New York Times –Opinion | Editorial - pub. January 26, 2012So, Who’s a Lobbyist? *
Three step test for a duck: (1) If it walks like a duck (2) Looks like a duck (3) And, quacks like a duck.It is, more than likely, a duck.Inside the D. C. Beltway definition and semantics are tortured to death by people who strive to gain (or, strive not to lose) by blurring the lines of the meaning of what is . . . .Do you remember: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" William Jefferson Clinton – 1998
An aside: I discovered the nature of lobbying, twisted definitions, and semantic reclassification while studying the history of Section 28(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (as amended in 1975). The amendment originally described the allowable uses of investment advisors’ clients’ ‘brokerage commissions paid-up above the fully-negotiated costs of brokerage transaction execution’ (soft dollars). When passed, this amendment never mentioned any difference in the treatment institutional agency brokerage commissions arrangements, as compared to institutional full-service bundled undisclosed brokerage commission arrangements.