Connor Barwin's Civic Season

At first blush, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia are quite similar. Both sustained population peaks after World War II and both deal with the usual array of Rustbelt city issues, from poverty to racial and economic segregation. But D.C.’s status as the nation’s capitol makes it different from every other city, in large part because its many federal workers produce a more stable and productive local economy, as reflected in its significantly higher percentage of BA degrees.

According to Professor Richardson Dilworth of Drexel’s Center for Public Policy, that is not unrelated to the rise of the city’s lobbying and advocacy industry over the last 30 years. Dilworth calls lobbying in D.C. a “growth industry” and notes that, in terms of a city’s civic life, such a trend is a mixed blessing.

“On the one hand, it means that a much larger proportion of the population is knowledgeable about public issues, and that locally the civic discussion is much richer,” he explains. “More so than in any other city, D.C. residents every night can go hear free lectures at a host of institutions, think tanks, and public forums. On the other hand, civic issues are commodified in D.C.—they tend not to be part of the civic life of the city, but things traded for money. One of the most corrosive elements of the growth of the lobbying industry is the revolving door between Congressional staff and lobbying firms. A position in a lobbying firm is practically a form of promotion for Congressional staffers—which is simply an institutionalized form of influence peddling.”

Of course, there are lobbyists in Philadelphia, especially since, as gridlock has gripped the nation’s capitol, more effort has been made to advocate at the state and local levels. But the lobbying industry is nowhere near as influential here as in D.C. In fact, Dilworth reports a telling fact: D.C.’s George Washington University is the only university in the country to offer an entire Master’s Degree in advocacy and lobbying.

Finally, both D.C. and Philadelphia have had issues with gentrification in recent years, but only in D.C. is that gentrification tied to lobbying. “The growth of the lobbying industry has fueled much of D.C.’s gentrification,” Dilworth observes.

Next week, our season concludes against the New York Giants.