Four outside groups today sent a letter to House Ethics Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. and ranking member Jo Bonner, R-Ala., asking that they open an investigation into the defunct lobbying firm PMA Group and its relationship to House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., and Reps. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., and James Moran, D-Va., CongressDailyPM reported.
Democracy 21, Common Cause, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG cannot file a complaint with the committee, but they said in the letter that "there is currently no public information to indicate that any ethics investigation is taking place."
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio at a news briefing, stopped short of calling for the panel to investigate, but said, "The Ethics Committee has a job to do and I hope they do it."
The Ethics Committee does not identify matters it is considering, and the groups noted that many of the issues it wants investigated occurred before the Office of Congressional Ethics was created. The groups said the committee should "determine whether these House members were influenced by campaign contributions and other financial benefits in providing earmarks for clients of the PMA Group."
The Center for Responsive Politics has analyzed first quarter, in-house lobbying expenditures and found that spending was about even in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.
Spending by unions, organizations and companies totaled $799.3 million compared with $795.9 million, a less than 1 percent increase. (The Center said the figure is actually down from the fourth quarter of 2008, when lobby spending was $818 million.)
"That might seem like a small increase compared to the billions spent each year on this activity, but in a time of economic turmoil, that's a hefty revenue stream for a single industry," wrote the Center's Lindsay Renick Mayer on the organization's website.
Drug companies were the biggest spenders among industries at $66.8 million, while the oil and gas biz posted a 48 percent increase in spending, the largest percentage increase.
It's worth noting companies that received money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program spent less on lobbying than they had in any quarter of 2008. TARP recipients spent $13.9 million on lobbying so far this year, compared to $20.2 million in January through March of last year and $17.8 million in the last three months of 2008.
In tomorrow's National Journal, I have a story that found K Street's hired guns had a tough quarter with 10 of the 15 top lobbying firms reporting a decline in lobbying revenues.
--Bara Vaida
What, if any, effect will Sen. Arlen Specter's party switch have on the contentious "card check" battle? At this point, interest groups on both sides of the debate are dismissing any substantial influence the shift could have on the legislation.
In March, Specter announced he wouldn't support the Employee Free Choice Act despite having supported it in the past, and in his statement Tuesday he emphasized that his position on the bill "will not change."
As National Journal's Kirk Victor recently wrote (subscription), labor activists believe that as the bill moves closer to a vote, the president will "use his political capital to bring around a handful of wavering senators to prevail." Could Specter, who has gotten the full endorsement of the White House since moving across the aisle, be one of those senators?
Vice President Joe Biden said (subscription) Wednesday that even though he hasn't talked to Specter recently about the legislation, he believes that the senator would have "an open mind" about voting for some version of the bill if a compromise emerges.
Glenn Spencer, who runs the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's anti-EFCA initiative, doesn't think that's likely to happen. "It's no secret that he has some ideas on labor law reforms," Spencer said. "But I don't know if Specter is willing to compromise on this bill."
Justin Wilson, managing director of two anti-EFCA organizations (Employee Freedom Action Committee and the Center for Union Facts) led by lobbyist Richard Berman, is confident that Specter will stick to his official statements.
"I don't think [the party switch] changes the overall downward trajectory of this bill," Wilson said. "Specter was pretty clear that he's not going to be an automatic 60th vote."
The pro-EFCA American Rights At Work does not plan to change its strategy in light of Specter's announcement. Group spokesman Josh Goldstein said he had been "greatly disappointed" when Specter turned against the bill, but that neither the senator's March announcement nor this week's party switch affected the group's strategy. "We will continue to work with him," Goldstein said, but the group does not have plans yet to ramp up efforts to influence him.
Tim Sparapani has joined social networking Web site Facebook as its new director of public policy.
Sparapani is a former senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union and associate at Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky. He has also served as a legal intern for the Senate Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee, where he assisted Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and volunteered for the ill-fated presidential campaigns of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C. Sparapani has degrees from the University of Michigan Law School and Georgetown University.
Meanwhile, Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly announced he is running for California attorney general. Kelly, a Democrat, touted his work across the country to make the Internet safer for youth.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Farm-state lawmakers added their voices to those looking to protect the pork industry from bad press about the swine flu," The Hill reports. "And the first offensive they launched was against their own colleagues. On Wednesday morning the House Agriculture Committee majority staff sent an e-mail out to all Democratic press secretaries asking them to stop referring to the Mexican-born flu as the 'swine flu' and imploring them to stop using pig graphics on their webpages."
• "Although the Air Force chief and Lockheed are staying out of the public brawling," Defense Secretary Robert Gates' "decision to cap new purchases of F-22s at 187 sparked a wave of protest from retired generals, aerospace industry advocates, unions and interested members of Congress, who have rallied to defend the fifth-generation fighter jet -- on both economic and national security grounds," Politico reports.
• "A federal court in Florida is scheduled to begin a criminal trial next month featuring an intriguing cast of characters, with multiple links to the PMA Group and other entities in the orbit of Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) that are under investigation by the FBI," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Neither Murtha nor PMA is mentioned in the Florida case."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., chair of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (Ethics), today announced that Blake Chisam would serve as committee staff director and chief counsel. Chisam assumes his new role on Friday. The position has been vacant since last summer. "I'm certain that Blake will bring the same professionalism and dedication to the committee that he has demonstrated through his career," Lofgren said. Currently, Chisam serves as counsel and senior policy advisor to Lofgren. In the previous session of Congress he worked as senior counsel at the House Judiciary Committee.
Last summer, the ethics panel suffered through a difficult period when then-Chairwoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, passed away unexpectedly. The committee finished the 110th Congress with an interim chair and an interim staff director.
-- Eliza Krigman
As lobbyists move around the financial services sector almost as fast as some Wall Street giants take billions of dollars in federal aid, it gets hard to keep track of "who's on first," or leading different lobbying shops.
Take the impending move of Democratic lobbyist Michael Paese -- a former top aide to Rep. Barney Frank, chair of the House Financial Services Committee -- to Goldman Sachs from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Paese, who just joined SIFMA as its top lobbyist last September, will become Goldman's No. 2 lobbyist (not No. 1, as some outlets have reported) where he'll be replacing Republican Ann Costello, who's moving on to become the top lobbyist for the Bank of New York Mellon. No word yet on who will be the new lead lobbyist at SIFMA, but sources say that the search is being led by Timothy Ryan, the trade group's chief executive officer.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) "didn't outright oppose" former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, "a Democrat whose duties will include overhauling the country's healthcare system and overseeing the response to swine flu," McClatchy reports. "But the Alaska governor also said nothing while her supporters on Team Sarah, a Web site affiliated with an anti-abortion group, worked the phones in an effort to derail Sebelius' nomination because she favors abortion rights. The Senate confirmed Sebelius anyway, 65-31."
• "It's hard for competitors to speak with one voice when their industry faces extinction. And that's exactly what competing constituencies within the private student loan industry are discovering as they scramble to preserve the way they do business," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The industry is responding to the president's proposal in his 2010 budget to switch the federal student loan system entirely to the government's direct student loan program, eliminating the 'middlemen' of banks and lenders that critics say are inefficient and wasteful."
• "Pork producers are pushing back against suggestions from public interest groups that the flu virus popping up across the world may have been caused by factory farms in Mexico," The Hill reports. "If the farms, based in the Mexican province of Veracruz, are determined to be the source of the swine flu, watchdogs expect to argue for increased regulation of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, to lawmakers on Capitol Hill."
• "Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to switch political parties and run for re-election as a Democrat in 2010 reverberated down K Street on Tuesday as lobbyists braced for a dramatically new environment around some of the year's most heavily lobbied issues," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Specter's switch has implications across a broad swath of policy areas as the Obama administration tees up massive governmental reforms on health care, climate change, labor and economic policy."
Government reform groups issued a statement today in support of President Obama's policies to restrict lobbyists' influence in Washington and to increase transparency.
"Above and beyond the specific steps President Obama has taken in the first hundred days, his actions represent a larger challenge to the way business is done in Washington," said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21. "That itself has been a very important step to challenging the influence culture of Washington."
The groups joining Democracy 21 were: Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG.
Beyond praising Obama's revolving door policies and transparency initiatives, the statement stressed the need for reforming campaign finance laws. Wertheimer characterized campaign finance as the "800 pound guerilla" in the battle to reform the inordinate influence of money in Washington.
The full statement can be read here
-- Eliza Krigman
The American Society of Association Executives is worried the public thinks that all trade associations do is lobby, so it has launched a campaign to let everyone know "we do more than [that]," said John Graham, CEO of ASAE.
The campaign, called "The Power of A," has been budgeted to cost in the "high 6 figures" and will be aimed at the Obama administration, lawmakers and Capitol Hill staff, Graham said. The effort was designed by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and will run online and on television through the end of May.
"Yes we lobby, but we also do education programs, we provide professional development for our members, and we set standards," said Graham. "We felt that word wasn't getting out."
Graham also said associations that lobby felt they were getting unfairly tarred by negative attention since the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal broke three years ago.
"Associations bring a level of expertise that can't be found elsewhere," argued Graham.
Graham said his group has also been frustrated by the Obama administration's new communications restrictions on lobbyists with regard to stimulus funding. Lobbyists can only communicate with executive branch officials in written form on specific projects.
"It's patently unfair and perhaps unconstitutional," he said.
He said many in the association world are talking about filing a class action suit if they don't feel their concerns are addressed by the White House.
--Bara Vaida
After Democrats won control of the White House and bolstered their numbers on the Hill in November, I've asked many Republican lobbyists how their business might be affected.
Most have replied to me that Democrats did not have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, which meant that clients still needed help from Republicans on K Street if they expected to defeat or pass legislation.
Well, that marketing pitch to clients likely got a whole lot weaker after today's bombshell news that Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., was switching parties to join the Democratic caucus. If the still-unsettled Senate race in Minnesota results in Democrat Al Franken as the winner, as expected, the Democrats will have a filibuster-proof majority. That's likely to mean K Street Republicans are going to have to tailor their pitches.
John Feehery, a Republican lobbyist and founder of the Feehery Group, thinks business and advocacy groups who want to stop legislation in Congress are going to have to turn to grassroots and public relations strategies to have an impact.
"It will require popular outrage to stop things as opposed to inside Washington deals," he said. "To slow things down will require a lot more [popular] heat being put on Democrat moderates and Blue Dogs."
Cesar Conda, a Republican and co-founder of the bipartisan firm Navigators Global, makes the argument that Specter isn't necessarily going to be a reliable vote for Democrats and that means Republicans on K Street still have clout.
"He's not going to be a rubber stamp for cloture," Conda said.
Indeed Specter told reporters Tuesday afternoon: "I will not be changing my own personal independence nor my own approach to individual issues. I will not be an automatic 60th vote."
And while labor leaders expressed enthusiasm that Specter's switch means renewed life for the union-organizing "card-check" bill, the Pennsylvania senator said he is still opposed. "I think it is a bad bill, and I'm opposed to it," he said. "I would not vote to invoke cloture."
Of course this is all good news from Democratic lobbyists on K Street, who will be in more demand than ever.
Readers meanwhile, do you have any thoughts? What do our Republican readers On K Street think? Email me.
--Bara Vaida (with reporting by Hotline's Jennifer Skalka)
On the same day that Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced he was leaving the Republicans for the Democrats and thus demonstrating the depths of the GOP's weakness, respected GOP strategist and former counselor to then-President George W. Bush, Ed Gillespie, announced he is co-founding a new non-profit, Resurgent Republic, to try to reinvigorate debate within the Republican party.
Gillespie, who was also the co-founder of the law and lobbying firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates, is a founding board member of the new group that "will promote market-oriented policies, lower taxes and economic growth and strong national security policies." The other founding board member is Whit Ayres, a long-time Republican pollster. (Gillespie severed his ties to Quinn Gillespie when he joined the Bush administration and he is no longer a registered lobbyist. Yesterday Gillespie said he is launching his own communications and strategy firm, but won't lobby.)
In a statement, the group said it will conduct survey research and focus groups to gauge public opinion about policy and make the results publicly available. They will also sponsor panel discussions on issues featuring members of its advisory boards. The release didn't say who its funders were and a spokesman couldn't be reached.
Other Republican advisory board members include Haley Barbour, Governor of Mississippi, George Allen, former Virginia Senator, former Rep. Bill Paxon, R-N.Y., who is now a lobbyist at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, former Rep. Vin Weber, R-Minn., now a lobbyist with Clark & Weinstock, and Republican politico Mary Matalin.
"Is there really a lobbyist problem" and if one exists what should the government do about it?
This is a question that panelists at a forum hosted by George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management plan to explore next week as part of an event on ethics and leadership in public life. Slated topics for the May 5th conference include "Crafting Appropriate Government Policies for Lobbying" and "Bringing Real Change to Washington Policy Making" and speakers include Bob Edgar of Common Cause, former Rep. Butler Derrick, D-S.C., George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley, Leo Wise of the Office of Congressional Ethics and Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation.
An invite to the forum notes that both "presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain focused a significant amount of attention on the role of lobbyists and their potentially corrupting influence on the policy making process." The invite states that since taking office, "President Obama has severely restricted the ability of lobbyists to be appointed to positions in the administration and limited employment possibilities in the lobbying arena for former administration officials."
-- Winter Casey
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee should ban donations from lobbyists and political action committees permanently, not just for a June 18 dinner hosted by President Obama, a coalition of 50 campaign finance advocates and progressive bloggers said in a letter to the Democratic organizations.
The coalition also launched a website to garner public support for their cause, called "StopFakeReform."
"We read that you have chosen to accept President Obama's ban on fundraising from PACs and lobbyists, but only for June 18 - the day he headlines a fundraiser for you," the letter says. "This isn't just hypocritical - it defies common sense that you'd think the public would believe this was a principled stand against special-interest influence."
Organizing the effort is Change Congress, a group urging donors to boycott giving money to federal candidates until lawmakers enact comprehensive campaign finance reform. The outfit says that it has been able to get pledges from donors to withhold $1.28 million in funds to candidates.
Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for the DCCC said it isn't correct to say that her group and the DSCC are foregoing lobbyist and PAC money for "one day," rather they agreed not to raise money from lobbyists and PACs for one event, at the request of Obama.
"Democrats enacted the strongest ethics and lobbying reform in history. Our fundraising is fully transparent," said Crider, noting that Rep. Christopher Van Hollen, D-Md., who is chair of the DCCC, was author of legislation in 2008 in the House that resulted in the enactment of strict reporting rules on money bundlers.
Other signers of the letter to the parties include Public Campaign, Public Citizen and progressive bloggers from key states like California, New Jersey, Nevada and North Carolina. See the letter and list here.
--Bara Vaida
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Lobbyists are working around a White House order banning them from seeking details about the $787 billion economic-stimulus plan by instead sending company executives, lawyers or consultants to meet with federal officials in the hope of securing a share of the money," the Wall Street Journal reports.
• "Labor unions are mobilizing against the pending U.S.-Panama trade agreement forcefully, more so than they did two years ago when a Republican president was pushing a more commercially significant deal with Peru," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is drafting a letter to lawmakers outlining concerns with the proposed Panama deal, a union official said. That would mark a deliberate and significant shift from the 2007 Peru vote, when many trade-watchers credited successful passage in part to the lack of clear opposition from the powerful union."
The White House blog posted the following today:
Update on Lobbyist Contacts Regarding the Recovery Act In the spirit of transparency, Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, asked us to pass along this update on the President's restrictions on lobbyist contacts regarding the Recovery Act.
Read the complete post here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/26/Update-on-Lobbyist-Contacts-Regarding-the-Recovery-Act/
Pity the poor lobbyist.
First, President Obama imposed strict revolving-door rules on lobbyists seeking jobs in his administration. More recently, the White House has banned executive branch officials from even talking to lobbyists eager to steer economic stimulus money to their clients. (Lobbyists must instead communicate in writing.)
Both moves have prompted heated protests on K Street, and not just from predictable players such as the American League of Lobbyists. Some public-sector activists now argue that the administration's revolving-door rules are "causing serious, unintended harms to nonprofit organizations," as they put it in a recent memo to the White House. A coalition that includes civil rights and good-government organizations also has attacked the stimulus lobbying rules as "an ill-advised restriction on speech."
It's easy to see why lobbyists are upset. After all, the president's new lobbying and ethics regime has caused a lot of pain without getting at the root cause of undue influence in Washington -- namely, the political money system that makes lawmakers depend on lobbyists for campaign cash. Obama has said he wants to fix the public financing system and strengthen enforcement, but has yet to follow through. (He's had a few other things on his plate.)
Still, it's hard to feel too sorry for the lobbyists who argue that Obama's ethics rules are either unconstitutionally stringent or should apply to everyone but them. Organizers for nonprofits object that the revolving-door rules, for example, lump public-sector lobbyists together with those representing "pecuniary" interests. They've asked the White House to essentially carve out a blanket exemption for all job seekers who lobby for 501(c)3 nonprofit or 501(c)4 social welfare groups.
To read more of Eliza Newlin Carney's column, "Rules of The Game," click here.
A founding partner of one of K Street's most successful lobbying shops, Ed Gillespie -- who was also chairman of the Republican National Committee and was a counselor to President Bush -- announced today the formation of Ed Gillespie Strategies. The consulting firm will provide high-level strategy and communications-related advice to companies, CEOs, coalitions and trade associations.
"I wanted to focus on communications and strategic planning," Gillespie says. "It's my first love and I have a lot of experience in knowing how to get from point A to point B."
Most recently, Gillespie served in the White House during the last 18 months of the Bush presidency. Previously he was a principal at Quinn Gillespie & Associates, the lobbying firm he started with Jack Quinn, a White House counsel for President Clinton. Judging by revenue, Quinn Gillespie ranked ninth among Washington lobbying firms in 2008.
Gillespie says he will not be lobbying in his new role. He says he'll have more will time to spend with his family and be involved with the Virginia governor's race. Gillespie volunteers as general chairman for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell.
Services of the firm will include strategic planning, message development and communications strategy, hearing and interview preparation, crisis and reputation management, and coalition organization and oversight.
-- Eliza Krigman
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Fifty of the nation's largest electric utilities amped up spending on lobbyists by 30% late last year to influence the debate in Congress just underway on one of the biggest issues facing lawmakers: climate change," USA Today reports. "From Duke Energy, with 4 million customers, to American Electric Power (AEP), which sells energy in 11 states, the companies spent a total $51 million in the last six months of 2008, $12 million more than the same period in 2007, a USA TODAY review of lobbying reports shows."
• "So powerful was Representative John P. Murtha at one time that he used to put up billboards in his Western Pennsylvania district declaring that 'the P is for Power,'" the New York Times reports. "Now, however, a string of federal criminal investigations of contractors or lobbyists close to Mr. Murtha, the top Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee, are threatening to undermine his backroom clout...In a private meeting with the chairman of the House appropriations committee, Mr. Murtha, the unofficial leader of the 'old bulls' who oversee the subcommittees, was forced to accept a series of new restrictions on his authority to grant earmarks, Democratic aides briefed on the meeting said."
• "According to an extensive report released by the Federal Election Commission today, political action committees spent $135.2 million on independent expenditures in the last election cycle in an attempt either to seat the congressional candidates and presidential hopefuls that would best promote their agenda or to defeat those they thought would not," OpenSecrets.org reports. "That's a 250 percent increase over their independent expenditures in the 2006 election cycle and a 100 percent increase over what they spent to influence elections in the last presidential election cycle in 2004."
Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, American League of Lobbyists and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington met on Friday afternoon with White House Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform Norm Eisen to discuss President Obama's restrictions on lobbyist communication with executive branch officials related to the stimulus pacakge.
The administration issued the restrictions in a March 20 executive branch memo. The president's memo prohibits administration officials from talking to registered lobbyists in person or on the phone about specific stimulus projects. Instead, lobbyists must put their requests in writing to be posted online. Lobbyists may talk directly to administration officials only about "general policy" related to the stimulus.
The ACLU, ALL and CREW have formed a loose coalition to urge the administration to reverse the March 20 memo. They also have suggested the rules may be a violation of the first amendment. See my story in National Journal. (subscription)
In a press release, Dave Wenhold, president of the American League of Lobbyists said the meeting with Eisen was "a frank and open discussion."
"We were happy to meet with Norm Eisen and his great team," Wenhold said. "We look forward to working with the Administration to create a policy which truly increases transparency for all, as opposed to the current guidelines which singles out some."
--Bara Vaida
The Campaign for America's Future today named Darcy Burner as executive director of the American Progressive Caucus Policy Foundation. Burner, who worked for Microsoft before starting a political career, twice ran for Congress in Washington's 8th district, in 2006 and 2008, and lost narrowly both times to Republican Rep. Dave Reichert.
The foundation is a 501(c)(3), not a lobbying shop, but the mission is to advocate for progressive causes. "The country saw an unbelievable number of people participating in the political process in order to set the nation on a more progressive course," said Burner. "To the extent that we [the caucus] can do more to connect these people to what our Congress is doing, it will be very healthy for our democracy."
In that spirit, the organization held a seminar this week with experts on Afghanistan as part of its 'Re-thinking National Security' series. Video clips of the seminar are being distributed to individuals and organizations interested in becoming better informed on the issue.
Burner proved her fundraising prowess this past election cycle by putting more in her campaign chest than incumbent Reichert, $4.3 million versus $2.9 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Rainmaking skills that may be helpful in her new role, but Burner does not plan to run for office in 2010. She promised her husband she would sit out the next cycle.
-- Eliza Krigman
K Street firms and self-employed lobbyists are required to list 'specific lobbying activities' on the disclosure reports they file with Congress. The Center for Responsive Politics has a new feature to highlight the bills that have generated the greatest amount of lobbying.
On Top Bills, readers can view legislation ranked by the number of lobbying reports mentioning that bill. From 2005 to 2008, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act (H.R. 2638) had the greatest number -- 1,225. Click on the bill number in the left column to see a full list of unique clients lobbying on that piece of legislation. For the same period, the four most-heavily lobbied bills were appropriations related -- private money chasing public money.
The center notes that not all filers list the title of the bill in their lobbying disclosure report. "Specific lobbying activities" is subject to interpretation, and some filers provide vague answers. Hence, the "Top Bills" data is a good indicator, but not a precise measurement of lobbying activity.
-- Eliza Krigman
From this week's National Journal: (subscription)
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The United Arab Emirates is wise to the ways of Washington," AP reports. "With Capitol Hill soon to review a deal to send American nuclear power technology to the U.A.E., the oil-rich nation has enlisted a pair of heavyweight lobbying firms to convince lawmakers the agreement won't be a boost to neighboring Iran's pursuit of atomic weapons."
• "An environmental group is increasing the pressure to pass a sweeping environmental measure by taking out ads in the home districts of Republicans who oppose the bill," Politico reports. "The League of Conservation Voters will advertise in the Michigan district of Republican Rep. Mike Rogers starting Friday, officials at the group said. It will be the second in a series of ads accusing members who oppose the legislation of lacking faith in America."
• "Representatives from the American League of Lobbyists, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and the American Civil Liberties Union are set to meet with White House ethics adviser Norm Eisen on Friday," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The groups recently sent a letter to White House Counsel Gregory Craig expressing frustration at the Obama administration's recently minted lobbying restrictions on stimulus funds."
• "Black lawmakers are roiled over the Obama administration's move to potentially cap billions of dollars in compensation owed to black farmers, saying the position contradicts legislation the president championed as an Illinois senator," The Hill reports. "In a meeting Wednesday, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) vented frustration at recent court filings by the Justice Department that could severely limit compensation owed to black farmers discriminated against in the past by the Department of Agriculture (USDA)."
The Entertainment Software Association's head of government relations, Jennifer Manner, is out the door after just a month. ESA announced on Feb. 18, 2009, that Manner would be the group's new senior vice president for government affairs and would head the association's federal and state government relations team.
Manner, a long-time Democrat, didn't appear to have extensive Capitol Hill or administration experience. Her background included stints as a vice president of regulatory affairs at Skyterra Communications, chair of the Satellite Industry Association, and senior counsel to former FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy. She has also worked for Worldcom, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, and taught as an adjust professor of law. ESA is not advertising any new job openings on its Web site.
An association spokesman confirmed that Manner had departed but gave no further information.
-- Winter Casey
Former Rep. Ron Klink, D-PA, and former Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-NY, are making their moves around K Street.
Klink who has been leading Ron Klink and Associates since 2001 when he left Congress, joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough's government relations team.
"While in Congress, Klink served on the Financial Services Committee, the Education and Workforce Committee, the Small Business Committee, the Commerce Committee, and was assigned a seat on the influential Telecommunications Subcommittee and helped draft the Telecommunications Act of 1996," according to the firm.
Nelson Mullins also announced Thursday that it has hired eight others to fill in its government relations and administrative law team including: Robert Crowe, Craig Huseman Metz, Christopher Cushing, Joseph Donovan, Christopher Greeley, Michael Murphy, and Mick Nardelli, Jennifer Pharaoh.
Reynolds is joining Nixon Peabody as a senior strategic policy adviser and his former chief of staff Sally Vastola is joining as a strategic policy adviser, Legal Times reports. The hire adds a high-profile name to Nixon Peabody's new government relations and public policy practice.
- Winter Casey
As the season for appropriations and earmarks approaches on Capitol Hill, the Sunlight Foundation's Party Time site is tracking fundraisers related to appropriations.
The non-profit organization has collected at least 170 fundraising invitations for 2009 events either benefiting lawmakers sitting on the House or Senate Appropriations Committees or featuring one of these members of Congress at the event as a draw to contributors. Some of the parties are being hosted by lobbyists.
In the 2008 budget and appropriation process, "earmarks and other government expenditures" was the most lobbied topic for which the Senate Office of Public Records says it received 18,740 lobbying registrations. The number two topic was taxation and the IRS, for which there were 8,662 lobbying registrations.
See Party Time's story and the invitations here.
--Bara Vaida
The corporations, unions and trade associations that represented the top 20 PAC contributors to federal candidates from both major parties last year poured a combined $22 million into lobbying efforts from January through March -- an increase of nearly 20 percent over the same period in 2008.
High-stakes legislation intended to calm the roiling American economy and a proposed change to labor laws prompted the nation's most generous political contributors to redouble efforts to lobby the lawmakers whose elections they helped to finance, a CongressDaily analysis of first-quarter lobbying disclosure filings shows. (To see chart, click here to access story on NJ.com)
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the list of top 20 PAC donors to House and Senate candidates in 2007 and 2008 includes the political arms of the National Association of Realtors, technology giant Honeywell International, the Service Employees International Union, and the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
The Realtors, whose PAC was the biggest donor to federal candidates in the last cycle, spent a whopping $5.7 million in its lobbying efforts over the first three months of 2009.
That figure, an 82 percent increase over the amount spent over same period last year, tops the $4 million that the Realtors' PAC shelled out to candidates in 2007 and 2008.
As the National Organization for Marriage has likely come to realize, message control on the Internet is close to impossible. The group's recent video against gay marriage has spawned many spoofs mocking the original spot (and criticism from more mainstream sources), one more example of what awaits a political video when it's released into the fray.
Jonah Sachs, co-founder and creative director of Free Range Studios, is well aware of the minefields in the Web media landscape. His production company creates Web ads for numerous advocacy groups, including MoveOn.org. Together they created the "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest in 2004, an early example of successfully incorporating user-generated video into a campaign.
NationalJournal.com caught up with Sachs earlier this month to get his take on issue-based Web video campaigns.
NJ: What trends in advocacy ads have you observed?
Sachs: I think one of the big trends, definitely, is that in the old days I think it had to be fully story-based and fully kind of entertainment-based, and now, since "Inconvenient Truth," people are a little more softened up to the educational, instructional kind of videos as ways of breaking down complex issues and inspiring action around them. It's been kind of interesting that people have been primed for longer-format, more complex ideas.
Continue reading Effective Web Video: Don't Forget To Entertain.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A region of Somalia that is home to many of the pirates who have made national news terrorizing area waters is seeking help from K Street to calm the troubled seas," The Hill reports. "The Puntland State of Somalia, an autonomous region in northeastern Somalia formed in 1998, has hired a lobbying firm in Washington, hoping to make the case that lawmakers on Capitol Hill should send money their way to combat piracy and reduce terrorism in the chaotic Gulf of Aden region."
• "Despite faltering support for a bill that would make it easier for unions to organize, backers of the Employee Free Choice Act are continuing to push key Senators to move forward on the legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "After a two-week recess during which big business and unions blanketed lawmakers' districts with anti- and pro-'card check' rallies, advertisements and phone calls, both sides are soldiering on in what has become a multiyear, multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign."
• "Big industry trade groups cut their lobbying spending during the first three months of 2009, while large labor unions ramped up expenditures to influence Congress and the Obama administration," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Disclosure statements made public Tuesday showed a 31% slide to $62.5 million in spending on lobbying activities by 20 leading business trade associations, compared with $90 million in the previous three months at the end of 2008. The largest labor unions increased lobbying spending by 15% to $5.3 million in the same period, according to the disclosure reports."
When President Obama headlines a fundraiser in Nevada for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., next month, lobbyist and political action committee donations will be barred.
"There will be no lobbyist or PAC money" permitted at the fundraiser, said a Reid spokesman.
The president has agreed to attend a May 26 fundraiser in Las Vegas on behalf of Reid, who may have a tough re-election fight in 2010. The trip reflects the close ties the president and the Senate leader have developed, the New York Times reported.
The Reid campaign decision not to accept lobbyist or PAC donations at the Obama fundraiser follows the decision of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this week to forgo lobbyist and PAC money at their annual dinner in June, which Obama will also host.
The Democratic National Committee last year stopped taking lobbyist and PAC donations after Obama became the party's nominee.
In the 2008 election cycle, lobbyists gave $34.4 million in campaign contributions to federal candidates and parties, with 57 percent going to Democrats and 43 percent to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
--Bara Vaida
Vice President Joe Biden promised movie and television executives Tuesday night that the administration will "find the right person for intellectual property czar," a still vacant White House position created by Congress last year, TechDailyDose's Andrew Noyes reports.
During a dinner that capped off the Motion Picture Association of America's Business of Show Business symposium, he told the crowd that President Obama's team understands the film industry needs more resources dedicated to FBI enforcement of anti-piracy laws and more resources for prosecution, according to a pool report. He also blasted the Chinese government's IP regime that he argued "remains largely ineffective." China routinely tops the U.S. Trade Representative's annual "Special 301" report showing countries that are doing little to deal with IP theft. The latest rankings are due out later this month.
For more on Noyes' coverage of the MPAA conference, go to TechDailyDose.
It's a bear economy, but that hasn't stopped lavish spending on lobbying for some of the nation's biggest industries and associations. In fact, first quarter lobbying reports reveal that the top ten spenders of 2009 outdid the top ten from the same period in 2008 -- $67.8 million verses $54.1 million. Taking first place in Q1 was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at just shy of $10 million. The chamber's Institute for Legal Reform came in at No. 9 at $5.5 million. Oil companies and pharmaceuticals poured millions into lobbying as well.
Below are the Top Ten in Q1, according to data available on the Senate website today.
Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. - $9.9 million
Exxon Mobil - $9.3 million
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America - $6.9 million
Chevron U.S.A. - $ 6.8 million
Lockheed Martin - $6.4 million
Pfizer - $6.1
ConocoPhillips - $6 million
National Association of Realtors - $5.7 million
U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform - $5.5 million
AT&T Services Inc and Affiliates - $5.1 million
-- Eliza Krigman
A Washington Post story today is likely to generate more questions from lawmakers about whether companies receiving federal bailout funds are using that money to oppose efforts to impose more rules on their companies.
Top recipients of federal bailouts spent more than $10 million on political lobbying in the first three months of this year, including aggressive efforts aimed at blocking executive pay limits and tougher financial regulations, the Post says.
Back in January, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, reintroduced legislation (S.133) that would block firms receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) from using those funds to lobby. Not much has been heard on the topic since. These numbers might renew interest in Feinstein and Snowe's bill, though lawyers say such legislation could be unconstitutional.
--Bara Vaida
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Two reform-minded Democrats will introduce a bill" today "to address the growing controversy around the corruptive influence of earmarks and campaign donations from the companies that receive them," The Hill reports. Reps. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., and Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., "who are in their second terms, are co-sponsoring a measure that would prevent lawmakers from taking campaign contributions from entities for which they have requested earmarks, as well as the entities' lobbyists and employees."
• "Environmental groups are storming the airwaves this week, taking out significant ad buys in key states to push climate change legislation and increased investment in renewable energy, even as the issues face a tough fight in the Senate," Politico reports. "The ads come before any significant global warming legislation has been formally introduced in Congress."
• "The economic downturn means lobby shops and clients alike are scrutinizing their books and watching their bottom lines, according to an analysis of termination reports filed with the Secretary of the Senate," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "According to records filed by Tuesday morning, firms filed roughly 1,500 termination contacts with the Senate through March 31, ending lobbying campaigns that ranged from pro bono work to sophisticated in-house lobbying blitzes costing thousands of dollars per day."
Rational PR, a small DC-based public affairs firm, yesterday sent out an unusual pitch for drumming up business on K Street. The firm is offering to share a percentage of its revenues with lobbying firms who hire them.
In an email titled "Rational PR Strives To Increase Lobbying Partnerships with 10 Percent Fee Sharing" sent to 1,500 lobbyists, the firm said it was "pleased to announce" that Rational PR will offer the "10 percent revenue-sharing agreement to lobbying firms and independent lobbyists who select RPR as a partner in their clients' campaigns."
Patrick Dorton, one of the cofounders of Rational PR, called the pitch a way to "formalize" a method for lobbyists and lobbying firms to team up. "What generally happens is PR firms phone bank [cold call] lobbyists in town asking them for business," he said. "It doesn't make sense and it's kind of haphazard."
Most sophisticated lobbying campaigns today are accompanied by a public relations campaign and while some on K Street who had received the email told National Journal that they hadn't seen a pitch like this, others said it's a common business tactic.
Mark Irion, CEO of Dutko Worldwide, which has used Rational PR for campaigns in the past, said the company's pitch is "a clever strategy and its not that unusual. We've offered commissions to people who find business for 25 years."
It's a tough time to be beating on K Street's door for business. According to first quarter lobbying disclosure documents, most of the top ten lobbying firms in town reported their fee income had declined from the same period a year ago.
"There is no question that firms in Washington are looking at their revenue side and to the extent that adding PR capabilities or partnerships can both contribute to revenue as well as contribute to the clients' success, we think this fee-sharing is a good thing," he said.
-- Bara Vaida
Jason Matthews, a former chief of staff to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is now working as a director in the congressional and public affairs division of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Matthews was deputy issues director of Landrieu's successful 1996 Senate campaign and worked his way up in her Washington office.
Also working as a director in congressional and public affairs at the Chamber is Scott Eckart, a former vice president of federal affairs at the Democratic Leadership Council. At the DLC, he was a liaison between the organization and members of Congress. He's also worked at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and on a House re-election campaign for then-Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Tenn. Matthews is expected to focus on financial services issues, while Eckart will deal with trade matters.
--Gregg Sangillo
Roll Call reports today that House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is seeking $23 million in earmarks for homeland security projects at the small Mississippi college that he attended, although the school, Tougaloo College, could not explain what the earmarks are for and does not yet appear to have the capacity to provide the services that Thompson wants to fund.
To read Paul Singer's entire story go here: http://www.rollcall.com/issues/54_117/news/34121-1.html
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a collection of 48 mining, rail, manufacturing, and power-generating companies is a year old and it has an annual budget of more than $45 million, making it almost three times bigger than the coal industry's previous lobbying and public relations efforts, according to a new report published by the Center for Public Integrity.
When Andrew Noyes and I worked on this week's National Journal story about the lobbying battle between the music industry and radio broadcasters over royalty fees, first quarter 2009 lobbying figures weren't available yet. Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, neither side was required to make their lobbying numbers public until the April 20 filing deadline.
Now we have those numbers so we can shed some light on one of the arguments in the battle: Both sides accuse the other of trying to win by outspending their opponent.
SoundExchange, the non-profit group that is funding the music industry's lobbying battle, reported that it spent $540,000, double the $200,000 it reported spending in the first quarter of 2008. The Recording Industry Association of America, which is a member of SoundExchange, reported spending $1.8 million in the first three months of 2009, up from the $1.54 million the organization spent during the same period a year ago.
The National Association of Broadcasters, which is battling the music industry on behalf of radio broadcasters, reported spending $2.6 million, up from $2.49 million they spent in the first quarter of 2008.
Both sides are racking up big lobbying fees in roughly equal measure.
--Bara Vaida
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "In the aftermath of hypocrisy alarms that sounded early in his administration over personnel picks that seemed contrary to his vow to halt the 'revolving door,' President Barack Obama is mostly eschewing the reservoir of Washington, D.C., veterans on K Street that served as a deep pool of talent for recent presidents," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "In a request submitted last month and made public Monday, a campaign official for House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., asked the FEC if the lawmaker can use contributions to his re-election campaign to defray expenses incurred as a result of the PMA probe," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Under that law, the FEC evaluates whether legal fees qualify as 'personal use' on a case-by-case basis."
• "The Poker Players Alliance is betting $3 million that it can overturn an Internet gambling ban or at least carve out an exemption that would legalize and regulate online poker," AP reports. "The alliance, chaired by former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, New York Republican, says it plans to spend that much on lobbying in this session of Congress."
• "Environmental and labor groups are running aggressive ad campaigns aimed at influencing Rust Belt and other skeptical Democrats on climate change -- the subject of high-profile marathon House hearings that start today," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "The potential creation of green jobs to replace those lost in traditional manufacturing industries is the central tenet of the ads -- many of which began running last week when lawmakers were home for recess -- to assuage concerns that placing caps on greenhouse gas emissions could further harm areas hit hard by the recession."
• "Proponents call it a public policy 'win-win': Give drivers money to replace old cars with newer, more efficient ones and you boost struggling auto companies and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions," The Hill reports. "But questions over whether car sales or the environment is the higher priority have split the domestic auto industry and labor unions from environmental advocates, dividing Democrats and putting the brakes on a federal 'cash for clunkers' program."
• "Automakers and financial services firms that received federal bailout funds are continuing to spend large amounts of money to influence Congress, although less than in a comparable period in 2008, according to recently filed Senate lobbying disclosure reports," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
UPDATE @ 11:00 AM on Tuesday April 21. In response to a few phone calls I received, we'd like to stress that these numbers are preliminary. They are based on what was posted on the Senate Office of Public Records website on Monday April 20. We will be updating our numbers this week as we get more information.
Law and lobbying firm Patton Boggs held onto its No. 1 position, coming in as the firm with the most lobbying income for the first quarter of 2009. The firm was No. 1 on K Street for all of 2008.
According to preliminary information from the Senate Office of Public Records analyzed by National Journal, Patton Boggs reported Q1 lobbying fees of $7.48 million, 29 percent below the $10.5 million it reported in same period of 2008. Eight of the firms posted declines in lobbying income compared to the same period in 2008. We will be updating this list as we get more information from the Senate this week.
Here's the chart of the firms in terms of Lobbying Disclosure Act fee income for the first three months of 2009, compared with the first quarter of 2008. Missing from the list are Hogan & Hartson and Podesta Group. The Senate had yet to post their filings.
1. Patton Boggs (down) - $7.48 million versus $10.5 million
2. Van Scoyoc Associates (down) - $5.25 million versus $6.55 million
3. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld (down) - $5.21 million versus $8.81 million
4. Dutko Worldwide (down) - $4.91 million versus $5.3 million
5. Holland & Knight (up) - $4.9 million versus $3.55 million
6. Cassidy & Associates (down) - $4.31 million versus $6.04 million
7. Ogilvy Government Relations (down) - $4.1 million versus $4.57 million
8. BGR Group (down) - $4.06 million versus $4.75 million
9. Brownstein Hyatt & Farber (up) - $3.8 million versus $3.38 million
10 Quinn Gillespie & Associates (down) - $3.36 million versus $3.65 million
-- Bara Vaida
The League of Conservation Voters announced an ad campaign today against Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who is running for the U.S. Senate, for his alleged opposition to the American Clean Energy & Security Act. The green-minded organization advocates for environmental policies and campaigns for pro-environmental candidates who will adopt and implement their agenda as lawmakers.
The campaign features a pointed TV ad, "Believe," that labels Blunt as opposed to clean energy jobs and urges him to change his tune. Blunt is a member of the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, which will vote on the bill next week. In a statement released on April 2, the congressman expressed opposition to new energy taxes.
The ad airs across Missouri and specifically targets Springfield, the heart of Blunt's district. In addition to TV ads, LCV also launched online ads and a direct mail program with the message that Blunt opposes clean energy jobs. Nearly six figures will be spent on the campaign, said LCV spokespeson Josh McNeil.
Blunt's 2010 Senate campaign denies the LCV's charges and calls the ad 'false' and 'dishonest'. "Roy Blunt favors affordable, clean energy, especially from sources here at home, including renewable energy and more U.S. gas and oil production, but he opposes a $3,000 energy tax on Missouri families," according to a statement issued today by Rich Chrismer, spokesperson for Blunt's Senate campaign.
Passing the American Clean Energy & Security Act is a top priority for LCV, said Tiernan Sittenfeld, the group's legislative director. The bill, introduced by Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Edward Markey, D-Mass., promises to create jobs, end dependence on foreign oil, and combat global warming.
-- Eliza Krigman
UPDATE @ 5:15 PM: An Obama administration source said a waiver won't be required for Kimmelman. He will be recusing himself from working on any policy that involves the Consumers Union.
Gene Kimmelman, one of the best known consumer advocates in Washington, is expected to join the Justice department this week as chief counsel for competition policy and intergovernmental relations, according to sources familiar with his plans.
Kimmelman is currently vice president of federal and international affairs at the Consumers Union. The news of his move was first reported in The Deal. (subscription) The appointment is likely to cause a stir in the business world because Kimmelman has long been known for fighting against mergers and monopolies.
For more on Kimmelman, see this 2002 story in Cable World.
There's also a question about whether or not Kimmelman received a waiver from the Obama administration's tough lobbyist and revolving door rules. A White House spokesman couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Kimmelman was a registered lobbyist up until the third quarter of 2008, working on two mergers in the telecom and broadcast industries. In the fourth quarter of 2008, Consumers Union filed documentation with the Senate stating that Kimmelman was no longer a lobbyist for the organization.
Under the administration's lobbying rules, no lobbyist is permitted to work in an area on which he or she lobbied for two years when they join the administration. We will update this story when we hear back from the White House.
--Bara Vaida
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Transportation, health care and high-tech firms aren't the only special interests angling for the ear of President Barack Obama since he replaced George W. Bush. Turnover at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. also means some foreign governments are seizing the opportunity to try to ingratiate themselves to the executive branch," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Only a few years ago, Quinn Gillespie and Associates was the lights, camera, action darling of K Street. Big names. Big money. Big timing," Politico reports. "But following any good buzz, there's always the hangover. And for Quinn Gillespie, 2008 was a take-two-of-these-and-call-me-in-the morning kind of year."
• "After weeks of negotiations, banks and credit unions are continuing to drag their heels, at least publicly, on committing to compromise language in a bill that would give bankruptcy judges the power to modify mortgages," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "The Poker Players Alliance is betting $3 million that it can overturn an Internet gambling ban, or at least carve out an exemption that would legalize and regulate online poker," AP reports. "The alliance, chaired by former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., says it plans to spend that much on lobbying in this session of Congress. The group gets its money from the Interactive Gaming Council, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based trade association for online casinos, as well as from its poker player members."
• "Two of the nation's most influential health care adversaries are uniting to promote key portions of health care reform but leave unaddressed the debate's most controversial element: the creation of a public insurance plan," Politico reports. "The consumer group Families USA and the trade association Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America are launching a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign to push the package of reforms, which includes expanding Medicaid."
• "House lawmakers reported a decline in political fund raising in the first three months of the midterm-election cycle, driven largely by a drop in donations to Republicans, according to new finance reports," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The reports, filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, are the latest evidence that individuals and corporate political-action committees are dialing back on political contributions during the recession."
There are shifts underway in the lobbying ranks of several financial service giants including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase, two of the apparently healthier ones. JP Morgan Chase recently recruited two new lobbyists, Democrat Kate Childress and Republican Nate Gatten, both of whom had previously done outside advocacy work for the bank. In recent months JP Morgan has also dropped a few outside lobbying shops, including BKSH & Associates, Equale & Associates and the OB-C Group, and retained some new ones such as McBee Strategic Consulting and Lawrence Romans & Associates.
Meanwhile, Goldman, which has seen a couple of senior lobbyists depart this year, is about to lose Ann Costello, a veteran Republican who's moving to Bank of New York Mellon to lead their D.C. lobbying efforts, according to several sources. Earlier this year, Marti Thomas, a Democrat at Goldman, jumped ship to join the Duberstein Group, and Mark Patterson decamped to Treasury where he is chief of staff to Secretary Tim Geithner.
--Peter H. Stone
Highlights from this week's National Journal: (subscription)
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Three senior House Democrats revealed sharp declines in donations for the first quarter of 2009 after the shuttering of" PMA Group, "a lobbying firm that in previous election cycles helped steer millions of dollars in donations to their political committees from its lobbyists and earmark-seeking clients," the Washington Post reports. "Reps. John P. Murtha (Pa.), Peter J. Visclosky (Ind.) and James P. Moran Jr. (Va.) have taken in 58 percent less in combined campaign contributions this year compared with the first quarter of 2007, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission."
• "When a group of Jewish liberals formed a lobbying and fundraising group called J Street a year ago, they had modest hopes of raising $50,000 for a handful of congressional candidates," the Washington Post reports. "Instead, the group's political arm ended up funneling nearly $600,000 to several dozen Democrats and a handful of Republicans in 2008, making it Washington's leading pro-Israel PAC, according to Federal Election Commission expenditure records."
It's interesting to me to see how Congress continues to try to exercise control over companies receiving bailout money, particularly when it comes to lobbying because it provides a window into the practice of influence peddling. Here's an interesting story on that topic:
Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is looking into whether American International Group used any of its $182.5 billion in federal bailout money to fund a negative media campaign against its former CEO and chief critic, Hank Greenberg.
According to a letter obtained by Talking Points Memo, Towns asked AIG's current CEO Edward Liddy to provide him with records from its public relations firms Burson-Marstellar and Hill & Knowlton to determine if taxpayer money was used to fund the campaign.
"The Committee was surprised to hear allegations that AIG was contacting the news media and others to attack Mr. Greenberg's credibility," Towns wrote. "I'd be extremely disappointed to learn that any of the billions of taxpayer dollars invested to support AIG may have been diverted to finance a public relations against critics of the AIG bailout."
--Bara Vaida
When movie-studio executives meet in Washington next week, their message to the Obama administration and Congress will be straightforward: Hollywood contributes heavily to the U.S. economy, and policies friendly to movie and television production and distribution can help the country rebound, writes Congress Daily's Andrew Noyes.
Unlike executives from other industries, members of the Motion Picture Association of America are not seeking handouts, the trade group's top lobbyist told CongressDaily. "We're coming to D.C. to highlight the positive impact of our industry and show that we're part of the solution," Michael O'Leary said. At the MPAA's Business of Show Business symposium Tuesday, speakers will underscore the millions of jobs and billions of dollars in wages they produce across the nation, much if it from off-camera work from local crews and catering to costumes and special effects.
To read more, go here for the story in CongressDailyPM (subscription)
In just over a month in the watchdog business, the new Office of Congressional Ethics has launched 10 reviews of possible misconduct by House officials, according to the first quarterly report of the new outfit.
The report, issued April 15, provides the public's first peek at the workings of the new non-partisan office-- which was voted into being by the House just over a year ago. Although the report covers the office's activities from January through March 2009, the eight member board couldn't actually set about its mission of policing ethics until it finalized rules governing its investigations and a code of conduct, which were completed in late February.
In the remaining time, the Office heard from more than three dozen private citizens, authorized both preliminary and follow-up reviews of half a dozen allegations of misconduct against House officials, and begin preliminary probes of four other allegations.
There's no detail on who or what was probed, since the investigations are confidential, but the Chicago Sun-Times, has reported that the office is probing possibly improper involvement by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill., in Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's alleged attempts to sell a vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. If the office votes to refer a matter to the House Ethics Committee, that referral becomes public at some point; but because the office hadn't finished the second phase of its reviews by the time of the report, no referrals had yet been made.
--Julie Kosterlitz
The Center for Responsive Politics' Massie Ritsch is joining the Department of Education's Office of Communications & Outreach as a deputy assistant secretary. Ritsch spent the last three years following money and lobbying trends as the communications director for CRP.
"I'll be overseeing outreach to education associations, foundations and think-tanks, returning to a policy area I worked on as a reporter at the Los Angeles Times and as a communications strategist for schools, districts and education advocates. I'm looking forward to working with Secretary Arne Duncan and his team at this historic moment to improve educational opportunities for America's students," said Ritsch in an email he sent out Thursday morning.
-- Winter Casey
Per President Obama's March 20 directive, executive branch agencies working on stimulus- related projects have started posting their communications with lobbyists online.
The Sunlight Foundation has more on the disclosures. Not all agencies have started posting the communications and for those that are, there doesn't seem to be a uniform way of labeling the documents, which obviously will make it harder for the public to actually find them.
Go check out the Sunlight Foundation and click on some of their links to agencies. I'd be interested to see what you think about these disclosures and whether they are providing meaningful information to the public. Feel free to Email me.
--Bara Vaida
The Salt Lake Tribune adds a local angle at the issue of the revolving door, with an up close and personal look at some of the more than 30 former staffers for Utah's delegation that have registered as federal lobbyists.
Among its findings: eight former aides to Republican Senator Robert Bennett--a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee-- have registered to lobby, half of them for financial firms or corporate giants. Three former Bennett aides, including two former chiefs of staff, lobbied for Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.
Over the past 20 years, the story says, Bennett has received nearly $108,000 from Freddie and Fannie--more than any other Republican, noting that the donations and lobbying by the two companies ended with their takeover by the federal government last year. But the story also lets members of the delegation and the aides-turned-lobbyists explain and defend the Capitol Hill-to-K Street migration.
--Julie Kosterlitz
Extracting oil from sand has brought new riches to the province of Alberta, Canada, but also controversy over its environmental impact. So, on the eve of President Obama's summit with world leaders on energy and the climate, Canada's CBC News reports, Alberta's provincial government has hired former US Ambassador to Canada James Blanchard of DLA Piper and a team of consultants to improve the image of the province and its premiere industry. The consultants, who include former Canadian diplomat Paul Fraser, will get $40,000 a month for their services. Before Obama visited with Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa in February, a coalition of Canadian and American groups launched an advertising campaign aimed at getting Obama to resist calls for "special treatment" of Alberta's oil sands, the CBC reported at the time.
--Julie Kosterlitz
From this morning's Earlybird:
The Washington Post last week reported several sightings of actor Harrison Ford and his wife Calista Flockhart and son Liam at local restaurants and the National Zoo.
In each story about Ford, the paper said it was unable to find out why the actor was in town. They speculated that perhaps it was for work he was doing with Conservation International, which is based in the DC area. Ford is on the group's board.
Well we know at least one official event Ford attended. He had an unscheduled lunch with members of the private pilots group the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. The organization is launching a media campaign next week that will feature Ford, who himself is a private pilot and a member of the AOPA. The campaign is part of an effort to weigh in on legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration.
A source said that Ford and his family were in town "on vacation" and for no other reason, but made the time to dine with AOPA officials. No word yet on whether Ford will come to DC for the official launch of AOPA's campaign next week.
(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
--Bara Vaida
As thousands take part in "tea party" rallies across the country, newspaper and blog commentators are already sounding off -- and the reviews are mixed. The purpose of the parties -- organized via the Internet by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's American Solutions and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, among other groups and individuals -- is to protest against what organizers perceive as high taxes and excessive federal spending.
The effort's online hub -- Tax Day Tea Party -- has video of the ongoing parties. Left-leaning Think Progress, a wing of the Center For American Progress Political Action Fund, has a list of GOP lawmakers who have signed on to speak at the "radical anti-Obama" events.
So is there a surge in voter anger over taxes? Gallup recently published a poll showing that 61 percent of Americans think they will be paying their "fair" share in taxes this year, according to the progressive group Citizens for Tax Justice. But 39 percent of those who make less than $30,000 think their federal income taxes are "too high," though many of them don't actually pay federal taxes, according to Citizens for Tax Justice. See report here.
After the jump, also see a sampling of what the pundits and bloggers are saying.
The National Association of Broadcasters has given lobbyist Douglas Wiley the boot. Wiley was hired by NAB in 2006 to lead the government relations team as executive vice president of government relations but his position was latter shifted to executive vice president in charge of the administration and agencies. A source familiar with NAB's team said Wiley's position was eliminated last month.
Prior to joining NAB, Wiley served as a senior vice president of government relations for the Electronic Industries Alliance, director of government relations for Alcatel, a vice president at the Telecommunications Industry Association, and director of legislative affairs for the Competitive Telecommunications Association. He also spent time on Capitol Hill as a senior legislative assistant to the former chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Thomas Bliley, R-Va. He holds a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University.
NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said the group "does not comment on personnel issues." NAB's lobbying team is currently being headed by Laurie Knight, a Democrat who formerly worked as the legislative director for Rep. Jim Turner, D-Texas. Prior to joining NAB, she spent more than five years with the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
--Winter Casey
Last week, I wrote about a growing number of non-profit lobbyists who were frustrated that the Obama administration's broad ethics rules have excluded them from positions in the executive branch.
I noted that Larry Ottinger, president of the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest and Stephen Rickard, Washington director of the Open Society Institute, have formed a loose coalition to push the White House to amend its ethics rules to delineate between lobbyists who are public interest advocates and those who pursue private monetary gain.
Here's the letter sent to the White House on April 9.
Non-profit lobbyists' memo to Eisen.pdfA spokesman from the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest says his group has yet to receive an answer from the administration. We'll update the story as we learn more. I'm sure this won't be the end of the debate about whether Obama's ethics rules are too broad.
--Bara Vaida
Even in an economic crisis, earmarks inspire more debate than consensus in Washington, writes National Journal.com's David Herbert.
Citizens Against Government Waste on Tuesday released its annual "pig book," a rundown of earmark spending that slams lawmakers for funneling $19.6 billion into pet projects in fiscal 2009, a 14 percent increase over 2008. David Williams, the group's vice president of policy, argued that the hundreds of anti-tax tea parties planned for today -- tax day -- are a sign that the public is fed up with wasteful spending.
"It's no coincidence that there are going to be tea parties all across this country," he said at a press conference Tuesday. "This pig book is why."
But if the report's goal was to shame lawmakers, the biggest offenders were anything but contrite.
"We're honored," said David Helfert, communications director for Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii. "The congressman will be very pleased to learn that he's topped the list. He feels that it is absolutely appropriate for members of Congress to make spending decisions about federal money."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Amid signs that Cuban purchases of U.S. agricultural products continue to grow, congressional, farm and trade leaders on Cuba say President Obama's decision Monday to make it easier for Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba and send remittances should be followed by policy changes making it easier for farmers and agribusiness executives to travel to Cuba to sell products and for Cubans to buy them," CongressDailyPM (subscription) reports.
• "Several Republican lawmakers are expected at 750 Boston Tea Party-styled protests to mark the day federal taxes are due," The Hill reports. "House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is attending a party in Bakersfield, Calif., while House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will join protestors in Madison, Wis."
• "After a long silence on the unfolding federal probe of the PMA Group and its ties to senior Democrats, House Democratic leaders are cobbling together a defense to offer political cover to their rank and file," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has enlisted Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) to consult with House Democrats on why they should continue to resist Republican demands for an ethics committee investigation into the matter."
• "The AFL-CIO and the union political federation Change to Win announced today they will back a common framework for comprehensive immigration reform, healing a major rift in the Democratic party on the issue and illustrating organized labor's increased clout under the Obama administration," CongressDailyPM (subscription) reports.
Ford Motor Company's D.C. office signed on Pete Lawson as vice president of government relations.
Lawson recently lobbied on financial services, corporate governance, and legal reform issues for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He's also a former senior counsel to Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va. Earlier in his career, Lawson worked in the North Carolina Attorney General's office. At Ford, Lawson replaces Bruce Andrews, who's now working for Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
--Gregg Sangillo
National Journal.com's Amy Harder wrote an interesting profile of Joe Rospars who created the new media operation for President Obama's presidential campaign.
For all those on K Street looking for insight on how Obama created his grassroots network, the piece is worth reading.
Rospars meanwhile has returned to his old job at Blue State Digital, a firm he helped co-found before joining the Obama campaign.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "With deep pockets and an influential network of political allies, Big Tobacco for the past decade has been able to fend off most unwelcome actions in Washington," Politico reports. "But the week before Congress left town for spring break sent an unmistakable message: Those days are over. In that week, the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes jumped 62 cents, and the House voted overwhelmingly to authorize the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the tobacco industry."
• "In America, there are always people to sue or contracts to negotiate, right? Apparently there aren't enough," AP reports. "The recession is taking a steep toll on the legal profession, an industry long seen as immune from the ups and downs of the economy. Trying to weather the financial crisis, the nation's largest law firms are laying off attorneys and delaying the hiring of others."
• "An unusual pairing of environmentalists and union members launched two multimillion-dollar ad campaigns this week aimed at tying climate legislation to economic recovery and building support for a carbon cap," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The first campaign, a $3 million-plus effort funded by the Environmental Defense Action Fund, the United Steelworkers and the Blue Green Alliance, began running in eight states and the District of Columbia on Sunday, featuring unemployed steelworkers and the tagline: 'I can sum up a carbon cap in one four-letter word: jobs.'"
• "Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D), who used healthcare reform as a signature issue during his 2004 presidential campaign, is using a call for universal coverage to raise his profile once again," The Hill reports. "Dean left his position as chairman of the Democratic National Committee in January after four years at the helm. Now, Dean is using Democracy For America -- the organizing group that grew out of Dean's presidential campaign -- to build a 50-state strategy advocating for public healthcare."
Former Rep. Chris Chocola, R-Ind., has been named the new president of the Club for Growth, a membership organization that seeks to advance public policies that promote economic growth. The current group's current president, Pat Toomey, is stepping down to run for Senate in Pennsylvania, Under the Influence reported earlier this month.
The organization said Chocola was a strong proponent of limited government and free markets during his tenure in Congress. Policy goals of the Club for Growth include limiting government spending, expanding free trade, encouraging legal reform to end abusive lawsuits, promoting school choice, and supporting social security reform by way of personal retirement accounts. The organization would also like to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. The Club for Growth PAC provides financial support to "pro-growth candidates to Congress, particularly in Republican primaries."
-- Winter Casey
Jon Haber, CEO of the American Association for Justice, announced he is leaving in May to pursue other interests.
During four years as head of the trial lawyer group, Haber oversaw a name change (from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) as well as efforts to reposition the organization in a positive light.
"Because we are in such a strong position, I have decided this is the best time for me to step down to take on new challenges," said Haber in a statement.
Before joining the group, Haber was a senior executive with the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard.
An AAJ spokesman said Haber will stay until the group's board meeting next month. A search committee is also being created by the board, the spokesman added.
--Bara Vaida
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The Turkish government has signed another prominent former congressional leader to join its K Street team," The Hill reports. "Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and others at his firm, Dickstein Shapiro, are working on a $35,000-per-month contract for Turkey, according to records on file with the Justice Department."
• "Dennis Fitzgibbons, former top aide to the House Energy and Commerce Committee under then-Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), is headed back to K Street," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Fitzgibbons has joined solar energy company First Solar as vice president for federal affairs."
• "The private student lending industry and its allies in Congress are maneuvering to thwart a plan by President Obama to end a subsidized loan program and redirect billions of dollars in bank profits to scholarships for needy students," the New York Times reports.
As the Sunlight Foundation noted this morning, the Office of Management and Budget has published a memo clarifying rules for lobbyist communication with executive branch officials regarding the stimulus package.
The Obama administration's March 20 announcement on the lobbyist restrictions has caused lots of consternation on K Street, including questions about whether the rules are a violation of lobbyists' first amendment rights.
Take a look at the memo here
OMB memo.pdf--Bara Vaida
Top Capitol Hill staffer Dennis Fitzgibbons, is joining First Solar, a company that is focused on developing technologies that could drive down the cost of solar energy.
Fitzgibbons, who recently served as chief of staff for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, will be Solar's vice president for federal affairs. In that position, he will oversee legislative, regulatory, and public policy activities, as well as the company's relationships with think tanks. He will be looking to broaden support for solar energy producers in climate, energy and environmental discussions in Washington.
First Solar manufactures solar modules with an advanced semiconductor technology. The company claims that its power plants operate with no water, air emissions or waste stream. Before his most recent position on the Hill, Fitzgibbons was director of public policy for Daimler Chrysler.
-- Winter Casey
From this week's National Journal: (subscription)
Shake-Up At Public Integrity?
In the latter years of the Bush administration, the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section appeared to be one relatively bright spot at an often-criticized agency. But Public Integrity's reputation took a huge hit in early April when Attorney General Eric Holder announced he would ask a federal court to dismiss all criminal charges against former Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who was convicted last fall on ethics violations. As a result, the government might find it harder to bring corruption charges in the future, writes Peter Stone. Full story here.
Business Bracing For Tax Battle
The business community is bracing for a major fight over President Obama's pledge to end tax breaks "for corporations that ship our jobs overseas" as he seeks revenues to pay for his ambitious -- and expensive -- domestic policy agenda. Obama has been short on specifics. But the corporate world is expecting that in his more detailed budget, scheduled for release within weeks, the president will curb the decades-old rule that allows U.S. companies to defer taxes on their overseas profits -- which their host countries already tax -- unless the companies bring their profits home, says Peter Cohn. Full story here.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "White House ethics adviser Norm Eisen is expected to meet with American League of Lobbyists representatives and others frustrated by the Obama administration's recently minted lobbying restrictions on stimulus funds," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Eisen returned ALL President David Wenhold's calls on Wednesday, saying he would be open to meeting, according to Wenhold."
• "Lobbying, scorned during the 2008 campaign, is an occupation of choice among former members of Congress looking for jobs," Bloomberg News reports. "About one-quarter of the House and Senate members who retired or lost elections last year have found new jobs with lobbying firms, where business is booming as" President Obama "pushes for multitrillion-dollar changes in federal banking, health care, energy and military procurement policies."
• "Financial firms seeking big bucks and favorable terms from Congress and the White House are deploying Capitol Hill aides turned lobbyists to win favorable treatment from the congressional lawmakers who are managing various aspects of the financial recovery--overseeing or appropriating nearly $3 trillion in spending and lending," Mother Jones reports.
• On the campaign trail, President Obama promised to increase the transparency of government. Among the pledges he made was to create a centralized database on lobbying," NationalJournal.com reports. "The Sunlight Foundation has proposed something similar, saying the executive branch should create and administer a website aggregating disclosures of meetings between government officials and lobbyists."
Lobbyists for public interest groups are feeling increasingly frustrated that President Obama's broad ethics rules are preventing them from getting jobs in his administration.
So they're fighting back. Larry Ottinger, president of the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest and Stephen Rickard, Washington director of the Open Society Institute, have formed a loose coalition to push the White House to amend its ethics rules to delineate between lobbyists who are public interest advocates and lobbyists who pursue private monetary gain.
Under Obama's ethics guidelines, executive branch officials may hire a lobbyist, but that person cannot work in an area of policy for which they lobbied on for two years. That rule has been waived for three former lobbyists that now have jobs in the administration, but for no one else.
Ottinger and Rickard think the administration should consider several options for changing the policy. Amend the rule so it doesn't apply to public interest lobbyists; or issue a statement saying the rules don't apply to public interest lobbyists; or expand the number of waivers being offered to public interest lobbyists. The suggestions will be made in a letter being sent to the White House. Other organizations signing onto the letter are Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, OMB Watch, and the Project on Government Oversight.
Obama's executive order is "causing serious, unintended harm to nonprofit organizations who want and need to participate in our democracy," the letter is expected to say.
Public interest lobbyists are defined as those working for 501 (c) 3 and 501 (c) 4 organizations (advocacy and educational groups), but not unions or 501 (c) 6 groups (Usually trade associations). See our definitions of these groups on the right hand side of the blog under "Lobbying and Campaign Finance 101."
Readers, we'd be interested in your thoughts on this topic, should public interest lobbyists be exempt from the administration rules? Email me.
The Center for Responsive Politics takes a look at the Club for Growth and where the organization has directed its campaign donations.
The conservative economic group is looking for a new leader and apparently is focusing its search on former Rep. Chris Chocola, R-Ind., who received Club for Growth donations, the Center says. Chocola would replace former Rep. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. who is stepping down to run for Senate in Pennsylvania.
--Bara Vaida
Update @ 7:04 pm -- The Sunlight Foundation has a good analysis of this report on the lucrative nature of lobbying as well. See here.
For anyone wondering how much money corporations can make by hiring lobbyists, Congress Daily's Peter Cohn is worth a read.
Researchers at the University of Kansas have found that when Congress in 2004 granted firms a one-time pass to bring that income home at a reduced tax rate, the lobbying paid off -- big time. Their study found that every dollar companies spent on lobbying for that tax break -- which they tried to revive during the economic stimulus debate this year -- saved them $220 in taxes. On average, the companies generated a 22,000 percent return from their lobbying efforts, with companies spending the most getting the biggest tax savings.
See whole story here. (Subscription)
In National Journal last week, White House Special Counsel for Ethics and Government Reform Norm Eisen said his door "is always open" and he's willing to talk to those protesting President Obama's restrictions on lobbyist communications related to the stimulus package.
So American League of Lobbyists President David Wenhold decided to take Eisen up on that offer and gave his office a call. And indeed, Eisen was willing to meet with him to talk about the restrictions and other matters related to lobbyists. Eisen's office is currently working to find a date and time for the meeting.
Last week, Wenhold's group joined with the American Civil Liberties Union and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in writing a letter to the administration asking Obama to rescind his March 20 directive on lobbying. The president's memo prohibits administration officials from talking to registered lobbyists in person or on the phone about specific stimulus projects. Instead, lobbyists must put their requests in writing to be posted online. Lobbyists may talk directly to administration officials only about "general policy" related to the stimulus.
"Their willingness [to meet] is a sign that this is a serious issue and they are willing to listen and hopefully work with the American League of Lobbyists, the ACLU and CREW on good-government policies," said Wenhold. "The breadth of the coalition demonstrates to the White House that this issue is about the ability for everyone having the same right to petition the government, regardless of job title."
--Bara Vaida
The Progress and Freedom Foundation is postponing its popular annual policy summit, which was to be held this August at Robert Redford's swanky Sundance Resort in Utah. PFF President Ken Ferree cited the nation's ongoing economic woes as the rationale for pulling the plug on the popular outside the Beltway event.
Read more of the story on TechDailyDose.
Congress Daily's Andrew Noyes reports at TechDailyDose that campaign finance clearinghouse OpenSecrets.org, which is run by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, is going "open data" next week, according to an e-mail circulated by the center on Thursday. For the first time in CRP's 26-year history the money-in-politics watchdog is making its most popular data archives fully available to the public for download for free.
Officials hope that OpenSecrets.org, a four-time Webby winner for best politics site, will remain the go-to independent source for most people interested in "following the money" but now the skilled data-diver can explore the information that's already aggregated on the site to its full depth. CRP is expecting all sorts of data mash-ups, maps and other cool projects to result from the new capability.
Transparency group the Sunlight Foundation helped fund OpenSecrets.org's OpenData initiative to make millions of records available under a Creative Commons "Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike" license. CRP will continue to offer its data to commercial users for a fee.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The potentially lucrative aftershocks of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' call for a broad overhaul in military spending quickly spilled onto K Street on Tuesday, where lobbyists mobilized to respond to the slew of cuts made to some of Congress' most favored programs," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Gary Locke is new to the Commerce Department but already known to corporate America, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help re-elect him as Washington's governor," AP reports. "His donors included Microsoft and Boeing, two home-state companies that Locke tried hard to please and whose issues he will almost certainly encounter as a Cabinet secretary."
• "A new ad from organized labor targets Wall Street in calling on Congress to move the controversial card-check bill," The Hill reports. "American Rights at Work (ARAW), a labor advocacy group affiliated with several unions, plans a nationwide buy for the ad to play on cable television across the country. It will begin during the two-week congressional recess now under way."
• "Some bloggers are using the social media tactics that President Obama has long promoted against him as they protest his proposed rule to overturn conscience protections for health care workers who refuse to participate in controversial medical procedures," Nextgov reports. "Obama's proposed regulation would rescind a Bush administration rule that prohibits federal funds from going to health care providers that force workers to deliver services they find religiously or morally objectionable, including abortion and sterilization."
• "A coalition of liberal groups are waging a broad national campaign to build pressure on conservative Democrats and centrist Republicans who may not support President Obama's vision for healthcare reform," The Hill reports. "The coalition, Health Care for America Now (HCAN), which includes groups such as ACORN, the AFL-CIO, Campaign for America's Future and MoveOn.org, has not begun to target individual lawmakers but they are making a loud call for a potentially controversial element of Obama's reform plan."
On the campaign trail, President Obama promised to increase the transparency of government. Among the pledges he made was to create a centralized database on lobbying.
The Sunlight Foundation has proposed something similar, saying the executive branch should create and administer a website aggregating disclosures of meetings between government officials and lobbyists.
Under the Sunlight vision, meetings between executive branch political appointees and lobbyists would be posted on the site after each meeting is held. In the filings would be the names of the agency, the employees that attended the meeting, the lobbyist whom the government official met with and any clients the lobbyist represents. The site would also allow the public to track the meetings by lobbyist, subject matter, agency and official.
"We think the president is headed in the right direction: more real time, online disclosure of lobbying activity," said Sunlight Foundation Policy Director John Wonderlich in a statement. "Imagine having this sort of information from across the federal government right now -- being able to track who lobbying, and what each of those discussions is about."
Sunlight is also urging both Congress and the administration to expand the legal definition of a lobbyist to include anyone paid to engage in direct issue advocacy with lawmakers, staff and executive branch officials. Currently, the law only requires individuals who spend more than 20 percent of their time lobbying for a client, and who also make more than two contacts with executive branch or congressional officials to register to lobby. Anyone who is below that threshold, doesn't have to register.
James Thurber, a professor of government at American University, called the Sunlight proposal a "terrific idea." Thurber has long argued that there are thousands of people in Washington connected to advocacy who operate under the radar because they aren't required to register to lobby.
Last week a coalition of lobbyist, advocacy, and watchdog groups wrote a letter to White House officials, challenging Obama's new order which restricts the way in which registered lobbyists may communicate with administration officials regarding the stimulus.
The directive prohibits administration officials from talking to registered lobbyists in person or on the phone about specific stimulus projects. Lobbyists may put their requests in writing and those comments then are to be posted online. They may also talk directly to administration officials, but only about "general policy."
-- Winter Casey and Bara Vaida
Given the White House's efforts to reduce the influence of lobbyists, I thought it interesting to pay attention to the ethics commitments of its staff.
ProPublica, an independent, non-profit investigative news organization, has copies of the ethics commitment letters written by some of President Obama's prominent political appointees. In the letters, officials promise to comply with government ethics rules and list their conflicts of interest, past and present. Take a look here.
They include letters by the Pentagon's number two, William Lynn, Attorney General Eric Holder and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
ProPublica also analyzed the financial disclosure filings of 179 appointees.
--Bara Vaida
From this morning's Earlybird:
TechNet CEO Lezlee Westine is leaving the high-tech group to head up the Personal Care Products Council, according to a number of industry sources.
Before joining TechNet in 2005, Westine was director of the White House Office of Public Liaison under President George W. Bush. She will be replacing Pamela Bailey, who left the Council to lead the Grocery Manufacturers Association last year. The Personal Care Products Council position is one the top paying jobs in Washington. Bailey received total compensation of $1.5 million, according to National Journal's 2008 salary survey.
Jim Hawley, general counsel at TechNet will be acting CEO of the organization until a replacement is found. Though there has been speculation that Westine's departure may result in the group merging with other high tech associations, a person familiar with the organization said the executive board isn't interested in a merger and will be looking for a new leader.
--Bara Vaida
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Political fund raising has suffered a rare decline since Election Day as corporate political-action committees have trimmed campaign donations amid an economic slump," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Contributions from company PACs fell 6% to $8.2 million in the first two months of the year, compared with the same period in 2007, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the most recently available fund-raising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission."
• "Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) on Monday became the first Senate Democrat to oppose the card-check bill heavily backed by unions," The Hill reports. "In a statement, Lincoln pledged to vote against legislation formally known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would allow workers to organize into unions more easily. She said she could not vote for the bill in its current form."
• "Retailers and merchants upped the ante last week in their long-standing fight against credit card interchange fees, barnstorming the House and Senate financial committees long considered the home turf of their foes," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
Norman Eisen, President Obama's special counsel for ethics and government reform, was paid $1.3 million by the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder in 2008, where he was a partner until he resigned in January to join the White House.
Eisen's salary was disclosed by the White House in a public financial report on April 3, along with financial data on other top advisers. The report also shows Eisen owns shares in three American Funds that were each valued at between $100,001 and $250,000. He also owns a stake in an Ohio manufacturing company called Vernay Laboratories, which he valued at between $250,001 and $500,000. Eisen's wife is a professor at Georgetown University. Her salary was not disclosed.
Eisen also reported two checking accounts valued at $15,000 to $50,000, and another valued at $100,001 and $250,000. He reported two savings accounts, each of which were valued at $100,001 and $250,000.
The report says that Eisen will receive payment of undistributed 2008 Zuckerman Spaeder earnings and a capital account, in eight quarterly payments, over the next two years.
See the report here:
--Bara Vaida
T. Boone Pickens is confident Congress will pass energy legislation this term. He's also confident his plan will be a part of it.
"Will it happen in this Congress? I think it will happen," Pickens said at a small, informal meeting with reporters on Thursday. "The change will come." The outspoken oilman was in town as part of a "virtual march" organized by his organization, the Pickens Plan, to bring pressure on lawmakers to pass new energy legislation. According to his Web site, around 4.5 million people have signed on for the march.
When not pushing his own plan, Pickens took time to promote several pieces of legislation, including a bill introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., one introduced by a bipartisan trio of congressmen and draft language of a climate and energy bill put forth by Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Edward Markey, D-Mass.
Pickens, who met recently with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, was frank about the clout he's held in Washington since first coming here three decades ago, saying that he's never had "any trouble getting in to see anybody." Pickens hopes that his virtual army of supporters will do more to turn those meetings into action. "With three or four million people, I'm a hell of a lot more important here in Washington than I am as a rich guy from Texas," Pickens said.
He also emphasized that his involvement with the Center for American Progress -- with whom he has been working on energy issues since July of last year -- has no political undertones, and he insisted that the country's dependence on foreign oil is an "American problem, totally away from politics." Pickens said he is "totally out of politics" and, lest there was any lingering speculation, added: "In 2012, I will not be a candidate for president. I knew you were going to ask that question, so I jumped ahead of you."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Anti-abortion activists and other conservatives are not happy with Republican senators for not taking a tough line against Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Kathleen Sebelius," The Hill reports. "Sebelius, the Democratic governor of Kansas, made her Capitol Hill debut last week at two confirmation hearings. Anti-abortion groups have been campaigning against her nomination to the Cabinet based on her record in favor of abortion rights."
• "Kathryn Kolbert, a longtime advocate for abortion rights and other liberal causes, has resigned as president of People for the American Way," the Legal Times reports. "Kolbert, whom the organization hired a year ago to succeed longtime president Ralph Neas, says she and the organization's board wanted to go in different directions. Her sudden departure also comes amid a strained financial situation for the group, perhaps best known for its high-profile campaigns against conservative nominees to the Supreme Court."
• "A lobbyist was sentenced Friday to three years probation for destroying evidence about her ties with former Pennsylvania congressman Curt Weldon, who is under FBI investigation," AP reports.
• "Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), who was among the top recipients of campaign contributions from the PMA Group and its former clients, is apparently steering clear of making any earmark requests this year in connection to the now-defunct lobbying firm," The Hill reports. "Visclosky, who sits on the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee, released on his office's website his project requests for the 2010 budget. His requests do not include any clients of PMA, according to a review by The Hill."
From this week's National Journal: (subscription)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has snagged Margaret Spellings to be a senior adviser to chamber President Thomas Donohue. Spellings, who was Education secretary during the Bush II administration, will also continue running her own consulting firm. She expects to work with governors and mayors on a variety of issues affecting states and cities.
Spellings, 51, a Houston native, worked on a Texas education reform commission and for the Texas Association of School Boards. She enlisted as political director to George W. Bush's 1994 gubernatorial campaign and served as senior adviser in the Governor's Mansion.
She enjoys working on education partly because "it implicates kids and a high degree of revenue and taxes, which everybody is an expert on ... it's a highly populist issue." Spellings was the first Bush administration official to appear on Jon Stewart's Daily Show and took center stage on The Colbert Report. "College students are one of the primary audiences for those shows, so you've got to go where your customer is," she says.
Spellings is now starting golf lessons, and she'll soon take her second daughter (a high school junior) to look at colleges. "You have to be heavily into reverse psychology," in dealing with that, she jokes.
Because of the stimulus package, Education successor Arne Duncan will have a lot of money to work with, but the abundance of dough also presents challenges, Spellings says. "They'll have to be very careful about how they implement that funding."
--Gregg Sangillo
Given lobbyists' interest in how they may communicate with the Obama administration regarding the stimulus package, I thought this story would be of interest:
With an eye toward increased transparency and timeliness, the Obama administration plans to impose more reporting requirements on federal agencies dispensing economic stimulus funds, CongressDailyPM reported. (subscription)
OMB Deputy Director Rob Nabors told the the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that his agency will issue guidelines Friday that will require more deep and frequent reporting of the details of contract and subcontract recipients of stimulus funds.
--Bara Vaida
Despite the hard economic times, the lobbying shop run by former Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., is still attracting new clients.
Livingston, a former House Appropriations Committee chair who was briefly House speaker-elect in 1998 but withdrew from consideration amid allegations of marital infidelity, has been running his own government relations firm since 1999.
Livingston recently signed up SUNRx , a prescription drug benefits administrator. Registered to lobby for SUNRx is J. Allen Martin, a former chief of staff to Livingston in Congress. Livingston and Martin also recently registered to lobby for the health care technology company NovoLogix, which would have a stake in any upcoming health care reform bill. Livingston, Martin, and Bernard Robinson, former chief of staff to Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., registered to represent the Current Group, a Smart Grid technology company that provides services to electric utilities.
-Gregg Sangillo
The Government Accountability Office estimates in a new report that about 6 percent of disclosure reports filed with Congress last year under the Lobbying Disclosure Act incorrectly reported income or expenses related to lobbying activity.
The GAO randomly audited 100 of 40,169 lobbying disclosure reports filed in the first 9 months of 2008 and found that 14 percent of the lobbyists or lobbying firms had incorrectly reported too much or too little income related to lobbying activity, or could not explain why their internal company documents contradicted their lobbying reports sent to Congress. Based on that figure, the GAO estimated that a total of 6 percent of reports had "erroneous" income information.
The report also said that in Dec. 2008 the Secretary of the Senate referred 242 LDA non-compliance cases to the U.S. Attorney's Office covering the mid-2007 reporting period. The U.S. Attorney's Office acted on 190 of those cases and compliance letters were sent on Jan. 9, 2009. No further information was provided.
The GAO said as of April 2009 the U.S. Attorney has created an electronic method of keeping track of violations of the lobbying law and it has assigned more staff to enforcement of the lobbying rules.
The GAO findings were first reported today in BNA's Money & Politics Report.
--Bara Vaida
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Labor leaders are giving President Barack Obama a pass -- for now -- on his failure to put 'card check' legislation at the top of his to-do list, but they are preparing to demand immediate action if Democrat Al Franken is seated as Minnesota's Senator," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Call it one of the hardest lobbying jobs in town: Seven banks have formed a coalition to argue that Congress should not go overboard in regulating the derivatives market following the downfall of American International Group," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "That's right: Big banks are lobbying lawmakers not to severely regulate the over-the-counter market where insurancelike contracts called credit default swaps are used to mitigate risk."
• "Payday lenders are girding for a million-dollar lobbying campaign this year to beat back legislation on Capitol Hill that would put federal restrictions on the industry for the first time," The Hill reports. "While much of the attention in Congress since last fall has been focused on the broader financial crisis and bailing out some of the nation's largest banks, payday lenders are raising money and hiring lobbyists to fight new limits that will come up for the first time this year at a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on Thursday."
• "The main proponent of a bill to regulate Internet gambling will introduce his legislation as a standalone bill and will not seek to add it to must-pass legislation," The Hill reports. "The decision by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, means it will be much more difficult for his measure to emerge from Congress."
Yesterday was the last day of the quarter and we will be reporting soon on the fees earned by K Street's lobbying firms.
Despite the ailing economy, expectations are that the lobbying business is booming because of the activist legislative agenda pursued by President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress.
If you look at the lobbying registrations so far, that storyline seems to be coming to fruition. The Sunlight Foundation says in a new report that there were 1,699 new lobbying registration forms filed with Congress in the first quarter of 2009, up 27 percent from 1,337 registrations filed in the same period of 2008.
"As the federal government pumps up spending and intervenes in the troubled financial markets, K Street firms appear to have had no shortage of business," the foundation said in a statement.
Bill Allison,a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation cautioned that the increase in registrations could be due to more efficient processing by the Senate's Office of Public Records which is charged with collecting the filings and posting them online.
"We can't say yet what the numbers mean," he said.
Still, we can probably assume that K Street wasn't suffering financially as the year began.
--Bara Vaida
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has expanded its government affairs and media team.
Marc Schloss has joined the association as director of federal government affairs. Previously Schloss was a legislative aide to Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and worked for the Center for American Progress. He has also been a deputy director at the Democratic National Committee and the finance chief operating officer for Indiana Democratic Senator Evan Bayh's All America political action committee. Schloss also managed a PAC for lobbying firm Van Scoyoc Associates.
Also joining the group is Stephen Schatz, as director of media relations. Schatz was a deputy press secretary for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and before that worked for Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind.
-- Winter Casey
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and 18 other House Democrats and Republicans attended a reception last night in the Rayburn Building hosted by the group United Jewish Communities, which represents 157 federations and 400 smaller communities throughout North America. Hoyer lauded the group for its philanthropic work and emphasized his long-standing relationship with the Jewish community. First elected to Congress in 1981, Hoyer says he has been to Israel every decade since the 1970s and claims he has brought 10 percent of the Congress with him on those visits.
William Daroff, head of the UJC's Washington office named the group's three top public policy issues: long-term health care reform, stopping the budget proposal to reduce the charitable contribution deduction, and promoting sanctions against Iran.
Unlike other lobbyists in town, Daroff isn't bothered by the Obama administration's new restrictions on registered lobbyists. "As someone who employs lobbyists, it's actually a good thing for me," he said. "Their options are more limited, so I don't have to worry as much about losing good people." Daroff also cited the distinction Obama has made between corporate and nonprofit lobbyists, the latter not being the real issue of concern to the administration. Here's the list of lawmakers who attended:
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD; Gary Ackerman, D-NY; John Boccieri, D-OH; Eliot Engel, D-NY; Bob Etheridge, D-NC; Virginia Foxx, R-NC; John Hall, D-NY; Rush Holt, D-NJ; Mary Jo Kilroy, D-OH; Ron Klein, D-FL; Robert Latta, R-OH; Nita Lowey, D-NY; Jerry Nadler, D-NY; Tim Ryan, D-OH; Betty Sutton, D-OH; Jan Schakowsky, D-IL; Allyson Schwartz, D-PA; Brad Sherman, D-CA; John Yarmuth, D-KY.
-- Eliza Krigman
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Members of the U.S. financial industry and the National Rifle Association, two of the most influential lobbying forces on Capitol Hill, are trying to head off legislation in Congress that some say is needed to fight Mexican drug cartels and the threats they pose across the U.S. border," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "In separate efforts, the groups are building support on the Hill to oppose what they contend is unnecessary legislation to help prevent the drug cartels from obtaining illicit cash and weapons."
• "The health reform debate may be focused in Washington, D.C. -- but it's an obscure group in Seattle, with a top political operative in Vermont, that is shaping how Democrats try to win the fight," Politico reports. "Herndon Alliance is the most influential group in the health arena that the public has never heard of. Its work has flowed through the three major Democratic presidential campaigns and built a following among senior administration officials who receive its daily e-mail analysis of news clips."
• "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is under increasing pressure from conservative Democrats to provide political cover from GOP calls for an investigation into PMA Group, a now-defunct defense lobby under firm scrutiny for questionable campaign donations and earmarks," The Hill reports. "Members of the conservative Blue Dog and centrist New Democrat coalitions are calling on Pelosi to fulfill her promise to set a new standard for congressional ethics by either shaking the ethics committee into action on the PMA controversy or providing an alternative resolution to the one offered repeatedly by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)."
• "America's Health Insurance Plans has approached physicians' groups in its effort to drum up congressional support to pressure the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to change payment rates it is poised to set for next year and that AHIP says will lead to higher premiums and reduced benefits for seniors," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.
