You have to ask the question, why does someone become a political donor? The answer is one word, “access.” To your average business owner, at the very least, you need to stop politicians from doing things that will put you out of business. If you’re a donor, you can call up the sponsor of a bill and say, “Bro! SB166 is going to put me out of business!” Whereupon the sponsor will say, “Well, crap! That thing is all over my press releases. Tell you what, send Charlie over to tweak the parts you’re interested in. Oh, by-the-way, I just bought an interest in a delivery company.” Donor: “Really! I just happen to have a dozen Transporter Delivery vans from my soon to be profitably bankrupt construction company. Send Alice around to my New York office on Thursday and we’ll talk turkey.”
I know of examples of all of them. And access to a public official does not necessarily require a donation. When living in Tallahassee, on two occasions in the last week of session, I got an appointment with a powerful legislator on less than an hour's notice. I walked past a waiting room full of lobbyists puzzled at the priority that I got as an unknown non-lobbyist and non-donor.
What made me special? In those two instances, I knew the legislators and had documented proof that they had been lied to by a lobbyist on a matter before them. Both times, I was sincerely thanked and the problem was corrected. There was nothing in it for me other than striking a blow against a malign dishonesty based on information that I had been given or had come across.
The bottom line is that access to a public official is not necessarily about being a donor or a lobbyist but about knowing the legislator and having a matter of consequence to them.