Working the Capitol

Special interests

Regarding “Lawmakers, stop avoiding your voters” (Page A13, Monday), the author is rightly concerned by the way so many of our elected representatives in Washington, D.C., avoid contact with their constituents. But it is not surprising that they do. In fact, it is somewhat of a misnomer to characterize them as our representatives. They do represent certain segments of our society commonly known as special interest groups that possess large sums of money and are represented by very effective lobbyists who influence legislators to vote the way that is beneficial to their particular special interest. Unfortunately, if you are not a member of one of these special interest groups you have very little, if any, chance of being represented by your elected representative.

The way Washington works today is that those politicians seeking to be elected or reelected need large sums of money in the form of political contributions to achieve their goals. Special interest groups provide those contributions in return for favorable votes on legislation that benefits them.

The lobbyists have great connections with Congress. Many of them are former members of Congress and are very effective at influencing legislators to vote the way that a special interest group desires on a particular piece of legislation. This is truly a marriage made in heaven with the only ones left out being the voters who are not members of well-heeled special interest groups. “The Swamp” is very impenetrable, and no one seems to know how to get rid of it, even President Donald Trump. Ralph Tibiletti, Spring