0 and defeated 16-year-old break-out star Lin Shidong, who defeated Xu Xin in the group stage, 4–2 in the quarter-finals. Because of Lin's similarity to Fan, he received the nickname "Little Little Fatty" by Chinese netizens. Fan defeated Wang Chuqin in the semi-finals, but lost to the dark horse champion Zhou Qihao in the finals. Fan was selected alongside Ma Long to represent China in the men's singles event at the Tokyo Olympics. Fan won the second leg of the Chinese Olympic Scrimmage, coming back from down 8–4 and 3–1 in games to defeat Xu Xin in the finals. Fan noted that his selection onto the Olympic team helped him focus better on his training and play better in the second leg compared to the first leg. Zhou again upset Fan in a closed-door scrimmage in June.


title: Fan Zhendong

text: Although Ma Long called Fan the favorite before their Olympic finals match-up, Ma ended up upsetting Fan 4-2 in the Olympic finals, giving Ma the gold medal and Fan the silver. Afterwards, Fan called Ma the greatest player of our generation.


title: Fan Zhendong

text: In September, Fan saved six match points to beat Ma Long deuce in the fifth in the finals of the team event at the China National Games. Fan's win over Ma delivered Team Guangdong the gold medal. Fan Zhendong also won the gold in the men's singles event.


title: Fan Zhendong

text: In 2021, Timo Boll stated that he felt that he and Fan played a similar style except that Fan was better. Boll did not elaborate further.


title: Fan Zhendong

text: Fan raises his elbow higher on his strokes compared to some of his contemporaries such as Ma Long, resulting in a stronger backhand-forehand transition game at the expense of a more vulnerable middle.


title: University of Toledo

text: The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of Toledo Medical Center, in the West Toledo neighborhood of Toledo; a satellite campus in the Scott Park neighborhood of Toledo; the Center for the Visual Arts is located in downtown Toledo at the Toledo Museum of Art; and a research and education facility, known as the Lake Erie Center, at Maumee Bay State Park.


title: University of Toledo

text: The university was founded in 1872 in downtown Toledo as the Toledo University of Arts and Trades. It closed after six years. The city of Toledo took it over, reopening it in 1884 as the Toledo Manual Training School. The vocational school was developed as a university through the late 1800s.


title: University of Toledo

text: In 1931 the university moved to its current location in the Ottawa neighborhood. Since its establishment, the university has physically expanded to include more than 100 major buildings with a combined area of more and transformed its academic program from one for vocational and secondary education into a comprehensive research university. It is known for its curriculum in the science, engineering, and medical fields. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".


title: University of Toledo

text: The University of Toledo has over 100,000 living alumni and a current enrollment of more than 17,000 students. The university has more than 300 student organizations. Its athletic teams, called the Rockets, are members of the Mid-American Conference.


title: University of Toledo

text: The University of Toledo began in 1872 as a private arts and trades school, offering subjects such as painting and architectural drawing. Jesup Wakeman Scott, a local newspaper editor, published a pamphlet in 1868 entitled "Toledo: Future Great City of the World." He believed that the center of world commerce was moving westward, and by 1900 would be located in Toledo. To prepare for such growth of industry and commerce, Scott donated 160 acres of land as an endowment for a university. The Toledo University of Arts and Trades was incorporated on October 12, 1872. The university's original mission was to "furnish artists and artisans with the best facilities for a high culture in their professions..." Scott died in 1874, a year before the university opened in an old church building downtown Toledo.


title: University of Toledo

text: By the late 1870s the school was in financial trouble and, after thirty years in operation, the school closed in 1878. On January 8, 1884, the assets of the school became property of the city of Toledo. The school reopened under direction of the city as the Toledo Manual Training School. It offered a three-year program for students at least 13 years old who received both academic and manual instruction in the trades.


title: University of Toledo

text: Jerome Raymond, the university's first president, expanded its offerings in the early 1900s by affiliating with the Toledo Conservatory of Music, the YMCA College of Law, and the Toledo Medical College. Raymond also created the College of Arts and Sciences. Despite the expansion, the school struggled financially and had various legal battles over control.


title: University of Toledo

text: A. Monroe Stowe became president in 1914, and helped organize and stabilize the college. On January 30, 1914, the college became known as Toledo University. Stowe added to its offerings, founding the College of Commerce and Industry (later the College of Business Administration) in 1914, and the College of Education in 1916. During this period, enrollment grew from 200 students to around 1,500.


title: University of Toledo

text: Along with the expanded academic offerings, extracurricular activities increased with the university's first intercollegiate athletic programs forming in 1915. Football was added in 1917. Other organizations formed, such as a student council and the university's first student newspaper, "The Universi-Teaser", in 1919. The athletic programs received their nickname, the Rockets, in 1923 from a newspaper writer. He thought this name expressed the teams' playing style.


title: University of Toledo

text: By the 1920s, Toledo University was a growing institution, limited only by the buildings that housed it. Classes were held in two downtown buildings, but both were too small. In 1922, the university moved into an automobile mechanics training facility that had been constructed for training of troops in World War I on the original Scott land. It had outgrown its first two downtown buildings.


title: University of Toledo

text: Although twice the size of the old buildings, the location on the Scott land quickly became outdated after a 32 percent increase in enrollment created a shortage in classroom space. In 1928, Henry J. Doermann became president and initiated plans for a new campus. Doermann received his funding after a city bond levy passed by 10,000 votes. Doermann worked with a local architectural firm to design the new campus, using design elements of the universities of Europe. He and others hoped that the architecture would inspire students. Less than a year later, University Hall and the Field House were completed in the Collegiate Gothic style. Although enrollments remained stable during the Great Depression, Philip C. Nash, who became president following Doermann's sudden death, instituted drastic measures to cut costs, and made use of New Deal funds from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration to help pay for new construction and scholarships.


title: University of Toledo

text: The entry of the United States into World War II dramatically affected the university, adding funding for new, expanded programs. The military contracted with university to offer war-training programs for both military and civilian personnel. Areas of study for civilians included: Engineering, Science and Management War Training program classes, and Civilian Pilot Training classes.


title: University of Toledo

text: The military used the university to house and train a detachment of the 27th Army Air Crew. The U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps trained nurses for army field hospitals. The enrollment of women grew during the war and many student organizations reflected the changes. For instance, intercollegiate basketball and football were suspended while the university's Red Cross chapter, the first of its kind at a university, sponsored knitting sessions for students to make sweaters for soldiers.


title: University of Toledo

text: After the war, the GI Bill of Rights helped veterans pay for college tuition following the war and over 3,000 veterans took advantage of the program at UT. In 1945, the university purchased surplus military housing for the veterans and moved it to campus. The complex, known as "Nashville", transitioned into married student housing until 1974 after the peak of veterans decreased.


title: University of Toledo

text: In 1947, Wilbur W. White replaced Nash. White proposed a progressive ten-year development plan, but he died in 1950 before the new development was completed. The university, under new president Dr. Asa Knowles, continued White's plan and completed a new men's dormitory in 1952 and the new library in 1953. Educational programming for adult students was expanded and created the Greater Toledo Television Foundation to utilize television for educational purposes.


title: University of Toledo

text: In 1958, Knowles met with Toledo City Council to secure a new plan for the future financing of the university, during the 1940s the 12 percent of the city's budget was allocated to the university and this percentage proved unsustainable. Council suggested that the university acquire financial assistance from the state of Ohio to relieve the city's financial burden.


title: University of Toledo

text: Asa Knowles resigned the presidency that same year but William S. Carlson pursued the issue and three bills were introduced into the state legislature in 1959 to propose a student subsidy for the states three largest municipal universities, University of Toledo, along with the University of Akron and University of Cincinnati. The bills stalled but a $2 million levy was passed that same year to help sustain the university. Ohio's three largest municipal universities continued to push for financial assistance from the state and finally succeeded on July 1, 1967. The decision made the university a state university, after operating as a municipal university for over 80 years. In addition to subsidy for students, state support provided capital improvement money for campus building construction, the university changed its name to the University of Toledo.


title: University of Toledo

text: The 1960s saw an increase of political and social activism on the UT campus. Like many universities, UT campus experienced frequent student protests. Students protested a variety of issues, ranging from a peaceful food riot in 1968 over the quality of food, to protests by students opposing the Vietnam War that lead to several arrests. In 1970, UT students remained peaceful following the Kent State shootings of protesters. UT experienced racial tension when a protest by African American students in May 1970 in response to Jackson State killings temporarily closed University Hall. Again, the UT protest ended peacefully when the university president met with the students.


title: University of Toledo

text: UT celebrated its centennial in 1972 with a year of celebrations. Also that year, President Carlson retired, and Glen R. Driscoll was selected as new university president and began further expansion of the university with the addition of the Center for Performing Arts and Savage Hall in 1976, the Center for Continuing Education in 1978, and Stranahan Hall in 1984. The university replacing parking lots and the aging army barracks with Centennial Mall, a nine-acre landscaped mall in the center of campus. Construction began in 1985 on SeaGate Center in downtown Toledo as part of downtown's revitalization efforts. McMaster Hall was completed in 1987 and plans for the Student Recreation Center were made in 1990. That same year, the Greek Village and the Larimer Athletic Complex was completed and the Glass Bowl underwent renovations.


title: University of Toledo

text: Frank E. Horton, former president of the University of Oklahoma, was selected thirteenth president in October 1988 and continued the growth of the university, fostered by the previous presidents. Horton began a large strategic planning effort and organized the growth of the university. To help achieve the plans, in 1993 the university launched a $40 million fund-raising campaign called UT40. During the mid-1990s, UT renovated commercial buildings at Dorr Street and Secor Road for classrooms. A new Academic Center and Residence Hall was built in 1992 to house the Honors Program. The Center for the Visual Arts at the Toledo Museum of Art was also finished that same year; followed by the International House Residence Hall and Nitschke Hall in 1995. And construction began in 1995 on a Pharmacy, Chemistry and Life Sciences complex on the main campus and a Lake Erie Research Center at Maumee Bay State Park. The 1990s also included significant growth in technology. The university joined OhioLINK, a statewide library network, in 1994. Computer labs and hook-ups in dorms and offices provided Internet access and the university established a homepage on the World Wide Web.


title: University of Toledo

text: After a protracted protest by students, staff, faculty and community members, the board of trustees of the university agreed to include domestic partner benefits in the health care portion of the contract for faculty and staff with an effective start date of April 1, 2006. This development made the University of Toledo the first state university to begin covering domestic partners after the passage of Ohio Issue 1, several others had partner benefits before and continued them after the ban. The protest gained momentum after November 2004, when issue 1 was voted into law as an Ohio Constitutional amendment but began over a decade earlier with the work of several faculty members.


title: University of Toledo

text: On March 31, 2006, Governor Bob Taft signed House Bill 478, which merged the University of Toledo with the Medical University of Ohio. The merger became effective on July 1, 2006. The institution retained the University of Toledo name, and the former Medical University of Ohio facilities are referred to as the Health Science Campus. Toledo became the third largest public university in Ohio in terms of its operating budget, as well as one of only 17 public universities in the country that has colleges of business, education, engineering, law, medicine and pharmacy. As a result of this merger, the College of Pharmacy will be one of only 45 American Colleges of Pharmacy located in an academic health science center. The college's "Future of Pharmacy" campaign (2008–2010) was initiated to raise scholarship and equipment funds for the college's expansion into a new building on the health science campus, an expansion that will increase educational and research opportunities for students and faculty. What used to be called the College of Arts and Sciences was divided into three colleges, including the College of Languages, Literature and Social Sciences, the College of Communications and the Arts, and the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.


title: University of Toledo

text: The University of Toledo offers over 250 academic programs in a diverse and comprehensive range of studies. It is the sixth largest university in Ohio by enrollment, and offers a 20:1 student-to-faculty ratio and a median class size of 25.


title: University of Toledo

text: National honor societies such as Phi Kappa Phi and Tau Beta Pi have chapters at UT. The university also offers several ways in which students can enrich their academic experience. These include the Honors College, study abroad, service learning, and undergraduate research.


title: University of Toledo

text: Toledo is a public university and is governed by a board of trustees, and the Ohio Board of Regents, both appointed by the Governor of Ohio. The board is composed of 14 members, and is currently chaired by Joseph H. Zerbey, IV. The board members, which are unpaid community members, delegates its executive power to the president. The current interim president is Gregory Postel.


title: University of Toledo

text: The university has the University of Toledo Research Enterprise and a number of research centers and institutes.


title: University of Toledo

text: Located at Maumee Bay State Park, the Lake Erie Center supports interdisciplinary research involving environmental problems affecting the Great Lakes.


title: University of Toledo

text: The UT Polymer Institute, part of the College of Engineering, supports research in polymers and plastic technology.


title: University of Toledo

text: The Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC) was created in January 2007 with an $18.6 million grant from the Ohio Department of Development and $30 million from federal agencies, universities and industrial partners to perform research involved establishing science and technology platforms, employing second and third generation photovoltaics (PV) materials, and devices tailored for applications in clean electricity generation. The three primary locations of the Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC) include The University of Toledo, Ohio State University, and Bowling Green State University.


title: University of Toledo

text: The center's research is focused on improving large area materials and devices, increasing the efficiency of solar technologies, and lowering production costs – with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of solar-powered electrical generation systems in homes, businesses, and utilities, as well as supporting the nation's defense and aerospace needs for advanced solar energy systems.


title: University of Toledo

text: In 2012, the University of Toledo joined as partner members of the Lowell Discovery Telescope (formerly Discovery Channel Telescope).


title: University of Toledo

text: The University of Toledo's athletic teams play as the Rockets, and uniforms sport the colors midnight blue and gold. The university's sports teams play in the Mid-American Conference. The Rockets football team holds nine Mid-American Conference championships, in 1967 (co-champion with Ohio) 1969, 1970, 1971, 1981, 1984, 1990 (co-champs with Western Michigan), 1995, 2001, 2004, and 2017.


title: University of Toledo

text: Toledo Rockets football played in the 2010 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl on December 26, 2010, against Florida International. Toledo lost the game 34–32. Toledo played in the 2015 Go Daddy Bowl against Arkansas State on Jan 5, 2015. The Rockets won 63–44.


title: University of Toledo

text: In the season of 2009, the men's tennis team finished 2nd in regular season with a 17–10 record, and reached the finals of the MAC tournament for the first time in 35 years.


title: University of Toledo

text: The Toledo Rockets men's basketball team was the 2006–07 Mid-American Conference champion under Head Coach Stan Joplin, a former star player for the Rockets during the late 1970s, and was an assistant coach from 1984 to 1990. He was fired after slumping to an 11–19 record in 2007–08. The team received an NCAA Award For High Academic Performance Toledo tied for third-best APR mark in nation and MAC for second straight year. The University of Toledo men's basketball program ranks at the top of the Mid-American Conference for a second straight year in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Academic Performance Rating (APR). Toledo's 994 rating was tied for third place among all NCAA Division I men's basketball programs and trails only Columbia and Davidson.


title: University of Toledo

text: In the Spring of 2011, the University of Toledo women's basketball team won the WNIT, becoming the first MAC team in any sport to win a National Championship in modern times.


title: University of Toledo

text: The women's cross country has won four MAC Championships (2001, 2002, 2010, 2011) and three MAC Runner-up finishes (2003, 2005, 2009). The women's cross country team finished 21st at the NCAA Championships in 2011 and 28th at the NCAA Championships in 2010. The women's track team also finished as the 2012 MAC Indoor and Outdoor Runner-up.


title: University of Toledo

text: The University of Toledo has two official mascots, Rocky the Rocket and Rocksy the Rockette. Rocky was introduced in 1966, and Rocksy was introduced in 2011. UT also has an official spirit crew known as Blue Crew. The University of Toledo Rocket Marching Band performs a pre-game show and halftime show at all home football games in the Glass Bowl.


title: University of Toledo

text: Toledo's principal football rivals are the Falcons of Bowling Green State University. The two teams formerly played for a trophy each year known as the Peace Pipe, a prize that originated in basketball but progressed to football in 1980. Due to NCAA regulations and an agreement between the two schools, new to the rivalry will be the "Battle of I-75" trophy, a bronze trophy awarded to the winner of the game. Toledo now leads the series, and Toledo currently has been dominating the series going 10-1 in the last eleven meetings, recently including a 66–37 blowout win at Bowling Green's home field, Doyt Perry Stadium.


title: University of Toledo

text: The University of Toledo also has a number of club sports under the direction of the university's Division of Student Affairs. Club sports receive funding from the university as student organizations, associated expenses in the sports are often supplemented by students' pay-to-play dues and fundraising activities. Club sports offered by UT include: bowling, women's basketball, crew, cross country, men's ice hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, quidditch, sailing, men's soccer, table tennis, tennis, track and field, men's and women's ultimate disc, fencing, men's and women's volleyball, water polo, and wrestling.


title: University of Toledo

text: A few recent accomplishments of the University of Toledo Sport Clubs include three straight individual wrestling national championships from 2006 to 2008; three Midwest-Collegiate Sailing Association Championships in 1950, 2008, and 2009; 2 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association National Championship appearances in 2008 and 2009; a NIRSA Open Division Soccer National Championship in 1996; and an American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division I National Championship in 1992.


title: University of Toledo

text: The Toledo Rockets men's ice hockey team is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division II. Besides belonging to the ACHA, the team is also an original member of a conference known as the Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League (TSCHL) which was established in 2010. The team plays a 30–35 game schedule against other club teams in the region.


title: Mozarabic language

text: Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of the population in Muslim Iberia initially; however, over time, these varieties receded in front of Andalusi Arabic in Al-Andalus, and, as the Reconquista progressed, merged with Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese in the Christian kingdoms. There is at least one area of Southern Iberia, the Emirate of Granada, where Mozarabic is thought to have disappeared altogether before the Christian conquest. The final disappearance of these varieties dates to around the thirteenth century.


title: Mozarabic language

text: Although "Mozarabic" is today used as an umbrella term for any Romance variety spoken in medieval Al-Andalus—whether in modern day Portugal or Spain—its speakers would not have referred to it that way. They instead called it "Latinus" (and derivatives thereof), that is to say Latin, the name also used by Romance speakers in northern Iberia and elsewhere to describe their vernaculars. Arab writers as well referred to Mozarabic as "al-Lathinī", as there was not a clear distinction between Latin and Romance at that time. (They would also call it "al-ajamiya", meaning 'strange, foreign'.) "Latinus" survives in the name "Ladino", which in early medieval Spain was used to refer to Romance in general; it later developed the specialized sense of Judeo-Spanish. "Latinus" also survives in the name "rumantsch-ladin" used for the distant Romansh language of Engadin and in the name of the even more distant Ladin language, spoken in the South Tyrol province of northeastern Italy.


title: Mozarabic language

text: Other than the obvious Arabic influence, and remnants of a pre-Roman substratum, early Mozarabic may also have been affected by African Romance, carried over to the Iberian Peninsula by the Berbers who made up most of the Islamic army that conquered it and remained prominent in the Andalusi administration and army for centuries to come. The possible interaction between these two Romance varieties has yet to be investigated.


title: Mozarabic language

text: Mozarabic was spoken by Mozarabs (Christians living as dhimmis), Muladis (natives converted to Islam), Jews, and possibly some of the ruling Arabs and Berbers. The cultural and literary language of the Mozarabs was at first Latin, but as time passed, it came to rather be Arabic, even among Christians.


title: Mozarabic language

text: Due to the continual emigration of Mozarabs to the Christian kingdoms of the north, Arabic toponyms are found even in places where Arab rule was ephemeral.


title: Mozarabic language

text: Mozarabic had a significant impact on the formation of Spanish, especially Andalusian Spanish, and served as a vehicle for the transmission of numerous Andalusi Arabic terms into both.


title: Mozarabic language

text: Because Mozarabic was not a language of higher culture, such as Latin or Arabic, it had no standard writing-system. Numerous Latin documents written by early Mozarabs are, however, extant.


title: Mozarabic language

text: The bulk of surviving material in Mozarabic is found in the choruses (or "kharjas") of Andalusi lyrical compositions known as "muwashshahs", which were otherwise written in Arabic. The script used to write the Mozarabic "kharjas" was invariably Arabic or Hebrew, less often the latter. This poses numerous problems for modern scholars attempting to interpret the underlying Mozarabic. Namely:


title: Mozarabic language

text: The overall effect of this, combined with the rampant textual corruption, is that modern scholars can freely substitute consonants and insert vowels to make sense of the "kharjas", leading to considerable leeway, and hence inaccuracy, in interpretation.


title: Mozarabic language

text: The following two features remain a matter of debate, largely due to the ambiguity of the Arabic script:


title: Mozarabic language

text: Presented below is one of the few "kharjas" whose interpretation is secure from beginning to end. It has been transcribed from a late thirteen-century copy in Hebrew script, but it is also attested (in rather poor condition) in an Arabic manuscript from the early twelfth century.


title: Mozarabic language

text: However the above "kharja", like most others, presents numerous textual difficulties. Below is Jones' transcription of it, with vowels inserted and uncertain readings italicized. Note the discrepancies.


title: Ricky Knight

text: Patrick Frary (born 24 December 1953) is an English professional wrestling trainer, promoter, owner, and former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Rowdy" Ricky Knight. He is the owner of the World Association of Wrestling promotion in Norwich.


title: Ricky Knight

text: Knight was working as a bouncer when he first met professional wrestler Jimmy Ocean. Ocean trained Knight, and the duo formed a tag team. Throughout the 1990s, they teamed together as The Superflys on the British circuit. The team was managed by Knight's wife Sweet Saraya. The Superflys wrestled in All Star Wrestling, holding the British Open Tag Team Championship four times together.


title: Ricky Knight

text: Knight, Sweet Saraya, and Jimmy Ocean formed the World Association of Wrestling in 1994 in Norwich. Ocean left the business one year later. The promotion also included a wrestling school, The WAW Academy, which trained Roy Knight and The UK Pitbulls. The WAW Academy is Europe's longest running wrestling school. As a member of the roster, Knight has held the WAW World Heavyweight Championship one time. He also held the WAW Tag Team Championship with Ocean.


title: Ricky Knight

text: Knight is married to Julia Bevis, who wrestles under the name Sweet Saraya. They have two children, and he has two other from a previous marriage. His sons Roy Knight and Zak Zodiac wrestle on the British wrestling circuit as the UK Hooligans. Their daughter Paige wrestled for WWE, winning the NXT Women's Championship and the WWE Divas Championship twice before retiring due to a serious neck injury. The family was featured in "The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family", a 2012 documentary. The documentary was adapted into a feature film, "Fighting with My Family", by Dwayne Johnson's production company Seven Bucks Productions. The film was directed by Stephen Merchant, with Nick Frost playing the role of Knight, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019.


title: Geoff Ramsey

text: Geoffrey Lazer Ramsey (born Geoffrey Paul Wright, later Geoffrey Paul Fink on June 19, 1975) is an American voice actor, film producer and internet personality. He co-founded the production company Rooster Teeth and is known for voicing Dexter Grif in the web series "Red vs. Blue". He also co-founded Achievement Hunter, a gaming division of Rooster Teeth.


title: Geoff Ramsey

text: Ramsey was born and grew up primarily in the Mobile, Alabama area, where he attended elementary and high school, but also lived in Pensacola and Jacksonville, Florida, and the outlying areas of New Orleans. He was a semi-pro bowler in his teenage years, and enlisted into the United States Army before graduating high school, beginning basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina shortly afterwards. His service lasted from 1993 to 1998, though he went on to serve as a photojournalist in Kuwait; he was based at Fort Hood during that time. He studied journalism at Fort Benjamin Harrison.


title: Geoff Ramsey

text: After his military service, Ramsey worked as a roadie for the band Catch 22 and as a production assistant for View Askew Productions. Ramsey then secured a job at the tech support company teleNetwork, where he met Burnie Burns and Gus Sorola. Prior to working for Rooster Teeth, he also co-created the web site drunkgamers.com with Sorola, hiring Burns shortly afterwards to run the site.


title: Geoff Ramsey

text: Ramsey is one of the original voice actors for Rooster Teeth's sci-fi comedy machinima series "Red vs. Blue" (2003–present) as the voice of Dexter Grif. Since then, he has gone on to become an Internet celebrity, regularly appearing at conventions such as PAX and Com Blue with "Red vs. Blue" actors Burnie Burns, Gus Sorola and Joel Heyman on the "Rooster Teeth Podcast". He has only appeared on the podcast sporadically since September 2011, but was one of the hosts on a November 2014 episode of "The Patch", Rooster Teeth's gaming podcast. Ramsey's other work with Rooster Teeth includes voicing The Omnipotent Voice in the machinima series "The Strangerhood" (2004–2006), playing a fictionalized version of himself in both "Captain Dynamic" (2008) and "Rooster Teeth Shorts" (2009–present), being a "lab rat" in "Immersion" (2010), and voicing the Corpirate, the primary antagonist of the first season of the animated series "X-Ray and Vav" (2014).


title: Geoff Ramsey

text: In 2008, Ramsey started Achievement Hunter with his colleague Jack Pattillo, a department of Rooster Teeth Productions centered largely on video games. The site originally focused on making videos of achievement guides and Easter eggs found in video games, but has since moved its primary focus to comedic "Let's Play" videos, wherein they play video games and provide humorous commentary, as well as other game-related videos and live-action content featuring the same personalities.


title: Geoff Ramsey

text: Additionally, he appeared in the bi-weekly reality series "Happy Hour" alongside his friend and coworker Gavin Free and his second wife Griffon Ramsey. In June 2018, Rooster Teeth launched its first pop-up store in Los Angeles featuring a collection of shirts, hoodies, bags, and pins designed by Ramsey. On September 23, 2019, it was announced that Ramsey had been appointed executive creative director of Rooster Teeth.


title: Geoff Ramsey

text: While changing his surname to his stepfather's, "Ramsey", he was informed by the court that it would not cost any more to change any of his other names, so he jokingly changed his middle name to "Lazer".


title: Geoff Ramsey

text: Ramsey married his second wife, Griffon Ramsey, in 2005. They have a daughter named Millicent. In November 2017, Griffon confirmed on Twitter that the two were in the process of a divorce. Geoff announced the following April that he was divorced in a video on the Let's Play channel on YouTube.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbying in the United States describes paid activity in which special interest groups hire well-connected professional advocates, often lawyers, to argue for specific legislation in decision-making bodies such as the United States Congress. It is a highly controversial phenomenon, often seen in a negative light by journalists and the American public, with some critics describing it as a legal form of bribery, influence peddling, and/or extortion. While lobbying is subject to extensive and often complex rules which, if not followed, can lead to penalties including jail, the activity of lobbying has been interpreted by court rulings as constitutionally protected free speech and a way to petition the government for the redress of grievances, two of the freedoms protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Since the 1970s, lobbying activity has grown immensely in the United States in terms of the numbers of lobbyists and the size of lobbying budgets, and has become the focus of much criticism of American governance.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Since lobby rules require extensive disclosure, there is a large amount of information in the public sphere about which entities lobby, how, at whom, and for how much. The current pattern suggests much lobbying is done primarily by corporations, although a wide variety of coalitions representing diverse groups also occurs. Lobbying takes place at every level of government, including federal, state, county, municipal, and local governments. In Washington, D.C., lobbying usually targets members of Congress, although there have been efforts to influence executive agency officials as well as Supreme Court appointments. Lobbying can have an important influence on the political system; for example, a study in 2014 suggested that special interest lobbying enhanced the power of elite groups and was a factor shifting the nation's political structure toward an oligarchy in which average citizens have "little or no independent influence".


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: The number of lobbyists in Washington is estimated to be over twelve thousand, but most lobbying (in terms of expenditures), is handled by fewer than 300 firms with low turnover. A report in "The Nation" in 2014 suggested that while the number of registered lobbyists in 2013 (12,281) decreased compared to 2002, lobbying activity was increasing and "going underground" as lobbyists use "increasingly sophisticated strategies" to obscure their activity. Analyst James A. Thurber estimated that the actual number of working lobbyists was close to 100,000 and that the industry brings in $9 billion annually. Wall Street spent a record $2 billion trying to influence the 2016 United States presidential election.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbying has been the subject of academic inquiry in various fields, including law, public policy, economics and even marketing strategy.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Political scientist Thomas R. Dye once said that politics is about battling over scarce governmental resources: who gets them, where, when, why and how. Since government makes the rules in a complex economy such as the United States, it is logical that various organizations, businesses, individuals, nonprofits, trade groups, religions, charities and others—which are affected by these rules—will exert as much influence as they can to have rulings favorable to their cause. And the battling for influence has happened in every organized society since the beginning of civilization, whether it was Ancient Athens, Florence during the time of the Medici, Late Imperial China, or the present-day United States. Modern-day lobbyists in one sense are like the courtiers of the Ancien Régime. If voting is a general way for a public to control a government, lobbying is a more specific, targeted effort, focused on a narrower set of issues.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: The term "lobby" has etymological roots in the physical structure of the British Parliament, in which there was an intermediary covered room outside the main hall. People pushing an agenda would try to meet with members of Parliament in this room, and they came to be known, by metonymy, as "lobbyists", although one account in 1890 suggested that the application of the word "lobby" is American and that the term is not used as much in Britain. The Willard Hotel, 2 blocks from the White House at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, claims the term originated there: "It was in the Willard lobby that Ulysses S. Grant popularized the term “lobbyist.” Often bothered by self-promoters as he sat in the lobby and enjoyed his cigar and brandy, he referred to these individuals as "lobbyists."


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: The term "lobbying" in everyday parlance can describe a wide variety of activities, and in its general sense, suggests advocacy, advertising, or promoting a cause. In this sense, anybody who tries to influence any political position can be thought of as "lobbying", and sometimes the term is used in this loose sense. A person who writes a letter to a congressperson, or even questions a candidate at a political meeting, could be construed as being a "lobbyist".


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: However, the term "lobbying" generally means a paid activity with the purpose of attempting to "influence or sway" a public official – including bureaucrats and elected officials – towards a desired specific action often relating to specific legislation. If "advocacy" is disseminating information, including attempts to persuade public officials as well as the public and media to promote the cause of something and support it, then when this activity becomes focused on specific legislation, either in support or in opposition, it crosses the line from "advocacy" and becomes "lobbying". This is the usual sense of the term "lobbying." One account suggested that much of the activity of nonprofits was not "lobbying" per se, since it usually did not mean changes in legislation.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: A lobbyist, according to the legal sense of the word, is a professional, often a lawyer. Lobbyists are intermediaries between client organizations and lawmakers: they explain to legislators what their organizations want, and they explain to their clients what obstacles elected officials face. One definition of a lobbyist is someone "employed to persuade legislators to pass legislation that will help the lobbyist's employer." Many lobbyists work in lobbying firms or law firms, some of which retain clients outside lobbying. Others work for advocacy groups, trade associations, companies, and state and local governments. Lobbyists can be one type of government official, such as a governor of a state, who presses officials in Washington for specific legislation. A lobbyist may put together a diverse coalition of organizations and people, sometimes including lawmakers and corporations, and the whole effort may be considered to be a "lobby"; for example, in the abortion issue, there is a "pro-choice lobby" and a "pro-life lobby".


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: An estimate from 2007 reported that more than 15,000 federal lobbyists were based in Washington, DC; another estimate from 2018 suggested that the count of registered lobbyists who actually lobbied that year was 11,656. While numbers like these suggest that lobbying is a widespread activity, most accounts suggest that the Washington lobbying industry is an exclusive one run by a few well-connected firms and players, with serious barriers to entry for firms wanting to get into the lobbying business, since it requires them to have been "roaming the halls of Congress for years and years."


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: It is possible for foreign nations to influence the foreign policy of the United States through lobbying or by supporting lobbying organizations directly or indirectly. For example, in 2016, Taiwanese officials hired American senator-turned-lobbyist Bob Dole to set up a controversial phone call between president-elect Donald Trump and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen. There are reports that the National Rifle Association, a U.S.-based lobbying group advocating for gun rights, has been the target of a decade-long infiltration effort by Russian president Vladimir Putin, with allegations that Putin funneled cash through the NRA to aid the election of Donald Trump. There are also reports that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have waged an intense lobbying campaign to win over the Trump administration and Congress.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: The long-standing probe into the influence campaign run by foreign governments such as the UAE, in the US 2016 presidential elections led to the arrest of a high-profile associate on July 20, 2021, having ties with former President Donald Trump. The former outside adviser to Mr. Trump's election campaign and one of his top fund-raisers for the 2016 elections, Thomas J. Barrack Jr. was arrested in mid-July 2021 for the obstruction of justice by lying to the investigators about failing to register himself as a foreign lobbyist working for the government of the UAE. The 74-year-old was accused of a nine-count indictment for misusing his access to Trump in order to expand the foreign policy goals of the foreign government of the UAE and repeatedly misleading the federal agents regarding his activities, as per a June 2019 interview. Two other men, Matthew Grimes, a former senior executive of Barrack's company and Rashid al-Malik Alshahhi, an Emirati business with close ties to UAE rulers like Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also named in the investigation were charged with acting as the agents of the Emirati government without registration under FARA of the US Justice Department. While 27-year-old Grimes was arrested, 43-year-old Mr. al-Malik remained unreachable. In 2022, Barrack and Grimes were found not guilty on all charges. Abbe Lowell, Grimes's lawyer, said the case was "another example of prosecutors overreaching and overcharging".


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Generally, lobbyists focus on trying to persuade decision-makers: Congress, executive branch agencies such as the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Supreme Court, and state governments (including governors). Federal agencies have been targeted by lobbyists since they write industry-specific rules; accordingly, interest groups spend "massive sums of money" trying to persuade them to make so-called "carve-outs" or try to block specific provisions from being enacted. A large fraction of overall lobbying is focused on only a few sets of issues, according to one report. It is possible for one level of government to lobby another level; for example, the District of Columbia has been lobbying Congress and the President for greater power, including possible statehood or voting representation in Congress; one assessment in 2011 suggested that the district needed to rethink its lobbying strategy, since its past efforts have only had "mixed results". Many executive branch agencies have the power to write specific rules and are a target of lobbying. Federal agencies such as the State Department make rules such as giving aid money to countries such as Egypt, and in one example, an Egyptian-American businessman named Kais Menoufy organized a lobby to try to halt U.S. aid to Egypt. Since the Supreme Court has the power of judicial review and can render a congressional law unconstitutional, it has great power to influence the course of American life. For example, in the "Roe v. Wade" decision, it ruled on the legality of abortion. A variety of forces use lobbying tactics to pressure the court to overturn this decision.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbyists represent their clients' or organizations' interests in state capitols. An example is a former school superintendent who has been lobbying state legislatures in California, Michigan and Nevada to overhaul teacher evaluations, and trying to end the "Last In, First Out" teacher hiring processes; according to one report, Michelle Rhee is becoming a "political force." State governments can be lobbied by groups which represent "other governments" within the state, such as a city authority; for example, the cities of Tallahassee and St. Petersburg lobbied the Florida legislature using paid lobbyists to represent the city's interests. There is lobbying activity at the county and municipal levels, especially in larger cities and populous counties. For example, officials within the city government of Chicago called aldermen became lobbyists after serving in municipal government, following a one-year period required by city ethics rules to abstain from lobbying.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: While the bulk of lobbying happens by business and professional interests who hire paid professionals, some lobbyists represent non-profits pro-bono for issues in which they are personally interested. Pro bono publico clients offer activities to meet and socialize with local legislators at events like fundraisers and awards ceremonies.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbies which push for a single issue have grown in importance during the past twenty years, according to one source. Corporations generally would be considered as "single issue" lobbies. If a corporation wishes to change public policy, or to influence legislation which impacts its success as a business, it may use lobbying as a "primary avenue" for this purpose. One research study suggested that "single issue" lobbies often operate in different kinds of institutional venues, sometimes bringing the same message to different groups. Lobbies which represent groups such as labor unions, business organizations, trade associations and such are sometimes considered to be "multiple issue lobbies", and to succeed they must be somewhat more flexible politically and be willing to accept compromise.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Taxpayer-funded lobbying is when one taxpayer-funded entity lobbies another taxpayer-funded entity, usually for more taxpayer-funds. In the United States this typically takes place in the form of State-level agencies or municipalities devoting part of their budget to lobby the State government for a larger budget.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: The Constitution was crafted in part to solve the problem of special interests, today usually represented by lobbies, by having these factions compete. James Madison identified a faction as "a number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community", and Madison argued in Federalist No. 10 that there was less risk of injury by a narrowly focused faction in a large republic if any negative influence was counteracted by other factions. In addition, the Constitution protected free speech, including the right to petition the government, and these rights have been used by lobbying interests throughout the nation's history. There has been lobbying at every level of government, particularly in state governments during the nineteenth century, but increasingly directed towards the federal government in the twentieth century. The last few decades have been marked by an exponential increase in lobbying activity and expenditures.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: The number of registered Washington lobbyists is substantial. In 2009, "The Washington Post" estimated that there were 13,700 registered lobbyists, describing the nation's Capitol as "teeming with lobbyists.". In 2011, "The Guardian" estimated that in addition to the approximately 13,000 registered lobbyists, thousands more unregistered lobbyists could exist in Washington. The ratio of lobbyists employed by the healthcare industry, compared with every elected politician, was six to one, according to one account. Nevertheless, the numbers of lobbyists actively engaged in lobbying is considerably less, and the ones occupied with lobbying full-time and making significant money is even less.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Corporations which lobby actively tend to be few in number, large, and often sell to the government. Most corporations do not hire lobbyists. One study found that the actual number of firms which do lobbying regularly is fewer than 300, and that the percent of firms engaged in lobbying was 10% from 1998 to 2006, and that they were "mainly large, rich firms getting in on the fun." These firms hired lobbyists year after year, and there was not much evidence of other large firms taking much interest in lobbying. Corporations considering lobbying run into substantial barriers to entry: corporations have to research the relevant laws about lobbying, hire lobbying firms, and cultivate influential people and make connections. When an issue regarding a change in immigration policy arose, large corporations currently lobbying switched focus somewhat to take account of the new regulatory world, but new corporations—even ones likely to be affected by any possible rulings on immigration—stayed out of the lobbying fray, according to the study.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Still, of all the entities doing lobbying in Washington, the biggest overall spenders are, in fact, corporations. In the first decade of the 2000s, the most lucrative clients for Gerald Cassidy's lobbying firm were corporations, displacing fees from the appropriations business. Wall Street lobbyists and the financial industry spent upwards of $100 million in one year to "court regulators and lawmakers", particularly since they were "finalizing new regulations for lending, trading and debit card fees." One academic analysis in 1987 found that firms were more likely to spend on lobbying if they were both large and concerned about "adverse financial statement consequences" if they did not lobby. Big banks were "prolific spenders" on lobbying; JPMorgan Chase has an in-house team of lobbyists who spent $3.3 million in 2010; the American Bankers Association spent $4.6 million on lobbying; an organization representing 100 of the nation's largest financial firms called the "Financial Services Roundtable" spent heavily as well. A trade group representing Hedge Funds spent more than $1 million in one quarter trying to influence the government about financial regulations, including an effort to try to change a rule that might demand greater disclosure requirements for funds. Amazon.com spent $450,000 in one quarter lobbying about a possible online sales tax as well as rules about data protection and privacy. Corporations which sell substantially to the government tend to be active lobbiers. For example, aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which has sizeable defense contracts, pours "millions into lobbying":


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: In the spring of 2017, there was a fierce lobbying effort by Internet service providers (ISPs) such as Comcast and AT&T, and tech firms such as Google and Facebook, to undo regulations protecting consumer privacy. Rules passed by the Obama administration in 2016 required ISPs to get "explicit consent" from consumers before gathering browsing histories, locations of businesses visited and applications used, but trade groups wanted to be able to sell this information for profit without consent. Lobbyists connected with Republican senator Jeff Flake and Republican representative Marsha Blackburn to sponsor legislation to dismantle Internet privacy rules; Flake received $22,700 in donations and Blackburn received $20,500 in donations from these trade groups. On March 23, 2017, abolition of privacy restrictions passed on a narrow party-line vote, and the lobbying effort achieved its result. In 2017, credit reporting agency Equifax lobbied Congress extensively, spending $1.1 million in 2016 and $500,000 in 2017, seeking rules to limit damage from lawsuits and less regulatory oversight; in August 2017, Equifax's databases were breached and the confidential data of millions of Americans was stolen by hackers and identity thieves, potentially opening up the firm to numerous class action lawsuits.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Major American corporations spent $345 million lobbying for just three pro-immigration bills between 2006 and 2008. Internet service providers in the United States have spent more than $1.2 billion on lobbying since 1998, and 2018 was the biggest year so far with a total spend of more than $80 million.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: From a review in 2020, major food and beverage corporations spent $38.2 million on lobbying to strengthen and maintain big food influence in Washington, D.C.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: One report suggested the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union spent $80,000 lobbying the federal government on issues relating to "the tax code, food safety, immigration reform and other issues."


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Other possible players in the lobbying arena are those who might influence legislation: House & Senate colleagues, public opinion in the district, the White House, party leaders, union leaders, and other influential persons and groups. Interest groups are often thought of as "nonparty organizations" which regularly try to change or influence government decision-making.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbying has much in common with highly people-intensive businesses such as management consulting and public relations, but with a political and legal sensibility. Like lawmakers, many lobbyists are lawyers, and the persons they are trying to influence have the duty of writing laws. That the disciplines of law and lobbying are intertwined could be seen in the case of a Texas lawyer who had been seeking compensation for his unfairly imprisoned client; since his exonerated-prisoner client had trouble paying the legal expenses, the lawyer lobbied the Texas state legislature to raise the state's payment for unfairly imprisoned prisoners from $50,000 per year to $80,000 per year; it succeeded, making it possible for his newly freed client to pay the lawyer's fees.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Well-connected lobbyists work in Washington for years, know the issues, are highly skilled advocates, and have cultivated close connections with members of Congress, regulators, specialists, and others. They understand strategy and have excellent communication skills; many are well suited to be able to choose which clients they would like to represent. Lobbyists patiently cultivate networks of powerful people, over many years, trying to build trust and maintain confidence and friendships. When a client hires them to push a specific issue or agenda, they usually form coalitions to exert political pressure. Lobbying, as a result, depends on trying to be flexible to new opportunities, but at the same time, to act as an agent for a client. As one lobbyist put it:


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Access is important and often means a one-on-one meeting with a legislator. Getting access can sometimes be difficult, but there are various avenues: email, personal letters, phone calls, face-to-face meetings, meals, get-togethers, and even chasing after congresspersons in the Capitol building:


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: When getting access is difficult, there are ways to wear down the walls surrounding a legislator. Jack Abramoff explained:


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbyists often assist congresspersons with campaign finance by arranging fundraisers, assembling PACs, and seeking donations from other clients. Many lobbyists become campaign treasurers and fundraisers for congresspersons. This helps incumbent members cope with the substantial amounts of time required to raise money for reelection bids; one estimate was that congresspersons had to spend a third of their working hours on fundraising activity. PACs are fairly easy to set up; it requires a lawyer and about $300, roughly. An even steeper possible reward which can be used in exchange for favors is the lure of a high-paying job as a lobbyist; according to Jack Abramoff, one of the best ways to "get what he wanted" was to offer a high-ranking congressional aide a high-paying job after they decided to leave public office. When such a promise of future employment was accepted, according to Abramoff, "we owned them". This helped the lobbying firm exert influence on that particular congressperson by going through the staff member or aide. At the same time, it is hard for outside observers to argue that a particular decision, such as hiring a former staffer into a lobbying position, was purely as a reward for some past political decision, since staffers often have valuable connections and policy experience needed by lobbying firms. Research economist Mirko Draca suggested that hiring a staffer was an ideal way for a lobbying firm to try to sway their old bosses—a congressperson—in the future.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbyists, according to several sources, strive for communications which are clear, straightforward, and direct. In a one-on-one meeting with a lobbyist, it helps to understand precisely what goal is wanted. A lobbyist wants action on a bill; a legislator wants to be re-elected. The idea is to persuade a legislator that what the lobbyist wants is good public policy. Lobbyists often urge lawmakers to try to persuade other lawmakers to approve a bill.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Still, persuasion is a subtle business, requiring a deft touch, and carelessness can boomerang. In one instance of a public relations reversal, a lobbying initiative by the Cassidy firm which targeted Senator Robert C. Byrd blew up when the Cassidy-Byrd connection was published in "The Washington Post"; this resulted in a furious Byrd reversing his previous pro-Cassidy position and throwing a "theatrical temper tantrum" regarding an $18 million facility. Byrd denounced "lobbyists who collect exorbitant fees to create projects and have them earmarked in appropriation bills... for the benefit of their clients."


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Since it often takes a long time to build the network of relationships within the lobbying industry, ethical interpersonal dealings are important. A maxim in the industry is for lobbyists to be truthful with people they are trying to persuade; one lobbyist described it this way: "what you've basically got is your word and reputation". An untruth, a lie is too risky to the successful development of a long-term relationship and the potential gain is not worth the risk. One report suggested that below-the-belt tactics generally do not work. One account suggest that groping for "personal dirt" on opponents was counterproductive since it would undermine respect for the lobbyist and their clients. And, by reverse logic, if an untruth is told by an opponent or opposing lobby, then it makes sense to publicize it. But the general code among lobbyists is that unsubstantiated claims are bad business. Even worse is planting an informant in an opponent's camp, since if this subterfuge is ever discovered, it will boomerang negatively in a hundred ways, and credibility will drop to zero. The importance of personal relationships in lobbying can be seen in the state of Illinois, in which father-son ties helped push a smart-grid energy bill, although there were accusations of favoritism. And there is anecdotal evidence that a business firm seeking to profitably influence legislation has to pay particular attention to which lobbyist it hires.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Strategic considerations for lobbyists, trying to influence legislation, include "locating a power base" or a constituency logically predisposed to support a given policy. Timing, as well, is usually important, in the sense of knowing when to propose a certain action and having a big-picture view of the possible sequence of desired actions. Strategic lobbying tries to estimate the possible responses of different groups to a possible lobby approach; one study suggested that the "expectations of opposition from other interests" was a key factor helping to determine how a lobby should operate.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Increasingly, lobbyists seek to put together coalitions and use "outside lobbying" by swaying public opinion. Bigger, more diverse and deep pocketed coalitions tend to be more effective in outside lobbying, and the "strength in numbers" principle often applies. Interest groups try to build "sustainable coalitions of similarly situated individual organizations in pursuit of like-minded goals". According to one study, it is often difficult for a lobbyist to influence a staff member in Congress directly, since staffers tend to be well-informed and subject to views from competing interests. As an indirect tactic, lobbyists can try to manipulate public opinion which, in turn, can sometimes exert pressure on congresspersons. Activities for these purposes include trying to use the mass media, cultivating contacts with reporters and editors, encouraging them to write editorials and cover stories to influence public opinion, which may have the secondary effect of influencing Congress. According to analyst Ken Kollman, it is easier to sway public opinion than a congressional staff member since it is possible to bombard the public with "half-truths, distortion, scare tactics, and misinformation." Kollman suggests there should be two goals: (1) communicate that there is public support behind an issue to policymakers and (2) increase public support for the issue among constituents. Kollman suggested outside lobbying was a "powerful tool" for interest group leaders. In a sense, using these criteria, one could consider James Madison as having engaged in "outside lobbying", since after the Constitution was proposed, he wrote many of the 85 newspaper editorials arguing for people to support the Constitution, and these writings later became the "Federalist Papers". As a result of this "lobbying" effort, the Constitution was ratified, although there were narrow margins of victory in four of the state legislatures. Lobbying today generally requires mounting a coordinated campaign, using targeted blitzes of telephone calls, letters, emails to congressional lawmakers, marches down the National Mall, bus caravans, and such, and these are often put together by lobbyists who coordinate a variety of interest group leaders to unite behind a hopefully simple easy-to-grasp and persuasive message.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: It is important for lobbyists to follow rules governing lobbying behavior. These can be difficult and complex, take time to learn, require full disclosure, and mistakes can land a lobbyist in serious legal trouble.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Gifts for congresspersons and staffers can be problematic, since anything of sizeable value must be disclosed and generally such gifts are illegal. Failure to observe gift restrictions was one factor which caused lobbyist Jack Abramoff to eventually plead guilty to a "raft of federal corruption charges" and led to convictions for 20 lobbyists and public officials, including congressperson Bob Ney and Bush deputy interior secretary Stephen Griles. Generally gifts to congresspersons or their staffs or federal officials are not allowed, but with a few exceptions: books are permitted, provided that the inside cover is inscribed with the congressperson's name and the name of one's organization. Gifts under $5 are allowed. Another exception is awards, so it is permitted to give a congressperson a plaque thanking him or her for support on a given issue. Cash gifts payable by check can only be made to campaign committees, not to a candidate personally or to staff; it is not permitted to give cash or stock.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Wealthy lobbyists often encourage other lobbying clients to donate to a particular cause, in the hope that favors will be returned at a later date. Lobbyist Gerald Cassidy encouraged other clients to give for causes dear to a particular client engaged in a current lobbying effort. Some lobbyists give their own money: Cassidy reportedly donated a million dollars on one project, according to one report, which noted that Cassidy's firm received "many times that much in fees from their clients" paid in monthly retainers. And their clients, in turn, had received "hundreds of millions in earmarked appropriations" and benefits worth "hundreds of millions more".


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: The dynamics of the lobbying world make it fairly easy for a semi-skilled operator to defraud a client. This is essentially what happened in the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal. There was a concerned client—in this case, an Indian casino—worried about possible ill-effects of legislation on its gambling business; and there were lobbyists such as Jack Abramoff who knew how to exploit these fears. The lobbyists actively lobbied "against" their own casino-client as a way to ratchet up their fears of adverse legislation as well as stoke possible future contributions; the lobbyists committed other violations such as grossly overbilling their clients as well as violating rules about giving gifts to congresspersons. Numerous persons went to jail after the scandal. The following are factors which can make fraud a fairly easy-to-do activity: that lobbyists are paid only to "try to" influence decision-makers, and may or may not succeed, making it hard to tell if a lobbyist did actual work; that much of what happens regarding interpersonal relations is obscure despite rather strict disclosure and transparency requirements; that there are sizable monies involved—factors such as these almost guarantee that there will be future scandals involving fraudulent lobbying activity, according to one assessment. A fraud similar to Abramoff's was perpetrated in Maryland by lobbyist Gerard E. Evans, who was convicted of mail and wire fraud in 2000 in a case involving falsely creating a "fictitious legislative threat" against a client, and then billing the client to work against this supposed threat.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbyists routinely monitor how congressional officials vote, sometimes checking the past voting records of congresspersons. One report suggested that reforms requiring "publicly recorded committee votes" led to more information about how congresspersons voted, but instead of becoming a valuable resource for the news media or voters, the information helped lobbyists monitor congressional voting patterns. As a general rule, lawmakers must vote as a particular interest group wishes them to vote, or risk losing support.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Strategy usually dictates targeting specific office holders. On the state level, one study suggested that much of the lobbying activity targeted the offices of governors as well as state-level executive bureaucrats; state lobbying was an "intensely personal game" with face-to-face contact being required for important decisions.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbying can be a counteractive response to the lobbying efforts of others. One study suggested this was particularly true for battles surrounding possible decisions by the Supreme Court which is considered as a "battleground for public policy" in which differing groups try to "etch their policy preferences into law". Sometimes there are lobbying efforts to slow or derail other legislative processes; for example, when the FDA began considering a cheaper generic version of the costly anti-clotting drug Lovenox, the French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi "sprang into action to try and slow the process." Lobbyists are often assembled in anticipation of a potential takeover bid, particularly when there are large high-profile companies, or a large foreign company involved, and substantial concern that the takeover may be blocked by regulatory authorities.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: An example may illustrate. The company Tyco had learned that there had been discussion about a possible new tax provision that might have cost it $4 billion overall. So the firm hired Jack Abramoff and paid him a retainer of $100,000 a month. He assembled dozens of lobbyists with connections to key congressional committees with the ultimate objective being to influence powerful Senator Charles Grassley. Abramoff began with a fundraising effort to round up "every check" possible. He sought funds from his other lobbying clients:


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: "Government has grown so complex that it is a virtual certainty that more than one agency would be affected by any piece of legislation," according to one view. Lobbyists, therefore, spend considerable time learning the ins and outs of issues, and can use their expertise to educate lawmakers and help them cope with difficult issues. Lobbyists' knowledge has been considered to be an intellectual subsidy for lawmakers. Some lobbyists become specialists with expertise in a particular set of issues, although one study suggested that of two competing criteria for lobbyists—expertise or access—that access was far more important.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobby groups and their members sometimes also write legislation and whip bills, and in these instances, it is helpful to have lawyers skilled in writing legislation to assist with these efforts. It is often necessary to research relevant laws and issues beforehand. In many instances lobbyists write the actual text of the proposed law, and hire lawyers to "get the language down pat"—an omission in wording or an unclear phrase may open up a loophole for opponents to wrangle over for years. And lobbyists can often advise a lawmaker on how to navigate the approval process.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbying firms can serve as mentors and guides. For example, after months of protesting by the Occupy Wall Street, one lobbying firm prepared a memo to its clients warning that Republicans may "turn on big banks, at least in public" which may have the effect of "altering the political ground for years to come." Here are parts of the memo which were broadcast on the MSNBC network.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Since the 1970s, there has been explosive growth in the lobbying industry, particularly in Washington D.C. By 2011, one estimate of overall lobbying spending nationally was $30+ billion dollars. An estimate of lobbying expenses in the federal arena was $3.5 billion in 2010, while it had been only $1.4 billion in 1998. And there is prodigious data since firms are required to disclose lobbying expenditures on a quarterly basis.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: The industry, however, is not immune to economic downturns. If Congress is gridlocked, such as during the summer and early fall of 2011, lobbying activity dipped considerably, according to "The Washington Post". Lobbying firm Patton Boggs reported drops in revenue during that year, from $12 million in 2010 to $11 million in 2011. To cope with the downturn, some law firms compensated by increasing activity in litigation, regulatory work, and representing clients in congressional investigations.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: A sea-change in government, such as a shift in control of the legislature from one political party to the other, can affect the lobbying business profoundly. For example, the primarily Democratic-serving lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates learned that control of Congress would change hands from Democrats to Republicans in 1994, and the firm acquired Republican lobbyists before the congressional handover of power, and the move helped the lobbying firm stay on top of the new political realities.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: There are numerous examples of lobbying activity reported by the media. One report chronicled a somewhat unusual alliance of consumer advocates and industry groups to boost funding for the Food and Drug Administration; the general pattern of lobbying efforts had been to try to reduce the regulatory oversight of such an agency. In this case, however, lobbying groups wanted the federal watchdog agency to have tougher policing authority to avert expensive problems when oversight was lax; in this case, industry and consumer groups were in harmony, and lobbyists were able to persuade officials that higher FDA budgets were in the public interest. Religious consortiums, according to one report, have engaged in a $400 million lobbying effort on such issues as the relation between church and state, civil rights for religious minorities, bioethics issues including abortion and capital punishment and end-of-life issues, and family issues.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: While national-level lobbyists working in Washington have the highest salaries, many lobbyists operating at the state level can earn substantial salaries. The table shows the top lobbyists in one state—Maryland—in 2011.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: The consensus is that lobbying generally works overall in achieving sought-after results for clients, particularly since it has become so prevalent with substantial and growing budgets, although there are dissenting views. A study by the investment-research firm Strategas which was cited in "The Economist" and "The Washington Post" compared the 50 firms that spent the most on lobbying relative to their assets, and compared their financial performance against that of the S&P 500 in the stock market; the study concluded that spending on lobbying was a "spectacular investment" yielding "blistering" returns comparable to a high-flying hedge fund, even despite the financial downturn of the past few years. A 2009 study by University of Kansas professor Raquel Meyer Alexander suggested that lobbying brought a substantial return on investment. A 2011 meta-analysis of previous research findings found a positive correlation between corporate political activity and firm performance. There are numerous reports that the National Rifle Association or NRA successfully influenced 45 senators to block a proposed rule to regulate assault weapons, despite strong public support for gun control. The NRA spends heavily to influence gun policy; it gives $3 million annually to the re-election campaigns of congresspersons directly, and gives additional money to PACs and others to influence legislation indirectly, according to the "BBC" in 2016.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: There is widespread agreement that a key ingredient in effective lobbying is money. This view is shared by players in the lobbying industry.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Still, effectiveness can vary depending on the situational context. One view is that large multiple-issue lobbies tend to be effective in getting results for their clients if they are sophisticated, managed by a legislative director familiar with the art of compromise, and play "political hardball". But if such lobbies became too big, such as large industrial trade organizations, they became harder to control, often leading to lackluster results. A study in 2001 which compared lobbying activity in US-style congressional against European-style parliamentary systems, found that in congressional systems there was an advantage favoring the "agenda-setters", but that in both systems, "lobbying has a marked effect on policies". One report suggested that the 1,000 registered lobbyists in California were highly influential such that they were called the "Third House".


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Studies of lobbying by academics in previous decades painted a picture of lobbying being an ineffectual activity, although many of these studies were done before lobbying became prevalent in American politics. A study in 1963 by Bauer, Pool, & Dexter suggested lobbyists were mostly "impotent" in exerting influence. Studies in the early 1990s suggested that lobbying exerted influence only "marginally", although it suggested that when lobbying activity did achieve political impacts, that the results of the political choices were sufficient to justify the expenditure on lobbying. A fairly recent study in 2009 is that Washington lobbies are "far less influential than political rhetoric suggests", and that most lobbying campaigns do not change any views and that there was a strong entrenchment of the status quo. But it depends on what is seen as "effective", since many lobbying battles result in a stalemate, since powerful interests battle, and in many cases, merely keeping the "status quo" could be seen as a victory of sorts. What happens often is that varying coalitions find themselves in "diametrical opposition to each other" and that stalemates result.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: There is anecdotal evidence from numerous newspaper accounts of different groups battling that lobbying activity usually achieves results. For example, the Obama administration pledged to stop for-profit colleges from "luring students with false promises", but with this threat, the lobbying industry sprang into action with a $16 million campaign, and their efforts succeeded in watering down the proposed restrictions. How did the lobbying campaign succeed? Actions taken included:


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: And sometimes merely keeping the status quo could be seen as a victory. When gridlock led to the supposed supercommittee solution, numerous lobbyists from all parts of the political spectrum worked hard, and a stalemate resulted, but with each side defended their own special interests. And while money is an important variable, it is one among many variables, and there have been instances in which huge sums have been spent on lobbying only to have the result backfire. One report suggested that the communications firm AT&T failed to achieve substantial results from its lobbying efforts in 2011, since government antitrust officials rejected its plan to acquire rival T-Mobile.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbying is a practical necessity for firms that "live and die" by government decisions, such as large government contractors such as Boeing. A study done in 2006 by "Bloomberg News" suggested that lobbying was a "sound money-making strategy" for the 20 largest federal contractors. The largest contractor, Lockheed Martin Corporation, received almost $40 billion in federal contracts in 2003–4, and spent $16 million on lobbying expenses and campaign donations. For each dollar of lobbying investment, the firm received $2,517 in revenues, according to the report. When the lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates began achieving results with earmarks for colleges and universities and medical centers, new lobbying firms rose to compete with them to win "earmarks of their own", a clear sign that the lobbying was exceedingly effective.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Lobbying has been the subject of much debate and discussion. There is general consensus that lobbying has been a significant corrupting influence in American politics, although criticism is not universal, and there have been arguments put forward to suggest that the system is working properly.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Generally the image of lobbyists and lobbying in the public sphere is not a positive one, although this is not a universal sentiment. Lobbyists have been described as a "hired gun" without principles or positions. Scandals involving lobbying have helped taint the image of the profession, such as ones involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and congressmen Randy "Duke" Cunningham, and Bob Ney and others, and which featured words such as "bribery", "lobbyist", "member of Congress" and "prison" tending to appear together in the same articles. Negative publicity can sully lobbying's image to a great extent: high-profile cases of lobbying fraud such as Abramoff's; dubious father-son exchange-of-favors ties; public officials such as Newt Gingrich being accused and then denying accusations of having done lobbying and earning $1.6 million from "strategic advice". There are a variety of reasons why lobbying has acquired a negative image in public consciousness. While there is much disclosure, much of it happens in hard-to-disclose personal meetings, and the resulting secrecy and confidentiality can serve to lower lobbying's status.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Since the 1980s, congresspersons and staffers have been "going downtown"—becoming lobbyists—and the big draw is money. The "lucrative world of K Street" means that former congresspersons with even "modest seniority" can move into jobs paying $1 million or more annually, without including bonuses for bringing in new clients. The general concern of this revolving-door activity is that elected officials—persons who were supposed to represent the interests of citizens—have instead become entangled with the big-money interests of for-profit corporations and interest groups with narrow concerns, and that public officials have been taken over by private interests.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: In July 2005, Public Citizen published a report entitled "The Journey from Congress to K Street": the report analyzed hundreds of lobbyist registration documents filed in compliance with the Lobbying Disclosure Act and the Foreign Agents Registration Act among other sources. It found that since 1998, 43 percent of the 198 members of Congress who left government to join private life have registered to lobby. A similar report from OpenSecrets found 370 former members were in the "influence-peddling business", with 285 officially registered as federal lobbyists, and 85 others who were described as providing "strategic advice" or "public relations" to corporate clients. "The Washington Post" described these results as reflecting the "sea change that has occurred in lawmakers' attitudes toward lobbying in recent years." The report included a case study of one particularly successful lobbyist, Bob Livingston, who stepped down as Speaker-elect and resigned his seat in 1999. In the six years since his resignation, The Livingston Group grew into the 12th largest non-law lobbying firm, earning nearly $40 million by the end of 2004. During roughly the same time period, Livingston, his wife, and his two political action committees (PACs) contributed over $500,000 to the campaign funds of various candidates. The percentage of former members of Congress who become lobbyists has continued to increase. A 2019 study found that 59% of representatives who leave Congress to work in the private sector are working for lobbying or political consulting firms, trade groups or business groups tasked with influencing federal government policy.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Numerous reports chronicle the "revolving door" phenomenon. A 2011 estimate suggested that nearly 5,400 former congressional staffers had become federal lobbyists over a ten-year period, and 400 lawmakers made a similar jump. It is a "symbiotic relationship" in the sense that lobbying firms can exploit the "experience and connections gleaned from working inside the legislative process", and lawmakers find a "ready pool of experienced talent." There is movement in the other direction as well: one report found that 605 former lobbyists had taken jobs working for lawmakers over a ten-year period. A study by the London School of Economics found 1,113 lobbyists who had formerly worked in lawmakers' offices. The lobbying option is a way for staffers and lawmakers to "cash in on their experience", according to one view. Before the 1980s, staffers and aides worked many years for congresspersons, sometimes decades, and tended to stay in their jobs; now, with the lure of higher-paying lobbying jobs, many would quit their posts after a few years at most to "go downtown."


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: And it is not just staffers, but lawmakers as well, including high-profile ones such as congressperson Richard Gephardt. He represented a "working-class" district in Missouri for many years but after leaving Congress, he became a lobbyist. In 2007, he began his own lobbying firm called "Gephardt Government Affairs Group" and in 2010 it was earning close to $7 million in revenues with clients including Goldman Sachs, Boeing, Visa Inc., Ameren Corporation, and Waste Management Inc. Senators Robert Bennett and Byron Dorgan became lobbyists too. Mississippi governor Haley Barbour became a lobbyist. In 2010, former representative Billy Tauzin earned $11 million running the drug industry's lobbying organization, called Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). His bill to provide prescription drug access to Medicare recipients gave major concessions to the pharmaceutical industry: (1)


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Medicare was prevented from negotiating lower costs for prescription drugs (2) the reimportation of drugs from first world countries was not allowed (3) Medicare D was undermined by a policy of Medigap D. After the bill passed a few months later, Tauzin retired from Congress and took an executive position at PhRMA to earn an annual salary of $2 million. Many former representatives earned over $1 million in one year, including James Greenwood and Daniel Glickman.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: A similar concern voiced by critics of lobbying is that Washington politics has become dominated by elites, and that it is an "insider's game" excluding regular citizens and which favors entrenched firms. Individuals generally can not afford to lobby, and critics question whether corporations with "deeper pockets" should have greater power than regular persons. In this view, the system favors the rich, such that the "rich have gotten richer, the weak weaker", admits lobbyist Gerald Cassidy. There is concern that those having more money and better political connections can exert more influence than others. However, analyst Barry Hessenius made a case that the excessive for-profit lobbying could be counteracted if there were more efforts to increase nonprofit lobbying and boost their effectiveness. There is so much money that it has been described as a "flood" that has a "corrupting influence", so that the United States appears to be "awash" in interest groups. If coalitions of different forces battle in the political arena for favorable treatment and better rules and tax breaks, it can be seen as fair if both sides have equal resources and try to fight for their interests as best they can. Gerald Cassidy said:


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: A related but slightly different criticism is that the problem with lobbying as it exists today is that it creates an "inequity of access to the decision-making process". As a result, important needs get left out of the political evaluation, such that there are no anti-hunger lobbies or lobbies seeking serious solutions to the problem of poverty. Nonprofit advocacy has been "conspicuously absent" from lobbying efforts, according to one view. Critics suggest that when a powerful coalition battles a less powerful one, or one which is poorly connected or underfunded, the result may be seen as unfair and potentially harmful for the entire society. The increasing number of former lawmakers becoming lobbyists has led Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) to propose paring back the many Capitol Hill privileges enjoyed by former senators and representatives. His plan would deprive lawmakers-turned-lobbyists of privileges such as unfettered access to otherwise "members only" areas such as the House and Senate floors and the House gym.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: A concern among many critics is that influence peddling hurts overall decision making, according to this criticism. Proposals with merit are dropped in favor of proposals backed by political expediency. An example cited in the media is the recent battling between food industry lobbyists and healthcare lobbyists regarding school lunches. A group supported by the United States Department of Agriculture proposed healthier lunches as a way to combat childhood obesity by limiting the number of potatoes served, limiting salty foods, and adding more fresh vegetables, but this group was countered by a strong food lobby backed by Coca-Cola, Del Monte, and makers of frozen pizza. The food lobbyists succeeded in blocking the proposed reforms, even writing rules suggesting that the tomato paste on a pizza qualified as a vegetable, but overall, according to critics, this case appeared to be an example where business interests won out over health concerns. Critics use examples such as these to suggest that lobbying distorts sound governance. A study by IMF economists found that the "heaviest lobbying came from lenders making riskier loans and expanding their mortgage business most rapidly during the housing boom," and that there were indications that heavy-lobbying lenders were more likely to receive bailout funds. The study found a correlation between lobbying by financial institutions and excessive risk-taking during 2000–2007, and the authors concluded that "politically active lenders played a role in accumulation of risks and thus contributed to the financial crisis". Another study suggested that governments tend to protect domestic industries, and have a habit of shunting monies to ailing sectors; the study suggested that "it is not that government policy picks losers, it is that losers pick government policy." One critic suggested that the financial industry has successfully blocked attempts at regulation in the aftermath of the 2008 financial collapse.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: Critics have contended that when lawmakers are drawn into battles to determine issues such as the composition over school lunches or how much an ATM fee should be, more serious issues such as deficit reduction or global warming or social security are neglected. It leads to legislative inertia. The concern is that the preoccupation with what are seen as superficial issues prevents attention to long-term problems. Critics suggested that the 2011 Congress spent more time discussing per-transaction debit-card fees while neglecting issues seen as more pressing.


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: In this line of reasoning, critics contend that lobbying, in and of itself, is not the sole problem, but only one aspect of a larger problem with American governance. Critics point to an interplay of factors: citizens being uninvolved politically; congresspersons needing huge sums of money for expensive television advertising campaigns; increased complexity in terms of technologies; congresspersons spending three days of every week raising money; and so forth. Given these temptations, lobbying came along as a logical response to meet the needs of congresspersons seeking campaign funds and staffers seeking personal enrichment. In a sense, in competitive politics, the common good gets lost:


title: Lobbying in the United States

text: A lobbyist can identify a client's needs. But it is hard for a single individual to say what is best for the whole group. The intent of the Constitution's Framers was to have built-in constitutional protections to protect the common good, but according to these critics, these protections do not seem to be working well: