Lobbyists invited to the Republican retreat?
January 31, 2010 by Dusty · 6 Comments
Oh yes, of course they are! From ABC:
The day after President Barack Obama urged members of Congress to be more transparent about their interactions with lobbyists, the House Republican Caucus headed up Interstate 95 for a retreat where they will be able to mingle privately with… lobbyists.
The annual retreat, sponsored by a non-profit group called the Congressional Institute, is meant to be a chance for members to escape the Beltway to talk about big ideas, hear from rising stars in the party, media pundits, and even visit with President Obama, who will address the caucus Friday.
In between these work sessions, though, there will be less formal gatherings involving several of the Institute’s 14-member board of directors. The vast majority of the Institute’s board is made up by top Capitol Hill lobbyists whose clients include leading drug manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and such major corporations as American Express and Verizon.
Institute Executive Director Mark Strand said the entire event has been scrubbed for potential ethics problems, and everything will be done above board. He explained it this way:
“The institute’s supporters, who include lobbyists, do not plan, attend or participate in any session of the annual conference. They are invited to a reception and dinner and depart the next morning,” he said.(emphasis mine)
“Such a courtesy for a tax-exempt organization’s supporters is commonplace and within ethical rules,” Strand added. “All members of Congress who participate in the conference pay their own expenses. The Institute does not employ a lobbyist nor does it engage in lobbying.”
Oh…and there will be no “transparency” during the reception and dinner, meaning the press will not be allowed to attend. Chew on these facts regarding lobbying Congress:
Last year Washington lobbyists netted $3.2 billion, a 13.7 percent increase from 2007, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics aka OpenSecrets.org.
And it’s the industries most affected by the economic downturn that seem to be doing much of the spending: finance, insurance and real estate, the group found.
Fucking carpetbaggers. Nothing about Congress turns my stomach more than lobbyists. Nothing. They are the hyena pack, ready to surround and consume whatever they see as a threat to their bottom line, regardless of the consequences to Main Street and the average Joe and Jill American. Below is a list from OpenSecrets of the top 20 corporations and what they spent to lobby Congress in 2009:
US Chamber of Commerce $73,899,200
Exxon Mobil $27,430,000
Pharmaceutical Rsrch & Mfrs of America $26,150,520
General Electric $21,470,000
AARP $21,010,000
American Medical Assn $20,830,000
Chevron Corp $20,815,000
Blue Cross/Blue Shield $20,067,939
Pfizer Inc $19,669,268
National Assn of Realtors $19,477,000
Verizon Communications $17,820,000
FedEx Corp $17,000,000
Boeing Co $16,850,000
National Cable & Telecommunications Assn $15,980,000
Northrop Grumman $15,180,000
Lockheed Martin $13,533,782
Business Roundtable $13,410,000
ConocoPhillips $13,382,079
American Hospital Assn $13,230,696
Altria Group $12,770,000
Ain’t that some shit? Makes me wanna beat someone about the head and shoulders with a Louisville Slugger.
Sphere: Related ContentHastert joins K Street Lobbying firm.
July 28, 2008 by Dusty · 2 Comments
Dennis Hastert, the longest serving Republican Speaker of the House has been hired by Dickstein Shapiro. Due to the new ethic’s rules, Denny can’t really lobby for a year. This lobbying/ legal firm has many former elected officials in the fold, from the LegalTimes:
Dickstein’s 20-member public policy and law practice is already home to a small caucus of ex-members, including: Sen. Wendell Ford (D-Ky.); Sen. Joseph Tydings (D-Md.); Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) (Hutchinson’s wife, Randi Fredholm Hutchinson, is also a counsel in the group); and Rep. Stanford Parris (R-Va.).
Among the group’s top-paying clients in 2007, according to public disclosures, were Lorillard Tobacco Co. ($1.68 million); Peabody Energy ($800,000); and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. ($460,000). This year, the client base has expanded to include Pew Charitable Trusts, which is monitoring mining legislation, and ARES Systems Group, which is lobbying on homeland security appropriations.
Denny will be making a..cough..modest $750k a year for his services, whatever the hell they are. If your wondering about how the Lobbyists are making it during these ‘hard times’..this article will show they are doing just fine:
The 50 highest-grossing lobbying practices in the country passed the $1 billion revenue mark for the first time last year, thanks in part to strong growth in work that’s outside the traditional boundaries of legislative lobbying.
Legal Times‘ annual Influence 50 survey (subscription required) shows that some of the biggest players in the lobbying world raked in multimillion-dollar increases in fees from public relations, legislative activity monitoring, and grass-roots advocacy. The survey, which covers annual income from lobbying work for 2007, also reveals that law firms are continuing to outpace nonlaw firms in revenue growth — and last year pulled in more than 64 percent of the revenue among Influence 50 firms.
Overall, revenue among the Influence 50 was up 11 percent. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld ranks No. 1 on the list for the second consecutive year, with $89.8 million in lobbying income. Patton Boggs was a close runner-up, pulling down $89.3 million.
Below are the top ten firms that pulled in lobbying cash:
The Influence 50: Lobby shops and law firms with the highest revenues from lobbying work in 2007
Rank, Firm, 2007 Gross, 2006 Gross, Gain/Loss, Number of Lobbyists, Firm Type
1 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld $89,800,000 $76,900,000 +16.7% 40 Law
2 Patton Boggs $89,300,000 $71,000,000 +25.8% 149 Law
3 Hogan & Hartson $71,400,000 $65,700,000 +8.7% 32 Law
4 DLA Piper $47,300,000 $46,200,000 +2% 38 Law
5 Holland & Knight $45,100,000 $34,700,000 +30% 56 Law
6 K&L Gates $42,300,000 $37,300,000 +13.4% 51 Law
7 Covington & Burling $40,400,000 $33,100,000 +22% 30 Law
8 Dutko Worldwide $35,100,000 $33,400,000 +5.1% 60 Non-Law
9 Greenberg Traurig $32,900,000 $29,200,000 +12.7% 74 Law
10 BGR Holding $30,200,000 $28,800,000 +5% 17 Non-Law
Big Pharma spent $3.6 Mil in lobbying the Federal Government..
June 21, 2008 by Dusty · 4 Comments
In the FIRST QUARTER of the year..that’s only three freaking months People! From Forbes:
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, whose members include Pfizer, Amgen Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co., lobbied on how prices are set for seniors’ medications, rules governing drug imports and other issues.
Here are the issues that Big Pharma took ‘issue’ with and lobbied against:
_ A proposal that would have allowed the government – not private health insurers – to negotiate drug prices for seniors in Medicare. The measure, aimed at wringing lower prices from drug makers, has stalled in the House since President Bush threatened to veto it.
_ Legislation that would allow the U.S. to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and other foreign countries. Proponents said foreign competition would help drive down U.S. drug prices, but the pharmaceutical industry warned it could expose Americans to counterfeit medications.
_ Patent reform legislation that it argued could weaken legal protections on drug patents. High-tech companies supported the bill that passed the House last year aimed at improving the U.S. patent system, but the pharmaceutical lobby argued it could weaken protections by reducing infringement penalties. The bill has stalled in the Senate.
_ Various bills that would allow generic drug companies to sell cheaper copies of biotech drugs. Unlike traditional chemical drugs, biotech drugs have never faced generic competition because the Food and Drug Administration lacks authority to approve the cheaper copies.
Greed..it’s just amazing how deep into the depths of hell humans will go to get over on people or groups of people ain’t it? They make a decent bottom line yet they always want more. If you extrapolate it out for the entire year..its a mind-numbing $14.4 Million.
The Clinton era..was it really that good for America?
January 9, 2008 by Dusty · 9 Comments
Tuesday night, prior to counting the first NH vote, the pundits pretty much had Hillary Clinton on life support. She won..not by a landslide, but she clearly beat
Obama and wiped the street with John Edwards.
Whatever you think of Hillary and her politics, one thing is abundantly clear; she is riding on the coattails of her husbands eight years as President. A good yardstick of what will happen under a Clinton44 reign can be read in those ancient tea leaves of Clinton42’s era. My point-of-view is that, as progressives, with Bill Clinton we were in the frying pan and the heat was on high. We then jumped into the fire with the election of George Bush..but I digress.David Morris dissects the first Clinton’s time in office very well this week in an Alternet article. I also tear into the Clinton’s, the DCCC and the Clinton’s personal democratic PAC known as the DLC here.
Bill Clinton, with the flourish of his pen, changed the course of all telecommunications. He signed into law the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This act allowed a free-for-all to take place with the blessings of the federal government, and I might add..without one iota of oversight or public hearings on the massive changes that would take place. Within three years, we went from having 13 Teleco’s down to 5 huge conglomerates that control everything. The FCC lost control of the public airwaves as well thanks to the Teleco Act of ‘96. Two corporations, Infinity and Clear Channel sucked up a majority of the radio stations and consequently killed roughly 1100 of them in the process that didn’t ‘perform well’ if you believe the two corporations. Clear Channel is all about the Benjamin’s and its crystal clear if you read the series of articles at Salon by Eric Boehlert. Check out this quote from a Buzzflash writeup about the giant conglomeration that owns anything and everything regarding advertising and music:
Sphere: Related ContentTrent Lott to retire today..
November 26, 2007 by Dusty · 3 Comments
There are quite a few news outlets that are reporting Trent Lott will resign his seat today. Politico and Think Progress are two that have stated it so far via emails I rec’d from both of them. From the ThinkProgress writeup:
Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) is reportedly informing close allies that he plans to resign his Senate seat before the end of the year. NBC reports, “It’s possible a formal announcement of his plans could take place as early as today.” Politico adds, “If he resigns, Lott would become the sixth Republican senator to announce they were stepping down this election cycle.”
Lott’s term expires in 2012, therefore a resignation would trigger a special election for a replacement to serve the remainder of his term.
UPDATE IV: “While the exact reason Lott is stepping down before he finishes his term is unknown, the general speculation is that a quick departure immunizes Lott against tougher restrictions in a new lobbying law that takes effect at the end of the year. That law would require Senators to wait two-years before entering the lucrative world of lobbying Congress.”
Its all about the money isn’t it? Getting a high-paying job for one of the huge corporations he has already worked for..you know..instead of the people that voted for him?
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