1st quarter lobbying: How the Corporations rank.

FromThe Center for Responsive Politics CNBC has gleaned enough information so that they can provide a decent writeup about The Corporatocracy and who is spending how much in the world of lobbying our elected congress critters:

According to the Center, the US Chamber of Commerce topped the list, with spending of just over $17 million in the three-month period. Next was General Electric, a minority owner of NBC Universal and CNBC, with just over $9 million, and AT&T, with spending of just over $6.8 million.

The highest ranked non-business interest group was AARP, which placed ninth with $5 million in quarterly lobbying spending.

Ranked by sector, the pharmaceutical and health industry topped the list with spending of over $62.5 million, followed by the insurance industry with just under $40 million and the oil and gas sector with $39.4 million in spending.

 Lets not forget the gun lobby! After the Tucson Massacre that lovely bunch of fools went from $40,000 during the first quarter of 2009 to $75,000 during the first quarter of 2011.” According to the CNBC report.

Don't you just love Democracy! Thank You SCOTUS for Citizens United...you fucks.

Political analysts serve whom exactly?

The Political analysts that appear on Fox, MSNBC, CNN and other news outlets will have you believe that they are all fair and balanced in their analysis of specific issues or incidents.
Nothing could be farther from the truth in most cases. Many times, these folks have another job as a Lobbyist, Consultant or sit on the Board of huge corporations. This is known as, per The Nation, The Media-Lobbying Complex. Fits don’t ya think? And this happens on both sides of the political aisle. From The Nation:

For lobbyists, PR firms and corporate officials, going on cable television is a chance to promote clients and their interests on the most widely cited source of news in the United States. These appearances also generate good will and access to major players inside the Democratic and Republican parties. For their part, the cable networks, eager to fill time and afraid of upsetting the political elite, have ofteBut n looked the other way. At times, the networks have even disregarded their own written ethics guidelines. Just about everyone involved is heavily invested in maintaining the current system, with the exception of the viewer.

While lobbyists and PR flacks have long tried to spin the press, the launch of Fox News and MSNBC in 1996 and the Clinton impeachment saga that followed helped create the caldron of twenty-four-hour political analysis that so many influence peddlers call home. Since then, guests with serious conflicts of interest have popped up with alarming regularity on every network. Just examine their presence in coverage of the economic crash and the healthcare reform debate, two recent issues that have engendered massive cable coverage.

I realize that not all lobbyists are carpetbagging fucks. Some actually have the best interests of the public in mind when they go on these shows. But the problem is…how do we know, if full disclosure isn’t made, when introducing the so-called analyst?

We don’t know. And therein lies the problem. An example would be Richard Wolffe, a left-leaning contributor on MSNBC. I like Wolffe and usually agree with his assessment on whatever issue he is contributing to at the moment. He is part of a public relations group, Public Strategies, that helps corporations fix their images when they go south. The problem lies in the fact that we are bombarded with these ‘contributors’ when there is a specific issue heating up. Again, from The Nation link:

Janine Wedel, an anthropologist in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University and author of the new book Shadow Elite, told me in a recent interview that while these influence peddlers are not necessarily unethical, they “elude accountability to governments, shareholders and voters–and threaten democracy.”

“When there’s a whole host of pundits on the airwaves touting the same agenda at the same time, you get a cumulative effect that shapes public opinion toward their agenda,” she said.

Frequent television news commentators are also often given access to policy-makers, who may find that they are meeting with not just a TV pundit but also a paid lobbyist. This past March, for example, the White House held an exclusive “communications message meeting” for high-profile Democratic strategists with top presidential aide David Axelrod. Of the eighteen attendees, almost all television regulars, a third were lobbyists or public relations flacks, such as Kelly Bingel, a lobbyist for AHIP and a partner at mega-firm Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti, and Rich Masters, a partner at PR/lobbying outfit Qorvis Communications, where he works on behalf of trade group Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).

It makes you wonder every time you see one of these fuckers on tv….who are they representing…we the people..or some fucking corporation. As Wedel explains, these assholes can shape public opinion…and that can be a dangerous thing when it’s done undercover by someone acting as a knowledgeable, unbiased expert.

Hunter Biden quits his day job..as a lobbyist.

I blogged shortly after Biden got the VP nod that his son Hunter's entire career was as a lobbyist.

I am happy to report that Hunter has shunned his day job. From the AP:

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden's son Hunter has stopped working as a federal lobbyist, work that had made him a Republican target in the presidential contest.

"I no longer expect to act as a federal lobbyist," Hunter Biden said in a letter to the Clerk of the House and the Senate Office of Public Records. The letter is dated Aug. 25 and was made public Friday.

It takes a big man to quit something as lucrative as lobbying. I give Hunter his due. What seems to have turned the tide for Hunter is the latest client they signed, coupled with his fathers new political move. From the WSJ:

In June, Biden agreed to work for a wealthy American who founded a large online gambling company from Gibraltar. According to the disclosure forms, Hunter Biden was charged with lobbying House lawmakers on behalf of a law firm that represents online gambling magnate Russ DeLeon. Listed as one of Forbes’ richest Americans, DeLeon was an original founder of the popular online gambling company PartyGaming.com.

Republicans approved legislation in 2006 to outlaw Internet gaming, but Democrats are trying to overturn the ban. Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services panel, announced this morning that his committee will take up legislation to that end next week.

The stakes are high: The Internet gaming business is a multibillion-dollar industry; PartyGaming posted a $500 million profit in 2005. According to a form filled out by Hunter Biden just a month before the Democratic convention, Biden’s firm earned $50,000 for a few weeks work from PartyGaming before the second-quarter filing period came to an end June 30.

Hey, whatever it takes. I wish all lobbyists would have an attack of conscience.

Tags: Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden quits lobbying job, Party Gaming, Internet Gambling

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

McCain's main man has ties to the Russian Mob?

Sweet Jesus..this looks like a bit of bad juju for Rick Davis and Johnny McCain. Hug and a h/t to Nicole over at Crooks and Liars for this:

Rick Davis’ lobbyists ties certainly extend far beyond the telecom industry. ABC News: 

John McCain’s presidential campaign is blasting a New York Times report suggesting that the candidate may have known since 2005 that his campaign manager’s firm worked for a Kremlin-backed politician. 

The McCain campaign is strongly denying the paper’s reporting that in 2005, a White House National Security Council staffer called John McCain’s Senate office to complain that Rick Davis’ lobbying firm was “undercutting American policy on Ukraine” by representing a Kremlin-backed politician. 

Salon has a tasty writeup as well. Oh Johnny this ain't good dude..it just ain't..and it warms the cockles of my lil black heart you batshit crazy sumbitch. 

Graphic filched from the wonderful DCup. ;) I will use it every chance I get..bet on it!

NAM gets pissed the courts don't go along like BushCo does..

Those lobbying fools known as NAM are highly peeved about this development. From the writeup:

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is appealing a federal court order to dismiss the group’s lawsuit challenging a new ethics and lobbying law.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia ruled Friday against the trade association’s suit, which took issue with a specific provision of the new law that would require “stealth coalitions” to disclose their member companies if they contributed at least $5,000 per quarter to the coalition or actively participated in a lobbying campaign.

Obviously the manufacturing lobby doesn’t like playing by the ‘new rules’. We can only hope to Buddha that judges uphold this new law..all the way up the chain. But frankly, I don’t feel good about our chances if they take it all the way to the Supreme’s. Those bastids are handpicked for the love of pete.

Crossposted at Bring it On!

The Economy sucks..but lobbyists still got it to toss around..

These little tidbits land in my inbox daily..and this time of year is rife with lobbying alerts since they all have to report how much they spent on the endeavor. I spent part of my day figuring out what good all this money could of been used for..and by good I mean for humanity..not for the corporatocracy. And the price of everything went UP this year..gee, wonder why..Total is at the bottom..

Google News Alert for: lobbying

The Walt Disney Company Spent $4.4 Million Lobbying In 2007
Netcot.com - USA
The Walt Disney Company spent about $4.4 million lobbying the federal government in 2007 on issues relating to travel, copyright licenses, visa policy, ...

Marriott spent $1.2M lobbying in 2007
CNNMoney.com - USA
WASHINGTON (AP) - Hotel operator Marriott International Inc. (NYSE:MAR) spent approximately $1.2 million in 2007 to lobby Congress on immigration issues. ...

Time Warner spent $3.6M on lobbying
CNNMoney.com - USA
The media firm spent about $1.8 million during the second half of 2007 lobbying the federal government on its own behalf, according to a disclosure form ...

DRS Spent $2.8M on Lobbying in '07
Houston Chronicle - United States
2008 AP NEW YORK — DRS Technologies Inc. spent $2.8 million to lobby the government in 2007, mainly for defense spending. According to a disclosure form ...

BP America Spent $4.7M Lobbying in '07
Houston Chronicle - United States
2008 AP NEW YORK — BP America spent $4.7 million to lobby the government last year on issues including pollution, energy independence and relations with ...

Nissan Spends Almost $4M on Lobbying
Houston Chronicle - United States
2008 AP WASHINGTON — The North American unit of Nissan Motor Co. spent about $3.9 million in 2007 to lobby on legislation related to trade, renewable fuels, ...

Anheuser-Busch spends $3.4M on lobbying
Forbes - NY,USA
WASHINGTON (AP) - Anheuser-Busch Cos. spent about $3.4 million in 2007 to lobby on legislation related to cutting taxes on beer, restrictions on alcohol ...

Genzyme Spends About $2.7M on Lobbying
Houston Chronicle - United States
2008 AP WASHINGTON — Genzyme Corp. spent about $2.7 million in 2007 to lobby on legislation about Medicaid and Medicare, generic drugs and drug imports. ...

The total, just for these few companies is...drumroll please..

$24.9 Million

Disgusting..simply and utterly disgusting. Greed rules the world..I am convinced of it.

Did McCain pull a Bill Clinton??

I mean it in the sense that he might of been playing around with a female..in this case a lobbyist. This is old news if the truth be told..from his last run at the Presidency in fact. From the NYT writeup:

A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard a client's corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman's access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.

When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist's clients, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.

Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann just broke into Hardball to report this little tidbit. Its not so much about the possibility of sex..its about favors for a lobbyist..stay tuned!

tags: McCain, Vicki Iseman

NAM files federal lawsuit to avoid new lobbying rules

Jesus, lets just say these guys want to treat us like mushrooms forever ok? To file suit in order to avoid full disclosure sure as hell says they are up to no good now..right?

From the CQ writeup:

The law, enacted last September, requires that trade associations such as NAM identify any other group that "participates actively" in its lobbying efforts. The manufacturer's lobby argues that the requirement is "vague, overbroad and burdensome."

"This pernicious law should be seen as a potentially lethal threat to trade associations," NAM President John Engler said in a prepared release.

Since when is telling the truth..and full disclosure, a lethal threat? Only when your doing something smarmy is my response to that bullshit excuse. The last section of the writeup is a real treat too:

In addition to identifying participant groups, the new law requires registered lobbyists to disclose organizations that contribute more than $5,000 in a quarter. They previously were required to report twice a year on organizations that contributed more than $10,000 in that period.

Our lobbying laws are far too relaxed as it is..and this new one will now probably get put on hold while this bullshit lawsuit goes through the snail's pace known as the Federal courts. Oh happy happy joy joy....God friggin forbid we shine a little bit of light into the beady little rat eyes of the lobbyists.

Trent Lott wastes no time setting up shop.

Trent baby set up business with a former Democrap, John Breaux out of Louisiana. He calls it a *cough bipartisan cough*lobbying firm. He also keeps it 'all in the family' by hiring his and his partner's son and his former top aide/asskisser Bret K. Boyles. From the WaPo article:

Breaux and Lott, who together have more than 70 years of experience in the House and Senate, first talked about such a partnership decades ago when they lived across the street from one another in Annandale. The families remain very close, with Chet Lott and John Breaux Jr. serving as groomsmen in each other's weddings.

The important part is of course the House and Senate experience..they cover both the bases my dear reader! Less than two months ago Trent retired and man, did he work quickly! Right..this has been in the works for some time..who's kidding who here?

In order to cover his ass, Trent had his kid do some of the ground work: Chet Lott bought the Web site domain name "breauxlott.com," but the former senators said they were not involved in serious talks until after Lott retired.-Sure thing gents..wanna buy a bridge?

Lott also lied through his teeth by "saying most of his new business would be "strategic consulting" for corporate clients seeking to navigate the Capitol, rather than direct lobbying of former colleagues." Read the rest of this bs at the link at the top.

Trent Lott to resign his seat..

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? Greed..what a concept!

Why does Harry Reid heart the Telecoms?

Money of course..lots and lots of it. From Glen Greenwald's column at Salon:

Then again, AT&T is the second largest contributor overall to officials in Congress, having poured into the Beltway a total of $38 million in campaign contributions for the election cycles for which these records are available. Verizon is in 33rd place with over $15 million; BellSouth in 39th place with with over $14 million; Time Warner in 28th place with $17 million; and MCI in 83rd place with $8 million. The Communications Workers of America, which lobbies for all sorts of pro-telecom legislation, is in 13th place with close to $25 million. That's $118 million of telecom money poured into the coffers of members of Congress, and the real total is much higher since this is only from the top 100. And now Congress, on a more or less bipartisan basis, is passing a law declaring that this industry shall be completely immune from any consequences even if they are found to have broken multiple federal laws in allowing illegal spying on all of their customers.

Now, it all makes sense doesn't it? Methinks the majority of elected Dem's are really just Rethugs in sheeple's clothing.

Tags: Telecoms, Harry Reid, lobbying money