The teachers unions spent millions of dollars lobbying the government to get new geography textbooks for little Billy...and other tall tales
Statistics are amazingly easy to manipulate. If I had my way, every newspaper subscription would come with a complimentary copy of How to Lie with Statistics to help people think critically about the numbers that are thrown their way on a regular basis.
For example, the Temporary State Commission on Lobbying recently released a report detailing the amount of money spent on lobbying in 2006. All the newspapers immediately ran front page stories breathlessly reporting that lobbying spending had risen yet again. Most also reported that “the amount spent on lobbying in New York has tripled in just 10 years.”
What the stories neglected to explain was that in the last ten years, New York has passed a slew of laws related to lobbying and campaign finance. In fact, the rules (and the interpretations of those rules) have gotten increasingly strict over the years by broadening the definition of lobbying, expanding the types of expenses that must be reported, and increasing the penalties for violating the rules.
The principal purpose of these laws is to ensure public disclosure of the amounts spent on lobbying. Are we supposed to be surprised that more spending is reported as the disclosure laws are strengthened?
What the stories neglected to explain was that in the last ten years, New York has passed a slew of laws related to lobbying and campaign finance. In fact, the rules (and the interpretations of those rules) have gotten increasingly strict over the years by broadening the definition of lobbying, expanding the types of expenses that must be reported, and increasing the penalties for violating the rules.
The principal purpose of these laws is to ensure public disclosure of the amounts spent on lobbying. Are we supposed to be surprised that more spending is reported as the disclosure laws are strengthened?
But, while we're on the topic of lobbying, let's take a look at some of the numbers reported. The popular conception is that large evil corporations are the ones spending millions on lobbyists in their quest to screw over consumers. So who were the big spenders in New York? Was it Aaron Eckhart representing the evil tobacco companies? Perhaps it was the big bad NRA in their never ending quest to legalize 80mm howitzers.
Guess again: four out of the top ten spenders in New York were unions: United Teachers (NYS) $1,685,015; Public Employees Federation $1,285,703; Civil Service Employee Association & CSEA PAC $985,148; and United Federation of Teachers $890,181.
That looks like a much more interesting story to me, but I guess that's why I'm not qualified to be a member of the mainstream media.
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