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From the Director's Desk...
Woodstock Report No. 72, December 2002This Woodstock Report carries three sterling presentations made at our recent forum whose title coincides with the release of a new book, The Ethics of Lobbying: Organized Interests, Political Power, and the Common Good. These presentations form the second "bookend" of a Woodstock project with the same title, the result of a four-year consultative process. The first "bookend" was our March 1998 issue of the Woodstock Report. It featured the launching of the project, a brainchild of former Woodstock fellow Thomas Reese, S.J., currently editor in chief of America.
Our recent forum, moderated by Tom, took up the issue that informed the whole lobbying ethics project. How can we go about understanding the role and responsibilities of lobbyists in our democratic society? We asked our three forum panelists to address the key question: "Does the present system of distributing and exercising political power in the United States satisfy the norms of justice and promote the general well-being of our society?" As you read the responses to this question you will note a debate over whether lobbyists have a duty to not only represent the interest of their client but also to discern and act on behalf of the common good.
The debate emerges in the following way. Philosopher Michael McCarthy begins by helping us understand what the key terms are in any discussion about lobbying, public ethics, and the common good. He claims that today's demoralizing political culture obscures vital distinctions between politics and economics that are manifest in the common good that is articulated in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
Our second presenter, lawyer-lobbyist Thomas Susman argues that the lobbying profession is indeed a basically honorable one but that codes of ethics for lobbyists are needed. He praises the "Woodstock Principles" as a code of ethics. But he emphatically questions the concept of the common good as a norm.
Our third presenter, public interest advocate Joan Claybrook, claims that the basic ethical issue is "the money system." Even if lobbyists completely abided by the Woodstock Principles, ethical problems, she argues, will remain until elections are publicly funded.
These three presentations are a good start. They help us better understand what's involved in the public policy issue of lobbying ethics. But they also open a set of thorny questions. Woodstock fellow Ted Arroyo, S.J., who has coordinated the project since the fall of 1998 is already taking up the next steps in the same insightful way in which he has carried out the first stage of the project. Ted's home base is the Twomey Center, Loyola University, New Orleans. He is editor of the monthly newsletter, Blueprint for Social Justice.
Our new book is available at Woodstock. If you wish one or more copies, you will find the order form on page 10 of this newsletter.
Finally, on page 11 of this issue, you will find my first appeal letter as director of Woodstock. I am convinced that trust in God is the key to the rebuilding of trust in our society. I hope that you can be a partner in the Woodstock Jesuit mission and method of rebuilding public trust.
Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J.
Director
