By Laurel Rosenhall, CALmatters.org
Lobbyists in Sacramento talk about the “inside game” and the “outside game.”
The inside game is the one they play under the Capitol dome: testifying in committee hearings, meeting with legislative staff, nabbing lawmakers in the hallway on the way to a crucial vote.
The outside game is aimed at you. It tries to get ordinary Californians riled up about an issue so you’ll pressure lawmakers to do what the lobbyists want. Think of ad campaigns, noisy rallies, pleas to “call your legislator.”
These tactics have become a growing part of the way the biggest interest groups work to influence state officials as they adapted to the imposition of term limits in the 1990s, which changed the relationships between lobbyists and legislators.
Read the complete story at CALmatters.org.
