A basic principle for lobbyists is ‘be legal, decent and truthful’
I am reading the excellent ‘Marketing Communications’ by PR Smith and Ze Zook.
It mentions the basic electoral law and advertising principles: ‘be legal, decent, honest and truthful’.
It’s a basic principle of lobbying.
It seems like a no-brainer. Still, some politicians, the Leave campaign, and others find it hard to follow.
The problem in Brussels is if you play hard and loose with the facts, you’ll be caught out quickly. In a technocracy, evidence and real facts, not pub or Trump facts, count. If you fake it, you’re going to be caught out very quickly.
Years ago when I worked in the Commission, my first day on the job was to respond to a letter from a group. They claimed the Commission has never met them, answered their letters or emails.
After a few hours going through the paper and electronic files, I discovered the Commission had met the group many times. A lot of time had been spent answering their letters and emails.
What was true, the Commission had never much agreed with any of the group’s submissions or ideas. But, to suggest the Commission had never met them etc came across as green ink letter.
Unsurprisingly, that particular group had no influence on the final piece of legislation.
If you don’t follow these basic principles of lobbying, you’ll be treated like Frank Ricard in this clip of the classic ‘Old School’.