Joker or genius?
When a lobbying campaign wins, everyone wants to be a winner, and claims to be the reason why the campaign won. People who had nothing to do with the win, will claim that they were pivotal.
Proximity to the events does not mean, whatever anyone will tell you, that someone contributed to the positive outcome. Anyone who claims that their presence in the room, or around the events, was the reason why things worked out the way it did, is politely said talking bollops.
The problem is it sometimes hard to distinguish between the bollop artists and those who really did make the change happen. How can a new client, donor, journalist or curious individual find out the truth? I think there are two easy tests.
I think it is useful to lay these two tests out because, as with a lawyer, a client does not necessarily really know what they are buying. There is no reason why the client needs to be conned by a snake oil salesman promising mysterious political cures with modern day elixirs.
2 easy ways to find out if you are dealing with a snake oil salesman
One, is just asking some of the key decision-makers who were intimately involved in the law the campaign was seeking to influence. Ask them who had the greatest influence, who helped change the law, and which organisation/organisations have the most positive and negative influence on the final outcome. I found asking a variant of this question to MEP rapporteurs, Commission Cabinet leads, and Presidency leads, will usually give you the right answer.
Second, you should also ask for draft copies of the draft bill, amendment, or pivotal legislative report that the person who claims to have had a key role in drafting. You can then match their text up with the final law. If they match you know you’ve found a one, that rare breed of lobbyist whose actions lead to constructive political, legislative, and policy change. Of course, if they don’t match up, you know you have just met one of the many modern day snake oil sellers.
As a rule of thumb, I think that around 10% of the lobbyists/campaigners around will deliver their clients, cause or interest a positive change. The vast majority are happier dealing in reportage and after the event victory are mine speeches. My advice, save yourself a lot of expense and pain, and ask those questions before hand.
Further Reading
John W. Kingdon’s definitive “Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies” and Richard E. Cohen’s “Washington at Work“, look at this issue in more detail.