Lobbyists lobby. All that means is that they share their opinions with government officials. Money need not be involved. When people complain about lobbying it's usually in the context of corporate-sponsored lobbyists who are paid to push their agenda and are spending money. Money can't be paid as an outright bribe (I'm sure it happens, but is pretty rare) but rather in the form of campaign contributions, or occasionally in direct political advertising. Recent Supreme Court rulings have really removed any restrictions on how much can be spent by independent political groups even if they are 100% sponsored by corporations or trade groups or whoever. Wheeler is an appointed leader of an executive branch agency, meaning that he has no campaign fund. Funds can be directed to Congressional campaign funds and Congress can in turn put pressure on his agency (the FCC) to either defund them or rewrite their authority, or to sue them for whatever perceived breach of their existing authority. Theoretically, there is no way a lobbyist can directly influence him.
