Privileged Access through Legislative Member
Organizations: Interest Group Ties to European
Parliament Intergroups and Congressional Caucuses
Nils Ringe
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Legislative Member Organizations
(LMOs)
•  Voluntary organizations within lawmaking bodies
that are made up of members (usually crosspartisan) who share a common interest in a
particular issue, e.g.,
▫  EP intergroups on Animal Welfare, Trade Unions,
Anti-Racism & Diversity, LGBT issues…
▫  Congressional caucuses on Women’s Issues,
Mining Caucus, Rural Health Care, Aerospace…
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What do LMOs do?
•  Basis of talk: first comparative study of LMOs –
”Bridging the Information Gap” (Ringe and Victor, U of
Mich Press 2013)
▫  Focuses mostly on relational and informational role of
LMOs inside legislatures, but:
•  LMOs also…
▫  Connect insiders and outside advocates who share
concern for common cause
▫  Offer “privileged access” to those advocates.
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Bridging the Information Gap
Legislative Member Organizations as Social
Networks in the United States
and the European Union
nils ringe and
jennifer nicoll victor
with Christopher J. Carman
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Privileged access
•  LMOs institutionalize privileged partnerships/
access:
▫  LMO members and outside advocates interact
regularly, share resources, exchange information.
▫  Regular and iterative interactions provide…
  Basis for mutual trust
  Incentive structure to provide high-quality information.
▫  Outside advocates become trusted sources of
advice and policy input.
▫  Privileged access gives outside advocates edge in
competitive lobbying environment.
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Legislative subsidies
•  “It’s part of ‘lobbying 101’ to set up a caucus.”
•  Provide secretarial/”human resources” support
•  Organize and/or sponsor LMO events
•  Recruit members
•  Maintain membership lists.
•  Draft bills and amendments.
▫  “If we are capable of making good amendments,
we are highly appreciated.”
•  Supply expertise and policy-relevant information.
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LMOs = Information
•  LMOs allow “experts and expertise [to come] into
the house … They are a place to listen to new ideas.”
•  LMO meetings
▫  Are “more [like] an academic seminar.”
▫  Allow legislators “to get reliable information.”
▫  “Our job is to put good information in front of [MCs].
Education obviates lobbying.”
•  High-utility information = research-based, reliable,
and easily digestible / usable.
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Why high-utility information?
1.  Legislators can triangulate information received in
context of LMOs.
▫  Some LMO events more like panel discussions.
2.  LMO networks = everyone is tied to everyone else
▫  Low-quality information à reputational costs.
3.  Legislators can credibly threaten to revoke privileged
access if information is redundant, unreliable, or
misleading.
▫  “If you are not a serious player you will soon lose
your credibility … and that is your main asset here.”
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What about money?
•  Outsiders involvement in LMOs revolves primarily
around providing information and non-monetary
legislative subsidies, but: some “sponsoring”
•  US: strict gift and ethics rules à careful avoidance of
impression of impropriety (but varying understanding
or interpretation of limits of what outsiders can or
cannot do).
•  “We always provide some type of food. It gets the 21year-old staffers to come out. … usually nothing
more than sandwich platters, cookies, and iced tea.”
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Money (cont.)
•  EP: outsiders invite members on trips, provide sponsorship for
receptions & meals, pay for interpretation at intergroup events.
▫  But mostly for “issue groups” (non-registered LMOs that are
not subject to EP “rules governing intergroups”)
  e.g., the Kangaroo Group’s 2007 Spring Party, was
“generously sponsored by BP, UPEI, Roche, Deutsche Post
World Net, European Smoking Tobacco Association
(ESTA), German Savings Banks Association and the ScottWilson Partnership”
▫  Perhaps: are intergroups associated with public and societal
interest groups (many small and relatively “poor”) and issue
groups with “big business”? Not clear.
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Money (cont.)
•  UK: a ‘scandal waiting to happen’ (although
outside financial or material support of £1,500+/
year “must be registered with Parliament”).
▫  > £1.6 million donated by outsiders to All-Party
Groups in 2010; 280 groups received support
(Ball 2011).
▫  Some groups charge membership fees à no
limit for outsiders.
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Benefits to outside advocates
•  Offer privileged access
•  Help build long-term, trusted relationships with
lawmakers who share outsiders’ policy priorities.
•  Identify potential supporters (= lawmakers’ who
join LMO).
•  Helps ensure that issues remain on legislators’
radars.
•  Practical benefits, e.g., LMO members can book
rooms for events.
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Benefits to legislators
•  Legislative subsidies make LMO participation
cheap.
•  Outside support helps LMOs survive internal
turnover.
•  At LMO meetings, legislators can interact with
many outside advocates at once.
▫  Staying in touch with outsiders “without having
to have a lot of appointments” and risking “a
kind of dependency.”
•  But mostly: access to high-utility information.
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Caucus “Foundations” and Institutes”
•  Several caucuses still use foundations and institutes
as a source of support.
•  Caucuses with affiliated foundations…
▫  such as the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation,
the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus Foundation,
and the Congressional Fire Services Institute
•  … provide significant resources for the caucuses with
which they work.
•  These foundations are established for the explicit
purpose of assisting their affiliated caucuses and
perform no other functions.
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Caucus rules
•  Caucuses may not have a separate corporate or legal
identity, employ any staff, have office space, support
an outside entity, accept goods or services from an
outside entity to support the caucus, use personal
funds to support the caucus, use a frank to support
the caucus, have an independent caucus web page,
or have official stationery. The House gift rules also
apply to caucuses.
•  Remarkably easy for a member of Congress to create
a caucus. Doing so merely requires writing a letter to
the Committee on House Administration that states
the name of the group, its purpose, its officers, and
some contact information.