What Is Shadow Lobbying? How Influence Peddlers Shape Policy in the Dark

By Libby Watson, Sunlight Foundation | News Analysis

Earlier this year, we asked you to help us find out which Democratic superdelegates are also lobbyists. We didn't want to limit it to just registered lobbyists, because there's an increasing number of people in Washington who do what most of us would think of as lobbying activity, but avoid registering -- known as "shadow lobbyists." But that left us, and our readers, with some questions: What exactly is a shadow lobbyist? How do they avoid registering? How did we get here?

What Is Shadow Lobbying?

Shadow lobbying refers to someone who performs advocacy to influence public policy, like meeting legislators or their staff, without registering as a lobbyist -- and it's a big problem for anyone who cares about transparency in Washington. (For further reading on this topic, you can't do better than to read Lee Fang's 2014 investigation of shadow lobbying at The Nation.)