When a person employed in the government interacts informally with their friends, relations, acquaintances, the unoffical involvement should stop with "here's the name of the office where you file that complaint" or possibly "my office handles that; send it in through the usual method and I will make sure that I don't work on it". But human nature is to make things a little easier for the people we like or are predisposed to like. That's often harmless. It is sometimes quite the opposite.
The "old boys' network" feels good to the participants but is corrosive to fair treatment.
Lobbying can happen in many ways, and have many different implications. It certainly sounds like it didn’t happen as a result of company/executive action (and at least Tavis believes that), and neither parent, gp or ggp claim so (in fact they agree the opposite is the case).
I rarely have casual discussions with friends working at regulatory agencies that come back to haunt other people. I also don’t think the word “lobbied” was used in a harmful or particularly egregious way, especially considering the context in which it was used (and explained).