National Affairs: To Win Friends . . .

To Win Friends.....

A lobbyist is paid to win friends—pick up luncheon checks, wangle World Series tickets, give cocktail parties—and thus to influence legislation. For such services, 256 organizations paid a record $8,000,000 last year, the Congressional Quarterly reported last week. Biggest spender for the second year in a row was the American Medical Association, which lavished $1,522,683 on "public education" and lobbying activities against the Administration's compulsory health insurance bill. Other big spenders:

¶ Committee for Constitutional Government (founded by Publisher Frank Gannett, it Gannett, it lobbies for lower-taxes, less Government spending) : $620,632. ¶ National Association of Electric Companies (the...