A study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center released June 19th shows that for legislative issue advertising in the national capitol area in 2001-2002, the side that spends more wins more. In a second report, PoliticalMoneyLine released an analysis of spending for the second half of 2002 that depicts more record breaking spending on lobbying Congress, primarily by business interests. The Annenberg report, Legislative Issue Advertising in the 107th Congress, estimated costs of broadcast and print advertising in the capitol area and examined the sponsors, topics addressed and rate of success on the issues. Key findings were:

• Of more than $105 million spent on 10 out of 12 issues, the biggest spender won on the issue. The study found 670 organizations sponsored more than 5,000 ads during this period. However, more than half the money was spent by the 20 largest spenders, with business interests dominating. The top 10 spenders accounted for 77 percent of the television advertising.
• Ad sponsors often identified themselves with vague or misleading names. For example, Americans for Balanced Energy Choices is a coalition of mining companies, coal transporters and electricity producers that gets its funds from the coal industry. Citizens for Better Medicare is a group of pharmaceutical companies.

The impact of this spending pattern is a series of victories for the big spenders. The study notes that 89 percent of spending on air emissions regulations opposed stiffer regulations, and none were imposed. Similarly, 95 percent of advertising relating to the nuclear waste dump in Nevada supported it, and legislation to authorize it passed. Drug companies defeated legislation that would have prevented them from extending patents by spending 85% of the total ad money on that issue. At the release of the report, author, Erica Falk said, “Businesses can buy disproportionately large amounts of advertising, and this may skew political speech and therefore public policy. The imbalance in legislative issue advertising targeting those who live and work in Washington means that policy makers may be repeatedly exposed to uncorrected and one-sided claims.” The data on spending in this report was estimated, since Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) data does not include issue advertising, but a look at spending on direct lobbying to Congress in 2002 from LDA data, published every six months by PoliticalMoneyLine, shows continued record-breaking spending. In the last six months of 2002, $925.8 million was spent on lobbying, a 7.7 percent increase over the first six months. The biggest spender by far was the Chamber of Commerce and its Institute for Legal Reform, which accounted for $28.7 million, nearly three times as much as the next highest spender. Overall, the health care industry remains the biggest spender. Details are available at the PoliticalMoneyLine website. These studies highlight the need for nonprofits to increase communications with Congress so that the public interest voice is heard.