What is the difference between accepting lobby money and bribery?

If you are referring to this with respect to our elected leaders: Bribery is illegal

Bribery is paying an official to intervene/act specifically on your behalf for your own interests.

Lobbyists donate money to the campaigns of those they hope will listen to their concerns and understand the need to work in their best interests which is always in the best interest of the officials constituents. To avoid any perception that lobbyists are acting only in their own interests and that they are trying to only influence one person, they do spread their money to both sides of the political debate. The likely winner or most likely supporter tends to get more.

Lobby Money is when you give your door man some money for the holidays or when he grabs a taxi for you.

Bribery is when you give your door man some money because he knows your wife and met your girlfriend.

Accepting money from lobbyists only presents the appearance of a conflict of interest.

You write down when you get lobby money. That’s really the only difference.

Taking money to influence your decisions on a matter, regardless of its legality, seems really bogus to me. It strikes me as a huge conflict of interest that our policy makers are allowed to accept money from special interest groups.

@Fireside I don’t really believe that taking lobby money is, in any way, as selfless as you describe. It’s money spent with the intention that the politician will vote down policies that will negatively affect that specific lobby group.

@Marina I don’t get it. Why is it only the appearance of a conflict of interest?

@fieryspoon Sorry, I was probably too terse. I meant that while bribery is against the law, taking money from a lobbyist is only unethical if it actually influences your actions as a public official.

Until you act on it, it only presents the appearance of conflict of interest. Even that is not a good thing for a politician, which is why lobbyist contributions are tainted in the minds of the justly cyncial public.

The whole point of lobbying is to influence actions made by public officials. The whole point of bribery is to influence actions made by public officials. One is legal. One is not. They both seem to work the exact same way.

@ Fireyspoon – sorry, i was just making a joke. I don’t really have a doorman.

I’m with bodyhead, the only difference is which set of books the deposit is recorded in.