BUILDING A WHITE HOUSE STRUCTURE FOR INTEREST GROUP RELATIONS

 Although Democratic and Republican presidents in the modern era (post-1933) have all
established linkages to certain groups (representing such interests as labor, racial and
ethnic minorities, and urban populations), there was no institutionalized White House
structure to maintain regular contact with organized interests prior to Ford
administration.
 President Ford established the Office of Public Liaison (OPL) which provides a
mechanism for the White House to keep in touch with groups, both to lobby and to be
lobbied by them, although presidential scholars have found more of the former than the
latter.
 The OPL has to keep groups informed, but is forbidden by the Anti-Lobbying Act to
encourage citizens to pressure the Congress. On occasion, the OPL`s entreaties can make
or break a presidential initiative, as with Reagan`s successful tax cuts in 1981 and tax
increases in 1982.
 The Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (OIA) plays a parallel role to that of OPL and
serves both as target for the continually lobbying of states and localities on an extensive
range of federal issues, and as the coordinator of executive coalition building. The OIA
emphasizes the concerns of six major groups: The Council of State Governments, the
National Association of Counties, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the
National Governors Association, the National League of cities, and the US Conference of
Mayors.
 The Office of Legislatives Affairs (OLA) and the Office of Political Affairs (OPA) both
directly affect the web of relationships between groups and the White House, often in
league with the OPL. Although the respective missions of these two offices are distinct in
theory, they often overlap, as Washington lobbying has grown in partisanship and
become firmly intertwined with electoral politics.
 All presidents shape how their administrations relate to groups. However, simply
establishing a White House office does not mean that policies will emerge to satisfy
either the administration or its constituencies.
 Presidential interactions with groups through formal EOP offices most often occur as
inclusive and symbolic “legitimization”, although some focused outreach and generalized
consensus building also takes place. But if the core of presidential relations with groups
comes in programmatic governing, the formal EOP offices are often out of the loop.
 The White House offers up the symbolism of broad representation and legitimacy in its
contacts with groups, even as recent presidents pursue much more narrow and politically
directed policies that may reflect: (1) private contacts with interests; (2) the effects, direct
or tangential, of campaign funding; and (3) the president`s programmatic preferences –
or some combination of these three elements of presidential-group relations.
  Although the presidency is a target of lobbying efforts, it is different from other targets,
given its growing capacity to lobby from the “inside out”, rather than merely reacting to
“outside-in” attempts at influence. The president can act as lobbyist, he can be a target of
lobbying, and he can be part of a continuing reciprocal relationship with numerous
organized interests.

Presidents

 Gerald Ford – 38th president of the United States from August 1974 to January 1977;
Republican Party
 Ronald Reagan – 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989; Republican
Party

Glossary

 Anti-Lobbying Act = the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946 is a statute enacted
by the United States Congress to reduce the influence of lobbyists
 campaign funding = campaign finance, also known as election finance, refers to all funds
raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referenda
 Congress = a national legislative body, especially that of the US; the US Congress, which
meets at the Capitol in Washington DC, was established by the Constitution of 1787 and
is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives
 coalition = a coalition government in a parliamentary system is a form of government in
which multiple political parties cooperate, reducing the dominance of any one party
within that "coalition"
 Executive Office of the President (EOP) = a group of agencies[2] at the center of
the executive branch of the United States federal government; the EOP supports the work
of the president
 lobby = seek to influence (a legislator) on an issue
 modern era (post-1933) = the era after the economy had hit the bottom and started to
increase
 Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (OIA) = a part of the Executive Office of the
President and serves as the primary liaison between the White House and state, county
(or county-equivalent), local, and tribal governments
 Office of Legislatives Affairs (OLA) = coordinates relationship between U.S. Congress
and the White House
 Office of Political Affairs (OPA) = develops, supports, and advances partnerships in
support of the President and his policy agenda; OPA interns will assist in political
analysis, opinion research, and direct outreach to key constituencies
 Office of Public Liaison (OPL) = a unit of the White House Office within the Executive
Office of the President of the United States, responsible for communicating and
interacting with various interest groups
 organized interests = a group of people or an organization seeking or receiving special
advantages, typically through political lobbying
 out of the loop = unaware of information known to only a privileged few
 partisanship = prejudice in favour of a particular cause
 policy = a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by an organization or
individual
 (presidential)l initiative = a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum
number of registered voters can force a government to choose to either enact a law or
hold a public vote in parliament in what is called indirect initiative, or under direct
initiative, the proposition is immediately put to a plebiscite or referendum, in what is
called a Popular initiated Referendum or citizen-initiated referendum
 programmatic = of the nature of or according to a programme, schedule, or method
 scholar = a specialist in a particular branch of study, especially the humanities
 tax = a compulsory contribution to state revenue, levied by the government on workers'
income and business profits, or added to the cost of some goods, services, and
transactions
 tax cut = a reduction made by the government in the amount of tax that people pay
 tax increase = an increase in the amount of tax that people and companies are obliged to
pay
 The Council of State Governments = a nonpartisan, non-profit organization in the United
States that serves all three branches of state government; founded in 1933 by Colorado
state Sen. Henry W. Toll, CSG is a region-based forum that fosters the exchange of
insights and ideas to help state officials shape public policy
 The National Association of Counties = an organization that
represents county governments in the United States; it is the only national organization
that represents county governments in the United States
 The National Conference of State Legislatures = a bipartisan non-governmental
organization (NGO) established in 1975 to serve the members and staff of state
legislatures of the United States (states, commonwealths, and territories)
 The National Governors Association = an American political organization founded in
1908; the association’s members are the governors of the
55 states, territories and commonwealths; members come to the association from across
the political spectrum, but NGA itself is nonpartisan
 The National League of cities = an advocacy organization in the United States that
represents the country's 19,000 cities, towns, and villages along with 49 state municipal
leagues
 The US Conference of Mayors = the official non-partisan organization of cities with
populations of 30,000 or more