Jul 28, 2008

Hastert joins K Street Lobbying firm.


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


Today's Photo..er..Graphic..ok, Picture.

It's moving day!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have purchased a domain name. I have been meticulously working on a new site,Leftwing Nutjob. Please change your bookmarks people..this puppy will no longer be updated as of July 1st 2011.