IP Democracy: Franchising Second Only to Health Care in Lobbying $$?

Business Week has this recap of the efforts by the phone companies to gain national franchising rights in telecom reform legislation. Bottom-line, as anyone in Washington seems to know: video franchising reform is inevitable.

No telecom reform bill will pass without some major provisions that make it easier for phone companies to obtain local franchises. What’s more interesting is a paragraph in the piece saying that the lobbying dollars spent on this issue come second only to the lobbying dollars spent on health care matters.

A lot of lobbying muscle has been thrown at the issue. Phone companies are teaming up more than ever. Last year they spent a collective $60 million lobbying just at the federal level. The franchise campaign qualifies as the second-biggest lobbying effort in Washington today, trailing only health care, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

I couldn’t find anything at the Center for Public Integrity’s web site to back this up, but I’m assuming it’s true. What a sad state of affairs when video franchising ranks second as the most important (measured in lobbying dollars, that is) public policy issue facing the nation.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on April 17, 2006 8:51 AM to IP Democracy