Who You Know versus What You Know: The Uses of Government Experience for Washington Lobbyists

Private interest representatives in Washington are often said to exploit prior experience with the federal government, especially their contacts with officials, to gain advantage for their client groups. Data on 776 interest representatives are examined to estimate the frequency and institutional location of prior governmental experience. Just over half of the respondents had had some such service; twice as many in the executive branch as in the milieu of Capitol Hill. For those with experience, the extent and character of its advantages for their work as lobbyists are assessed. In general, representatives assign greater value to the knowledge gained of both substantive policy and decision-making processes than to contacts with officials or other lobbyists.