>Berin Szoka is the President of TechFreedom. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Center for Internet Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Before joining PFF, he was an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he advised clients on regulations affecting the Internet and telecommunications industries. Before joining Latham's Communications Practice Group, Szoka practiced at Lawler Metzger Milkman & Keeney, LLC, a boutique telecommunications law firm in Washington, and clerked for the Hon. H. Dale Cook, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
>TechFreedom is supported by foundations as well as web companies and broadband providers (including Google).
>Shortly afterward, Henke served as the New Media Director for the Republican Communications Office, an office of the Senate Republican caucus under the leadership of United States Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).[6] Congressional Quarterly wrote that Henke "launched one of the first and most successful blogger outreach operations on the Capitol Hill, one that has served as a template for other offices."[7] During his time as New Media Director, Henke contributed entries at QandO less frequently than before, and in January 2007, two other bloggers, Bryan Pick and Billy Hollis, joined QandO.
>Henke announced in June 2007 that he would serve Fred Thompson's presidential campaign as an Online Brand Manager.[8] Though Thompson withdrew his candidacy in January 2008, Henke continued to work as a consultant, and started his own firm later that year.[9]
Tech Freedom and the Progress and Freedom Foundation are think tanks, not lobbying outfits. Latham & Watkins's communications group does regulatory filings and advises companies on regulatory aspects of mergers and things like that, not lobbying work. I can't think of a background that qualifies someone more to talk about the hurdles created by municipal regulation than someone who actually has to deal with those regulations on behalf of his clients.
As for Henke, just because he's a Republican doesn't mean he's wrong...
>Tech Freedom and the Progress and Freedom Foundation are think tanks, not lobbying outfits
Think tanks develop policy proposals and other types of information, that is then used by political parties. The Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation are think tanks, that heavily influence policy proposals by Republicans.
>As for Henke, just because he's a Republican doesn't mean he's wrong...
I absolutely agree. I don't think he's wrong. I just think it's useful to know someone's background. It provides context.
Say I've got a retail arm that sells consumer products and does consumer research on possible improvements, new products, etc.
If I send all that data out to an R&D arm to develop and improve my products, an arm run by the same parent corporation(s), and the R&D arm's only gig is supplying those new and improved products back to my retail arm that really doesn't sell anything else, how useful is it to point to the legal distinction between the two outfits whenever someone conversationally implies they're the same thing?
Except the part where their product (notwithstanding a little PR now and again) is fed pretty much exclusively to another group with largely the same financial backers and that product is shaped for and supported only insofar as it usefully services that other group.
There are numerous regulations governing the practice of lobbying, often ones requiring transparency and disclosure.[7] People paid to lobby must register with the secretary of the Senate and the clerk of the House of Representatives within 45 days of contacting a legislator for the first time, or 45 days after being employed.[5][7] An exception is that lobbyists who earn less than $3,000 per client for each fiscal quarter, or whose total lobbying expenses are less than $11,500 each quarter, do not need to register.[7] Part-time lobbyists are exempt from registering unless they spend more than 20% of their working hours doing lobbying activities in any quarter. If lobbyists have two or more contacts with a legislator as a lobbyist, then they must register.[5][7] Requirements for registering also apply to companies that specialize in lobbying, or ones that have an in-house lobbyist, particularly if they spend more than $11,500 on lobbying.[7] Generally, nonprofit organizations, other than churches, are exempt from registering if they hire an outside lobbying firm.[7] Filing must be made each quarter, and a separate file is needed for each of the lobbyist's clients, and include information such as the name and title of the client, an estimate of lobbying expenses, and an estimate of income the lobbyist achieved after doing the lobbying.[7]
Well technically it's not bribery (note that the people who define the technicalities are the ones being not-bribed), but effectively yes. While many organizations put out proposals and recommendations, lobbyists are the ones who get face-time with an elected official to try and convince them to enact their proposal. This access is usually obtained through a combination of political influence and not-bribery (campaign donations and indirect campaign support--look up "soft money").
> Lobbyists make more money, because they lobby on behalf of clients for the money, while think tanks do it for the ideology.
Think tanks often do it for the money, too; the difference is that lobbyists directly and overtly represent clients to policy makers in seeking change, while think tanks tend both to minimize their direct link to funders and direct their output to the public (in theory), though it often ends up as material that allied lobbyists present to policy makers.
If the interests backing them were sovereign states, then (in terms of their role in promoting policy) lobbyists would be ambassadors, and think tanks would be "public diplomacy" operations.
Is it a good policy that will benefit the citizenry, or is it a policy that is the extension of a political ideology that believes that government should not regulate anything?
That's like claiming Democrats want to regulate everything. It's such a broad statement as to be completely without value. It does not apply to most Republican politicians I'm aware of, and not all Republican politicians are the same.
Also worth noting, the Republican-heavy government under George W. Bush in fact massively expanded regulations at the federal level (and deregulated almost nothing). So the facts of action do not jive with the claims being made.
Maybe if you said libertarian it would be accurate.
Berin Szoka:
http://techfreedom.org/people/berin-szoka
>Berin Szoka is the President of TechFreedom. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow and the Director of the Center for Internet Freedom at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Before joining PFF, he was an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at Latham & Watkins LLP, where he advised clients on regulations affecting the Internet and telecommunications industries. Before joining Latham's Communications Practice Group, Szoka practiced at Lawler Metzger Milkman & Keeney, LLC, a boutique telecommunications law firm in Washington, and clerked for the Hon. H. Dale Cook, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
>TechFreedom is supported by foundations as well as web companies and broadband providers (including Google).
Jonathan Henke:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Henke
>Shortly afterward, Henke served as the New Media Director for the Republican Communications Office, an office of the Senate Republican caucus under the leadership of United States Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).[6] Congressional Quarterly wrote that Henke "launched one of the first and most successful blogger outreach operations on the Capitol Hill, one that has served as a template for other offices."[7] During his time as New Media Director, Henke contributed entries at QandO less frequently than before, and in January 2007, two other bloggers, Bryan Pick and Billy Hollis, joined QandO.
>Henke announced in June 2007 that he would serve Fred Thompson's presidential campaign as an Online Brand Manager.[8] Though Thompson withdrew his candidacy in January 2008, Henke continued to work as a consultant, and started his own firm later that year.[9]