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In an effort to make civic engagement easier by leveraging technology, the Sunlight Foundation announced the creation of Transparency Corps today, a Web service that allows citizens to perform small tasks as part of a group effort to illuminate government data.
Sunlight encourages other organizations to use the open-source code behind Transparency Corps, "Sunlight and future partners can provide micro-tasks that when aggregated, help solve research and data analysis problems when computers alone cannot properly scrutinize government information," said Ellen Miller, executive director and co-founder of the organization.
Presently, Transparency Corps allows interested citizens to participate in two campaigns organized by Sunlight. One is simply to upload a photo of yourself with a sign showing your support for Congress to post bills online before consideration, a long-time goal of Sunlight's. The other campaign asks volunteers to read earmark requests and fill out a form with key information to contribute to the group's earmark database.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Kazakhstan refuses to let Borat have the last word on its image," The Hill reports. "The Central Asian republic's foreign affairs ministry inked a $1.5 million deal with a Washington lobbying firm, according to records recently filed with the Justice Department, with a partial goal of combating the image presented in the blockbuster film 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.'"
• "The intensifying health care debate is following Members of Congress home to their districts during this week's recess," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "A long list of industry and interest groups have taken out advertising spots, are activating grass-roots networks and are planning Member meetings outside the Beltway."
• "Horse trading in Washington is infamous. But it's rare to catch a glimpse of the horse in the midst of the trade in real time," Politico reports. "Friday was one of those rare exceptions when the powerful lobby for seniors, the AARP, sent a memo to Senate officials threatening to yank support for the chamber's health committee's version of reform if it didn't get what it wanted on another provision in the bill related to biogeneric drugs."
Lobbying stories in this week's National Journal: (subscription)
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Despite House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson's farm and forestry amendment to the climate change bill, agriculture groups are all over the map in their views on the underlying bill that is expected on the House floor today," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.
Liberal and conservative groups are ramping up the pressure on Senate Democrats and Republicans on health care reform.
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which supports the creation of a public plan option in health care reform, is running an ad juxtaposing polling numbers from a June 8th Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll--showing 76 percent support for a public health care plan option--with the seven-figure campaign contributions received by seven centrist Democrats reluctant to back such an option.
The group has been soliciting funds online and offering supporters a chance to have their names posted on the ad, to run on CNN, MSNBC and The Daily Show. In its first day, says spokesman Adam Green, the group's campaign has exceeded its original goal of raising $15,000--to allow 100 airings of the ad--by nearly $6,000, which Green said will allow a larger ad buy. Green says the group is now considering airing similar ads within the states of individual senators featured. See ad here.
Two senior foreign policy hands from the Clinton Administration are joining forces.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger to former President Clinton are merging their two consulting firms-Stonebridge International and the Albright Group-into one firm called Albright Stonebridge Group. Berger has had some other big names working with him at Stonebridge, such as former Sen. Warren Rudman, R-N.H. and former Citigroup CEO Charles Prince.
Stonebridge, which has also had a strategic partnership with Hogan & Hartson, is not a traditional lobbying firm. Instead, it provides consulting for companies looking to do businesses in China, Brazil, and other countries. The Albright Group has also employed Wendy Sherman, now listed as a vice chair at the newly merged firm. She's a former top State Department official under Albright and an ex-CEO of Fannie Mae Foundation. (For full disclosure, Sherman is also married to a National Journal employee)
(Photos courtesy of the U.S. government)
National Public Radio today launched a new investigative series on lobbying, money and politics in Washington called "Dollar Politics." (Click here to see report)
The series begins with a look at health care lobbyists. NPR's reporters Peter Overby and Andrea Seabrook attended a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing this month and took pictures of those lobbyists. The organization has posted photos on its website from the hearing and has asked the public to try to identify who the lobbyists are in the photos.
NPR also interviews Bill Vaughan, a health care lobbyist for Consumers Union, the nonprofit that publishes Consumer Reports magazine, who talks about why he was at the hearing.
"[They] have friendships with various members of Congress or staff and hope to be seen. It's a reminder that their interests are at play," Vaughan told NPR of the lobbyists at the hearing.
Many lobbyists in Washington have been feeling like a targets lately, so I wonder how some will feel about having their photo on NPR's website. In the 2008 campaign, the presidential candidates made lobbyists their favorite whipping posts and the Obama administration has since severely restricted lobbyists' ability to get jobs in his administration. On the other hand, lobbyists have told me that the scrutiny of their profession doesn't bother them because, as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, "Sunshine is the best disinfectant."
Readers let me know what you think. Is this good for the public? Bad for the public? Does it matter? Email me here.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The deal House Democrats were forced to strike on the climate change bill demonstrates the power of the corn ethanol lobby to get its way on Capitol Hill, despite an array of interests aligned against it," The Hill reports.
• "As the House prepares to vote Friday on climate change legislation, two groups representing tens of thousands of small businesses are upping the ante, saying they will use the cap-and-trade energy package vote to score lawmakers," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The National Federation of Independent Business and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors will 'key vote' the bill, making it part of the organizations' public scorecard on how lawmakers vote on priority legislation."
• "Many farm lobbyists are still on the fence with climate change and energy legislation headed to the House floor Friday, though most are singing the praises of House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson for negotiating changes in the bill," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Most were pleased Wednesday that the bill would put the sections of a carbon offsets program that applies to agriculture under the control of the USDA rather than the EPA."
As I wrote in the June 13 issue of National Journal, everyone in Washington has been expecting that after months of harmony between Congress and the White House, interest groups working on health care reform were soon going to begin acting like interest groups and stake out their opposition to measures as they began moving on Capitol Hill. (See our magazine story here, subscription-only)
Clearly this was the week interest groups began shifting from harmony to discord. In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce condemned aspects of the House Democratic health care proposal. The group is strongly opposed to a provision that would pay for the plan through an employer mandate.
"Congress is divorced from reality on this issue," said Randal Johnson, senior vice president at the Chamber testified, according to CongressDaily. (See subscription-only story here.)
The National Federation of Independent Business also sent out a press release calling the House health care bill "bad" for small business. "As the U.S. House official begins to discuss and develop its approach to addressing the health care crisis, one thing is clear - small business owners need meaningful reform. Sadly, many of the provisions in this draft bill fall far short of achieving those goals," said Brad Close, vice president of public policy for the NFIB.
Officials for both AHIP and NFIB stressed however that they still want to work with Congress on finding agreement.
"Is the 'kumbaya' moment over? Honestly, I don't know," said NFIB spokeswoman Stephanie Cathcart.
"What I do know is that we are in the early innings of what will be a
very long ball game. From what we've seen so far, small business
(sadly) is down in the [score], but we are working to make a late
inning push and ensure that we help our nation's job creators."
Added AHIP spokesman Robert Zirkelbach:
"The point needs to be made that there is still a great deal of
consensus on a broad framework for comprehenisve health care reform.
Unfortunately, the discussion around a government-run plan has clouded
all of the areas where there is consensus."
On Tuesday, America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association wrote a joint letter to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee expressing "strong concern" about committee plans to add a public plan option to the legislation as well as other measures. Click below for letter.
Health Insurers Letter To HLP Committee.pdfContinue reading Lobbyists Find Much To Dislike In Health Bills.
Good government groups are using House Democrats' rush to pass climate change legislation to renew their call for more congressional deliberation and public input on major legislation.
"This Friday, Congress plans to vote on a bill that could fundamentally alter the American economy, dramatically affect the climate, and have huge implications for our national security. But, right now no one knows what's in the bill or how it came to be," said a release from the Sunlight Foundation, which leads a coalition called "ReadTheBill.org."
The coalition is supporting legislation introduced in mid-June by Reps. Brian Baird, D-Wash., and John Culberson, D-Texas that would require the House to post bills online 72 hours before they're debated.
The Sunlight Foundation notes that the American Clean Energy and Security Act--known as the "Cap and Trade Energy Bill" ballooned from a 946-page bill marked up by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to a 1201 page bill when it emerged after it negotiations with Agriculture Committee Chairman Colin Peterson, D-Minn.in mid-June, with little explanation.
With just 4 days before House leaders are promising a vote on June 26th, the bill was made available online in an unofficial version on the House Rules Committee's website. While that might seem to meet the 72-hour requirement Sunlight favors, foundation spokesman Gabriela Schneider says it is not much of a step forward.
"Technically, what was posted is not the final legislation because it hasn't even been introduced yet," she said by e-mail. "Moreover, most people don't know to look at the Rules Committee site."
In a new survey released by Zogby International today, over 60 percent of business executives said that the employer-based health care-system is not sustainable in the long term. The Committee for Economic Development (CED), a non-profit business-led public policy organization, commissioned the poll. Administered from June 1 through June 12, the poll surveyed senior level executives' attitudes on healthcare and health insurance.
Among the findings, 60.3 percent of respondents support a market-based system of competing plans--similar to coverage offered to lawmakers where the government organizes a menu of private insurance plans from which each may choose. Support for the kind of health coverage the government offers is a clear change from the status quo, says the CED.
"According to the best data we have been able to find, more than 77 percent of all private employees who have health insurance have no choice about their health insurance carrier," said Joseph J. Minarik, Senior Vice President and Director of Research for CED, "In other words, there is no competition."
He added that employers would like to offer their employees more health care options than are currently available.
In a new report released today, the government watchdog group Common Cause found that major health care interests have spent upwards of $1.4 million a day to lobby Capitol Hill so far this year.
According to the report, entitled 'legislating under the influence,' political spending by the health industries has increased 73 percent since 2000. Health interests contributed $94 million to candidates in Congress during the 2008 election cycle, a $40 million jump from the 2000 election cycle figure.
The top recipients of health industry campaign contributions from 2000 to 2008 are new Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter, Pa., and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., at $7.3 million and $6.3 million respectively. All of the campaign finance data used in the report came from the Center for Responsive Politics.
With the health industry's tremendous financial clout in Washington, Common Cause is concerned that chances for meaningful reform will be stymied. The report concludes that members of Congress face a disheartening conflict of interest: side with their large campaign donors or back reform measures that have support from the public, like the public plan option which would create a publicly-funded health insurance entity to compete with private insurers.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), an environmental group that is an active player in political campaigns, said it would not endorse any member of the House who opposed the climate bill scheduled to be voted on this week," The Hill reports. "The bill would create a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent over the next four decades."
• "President Barack Obama's executive order banning lobbyists from joining any areas of the executive branch that they might have lobbied in the past two years appears to have sparked several public interest group terminations under the Lobbying Disclosure Act," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "But not all nonprofit advocates are shy about registering to lobby."
• "Lee Geisse bound the stack of letters supporting the House climate change bill in baler twine, a symbolic, back-home gesture to reassure Ohio Democratic Rep. John Boccieri the measure wouldn't hurt his rural constituents," The Hill reports. "Geisse was one of around 50 union officials on Capitol Hill this week to persuade members from agriculture and industrial states who are wary the climate bill will increase energy costs and drive jobs overseas."
• "This development bears watching, as the left wing of the Democratic Party keeps going after top lawmakers within its own realm," the New York Times reports. "MoveOn has begun urging its sizable membership to hound Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, criticizing her for cautionary remarks she made on CNN on Sunday about overhauling the health care system."
In an attempt to stanch the flow of special interest money to Capitol Hill, Change Congress, a government reform group, is calling for a donor strike to politicians who are not supporting the Fair Elections Act. The legislation would reform campaign finance to create matching payments for qualified small-dollar contributions, among other things.
In a press release, Change Congress announced today that the 'on strike' campaign has withdrawn $1.6 million from lawmakers who haven't supported the Fair Election Act. Individuals who join the strike are pledging not to donate to anyone this cycle who doesn't sign on to the campaign finance reform bill. The amount withdrawn is determined by how much the member of the strike gave in the last election cycle. Change Congress is tracking how much each politician is 'losing' (see here), so far the biggest loser is Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., at over $380,000
Change Congress primarily advocates for campaign finance reform. Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School, and Joe Trippi, the pioneer of new media in presidential politics, co-founded the organization.
This week's issue of National Journal profiles 366 Obama administration officials in our quadrennial "Decision Makers" special report. (subscription)
I thought readers might be interested in my profile of Norm Eisen, White House special counsel on ethics and government. Eisen wrote the ethics rules restricting federally registered lobbyists from working in the administration on policies they lobbied on in the past two years. He also wrote the March memo restricting lobbyist communications with executive branch officials with regard to the economic recovery package passed in February.
The Office of Management and Budget is expected to soon release detailed guidance on communication with executive branch officials on the stimulus projects.
Just in time for the fight over financial regulatory reform, including a proposed expansion of the Federal Reserve's powers, Deloitte & Touche has hired another former top banking regulator from the Federal Reserve.
Deborah Bailey, the Fed's Deputy Director of Banking Supervision and regulation division , who also did a stint at the Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, is joining Deloitte and Touche's Governance, Regulatory and Risk practice. Bailey, who helped shape the Fed's response to the financial crisis, will now help private sector clients on, among other things, "tackling the regulatory reform plan announced last week," said the company's press release.
In 2007, Deloitte hired the Fed's longtime Banking Supervision and Regulation Director, Rich Spillenkothen.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) has a powerful ally in his battle with the White House over the highway bill: K Street," The Hill reports. "Trade associations, unions and business coalitions are getting behind the House Transportation Committee chairman in his push to complete the $450 billion measure before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30."
• "The PMA Group, the lobbying titan that closed its doors in March after an FBI raid, has filed more than a dozen lawsuits against former clients for failure to pay outstanding debts," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Now, one company has responded with a $3 million countersuit that alleges PMA cheated it out of an earmark it was expecting to receive."
• "Nine major financial and real estate lobbying associations are joining forces to push for a greater say in a series of accounting rule changes, one of which could soon force banks to raise tens of billions of dollars in capital," The Hill reports. "A recently adopted accounting rule effective at the beginning of 2010 requires firms to bring off-balance sheet assets onto their own balance sheets."
Just who has left the office of Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. to lobby on health care issues? The question is important as he is playing a leading role in shaping health care reform legislation.
To answer that, the Sunlight Foundation has come up with an interesting way to visualize the revolving door and lobbyists' connections to Baucus. Five former staffers currently work for a total of twenty-seven different organizations that are either in the health care or insurance industry, according to first quarter 2009 lobbying disclosure forms analyzed by the Foundation. The organizations represented include some of the top lobbying organizations in the health sector: Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Researchers of America (PhRMA), America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Amgen, and GE Health Care.
Click here to see the graphic.
(Photo of Baucus courtesy of Creative Commons)
I know there are lots of lobbyists in D.C. who make use of Facebook, so they'll find this story on TechDailyDose interesting.
Silicon Valley social networking sensation Facebook -- which earlier this spring hired former American Civil Liberties Union senior legislative counsel Tim Sparapani as public policy director for its growing Washington, D.C. office -- took another inside-the-Beltway step late Monday. The company submitted its first ever lobbying registration forms for Sparapani and his colleague Adam Connor with the House's Legislative Resource Center and the Senate's Office of Public Records.
President Obama is making a "sea change" on the issue of lobbying, Spencer A. Overton, principal deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, told attendees June 19 at the American Constitution Society's annual conference.
Overton's comment was given in response to a question, posed in writing to a panel of Obama officials, about the administration's policies with regard to federally registered lobbyists.
Any lobbyist hired by the administration is prohibited from working on a policy area on which they lobbied for the past two years, unless they receive a waiver. The aim was to reduce the influence of special interests on adminsitration decisions. The policy has had the effect of barring most lobbyists, including those who work for non-profit advocacy groups, from getting jobs in the administration, which has upset a large swath of Obama's progressive supporters. Obama administration officials also must comply with new restrictions designed to make communications with lobbyists more transparent.
Overton, a George Washington University legal professor currently on leave, was asked why Obama is treating lobbyists who work for nonprofits the same as lobbyists who work for corporate entities.
He said Obama understood the complaints, but wanted to establish that with his restrictions, he was "making a sea change with regard to those issues."
Overton said he had worked on the rules during the transition, and he said "it really was difficult." He said, "It is difficult to say these are the good lobbyists, and these are the bad lobbyists -- get them out of here."
The Office of Management and Budget is expected to issue guidance on its policies regarding lobbyist communication with executive branch offices within the next few weeks.
What will be the impact of the health insurance industry's campaign donations and lobbying on members of the Senate? Plenty, according to an analysis by the blog FiveThirtyEight.com.
Directors of corporate political action committees usually say they give money to lawmakers and candidates who have voted in a way that supports their company's economic interests. And sometimes the PACs donate money to candidates because they share political ideology. But does a lawmaker actually vote for a bill that a particular company backs just because they received a PAC check?
Yes, says Nate Silver, who writes FiveThirtyEight.com. He analyzed the campaign donations of health insurers and health maintenance organizations to Senators and has projected how those lawmakers will vote when it comes to the public plan option under consideration in the health care reform debate. The controversial measure would call on the government to create a new public insurance plan to compete against private insurers.Private insurers are strongly opposed to a public option and progressive groups are pushing hard for it.
"The insurance industry's influence appears to swing about 9 votes against the public option," projects Silver.
Silver says the vote by Sen. Mark Warner D-Va., is the most likely to be influenced by the health insurance lobby. Warner has raised $69,000 in campaign donations from health insurers, though he has only been in office for six months.
Click here to take a look at the analysis.
(Photo of Warner courtesy of Creative Commons)
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Many hedge funds were relieved last week when the Obama administration's financial-overhaul plan included no big surprises or threats to the lucrative, secretive industry," the Wall Street Journal reports. "It isn't clear exactly why hedge funds escaped their worst fears. But one factor might have helped: The hedge-fund industry has been spending a lot more time and money in Washington during the past few years."
• "Supporters of regulating the insurance industry at the federal level are lobbying Congress to go beyond President Barack Obama's financial regulatory reform overhaul," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Groups like the American Insurance Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, and the American Council of Life Insurers support the White House's efforts to create a national insurance infrastructure but are also pushing for the creation of an optional federal charter that would allow insurance companies to choose whether to follow state or federal rules."
• "As the Obama administration prepares to announce which nuclear utilities will receive billions in government-backed financing to build the next generation of plants, industry executives and lobbyists are busy making the case that it won't be nearly enough," The Hill reports. "The industry's main trade group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, wants $20 billion more in loan-guarantees in addition to the $18.5 billion in financing currently available to kick-start the long-awaited industry revival."
Tracking foreign influence in Washington is now a bit easier, thanks to new and improved features on the Foreign Agents Registration Act Unit's web site. The FARA unit is part of the Justice Department's National Security Division. The 'quick search' feature on the FARA database is significantly less clunky and more user friendly than the 'document search' interface.
Last March, we reported on FARA, shedding light on the important information collected by this agency about firms that represent foreign parties and governments. Most people don't know about or pay much attention to FARA because the files are not collected or presented in a way that is easy to identify pockets of influence.
But the new features in quick search make it easier to perform basic analysis of lobbying on behalf of foreign entities. Under quick search, a user can search lobbying activity by country in a more comprehensive way than previously. It's also easier to identify firms and PR shops that are working on behalf of foreign clients.
But the real gold that FARA collects is in the supplemental statements that capture financial information, among other data. It's still not possible to search foreign country, principal, or agent by the amount of money they are collecting or spending. However, FARA Bureau Chief Heather Hunt says her office is working on incorporating that feature in the future.
-- Eliza Krigman
The Campaign for Free Enterprise, the advocacy blitz that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently launched, is searching for a manager, has started fundraising, and is using focus groups to help shape its message, according to a chamber official involved in its development.
The fundraising for the campaign, which reportedly could cost as much as $100 million over two years, is being handled by Agnes Warfield, the chamber's long time chief fundraiser. Initially, the campaign is trying to tap new financial sources, such as "entrepreneurial types who have not been active in the chamber to date," said the official.
The campaign's focus on new financial angels is prompted by concerns that the chamber could face a "robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul problem," unless it attracts fresh donors. Senior chamber officials are slated to hold a brainstorming session about the free enterprise campaign - including potential outside candidates to manage it - a week from Sunday at the swank Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia.
The session will coincide with a separate two-and-a-half day semi-annual meeting that the chamber hosts for leaders of scores of major trade groups known as the Committee of 100.
The official said that chamber President Tom Donohue will probably discuss the free enterprise initiative at the larger meeting as well. Donohue unveiled the new campaign as a broad ideological drive to defend free markets in the face of mounting government regulations, financial bailouts, and other encroachments by Washington, including attacks on the business world.
"Supporters and critics alike agree that capitalism is at a crossroads," Donohue said in his June 10 statement announcing the campaign.
The campaign's arsenal is expected to include a large paid advertising budget, grassroots tactics, and an issue-advocacy and education program leading up to the 2010 elections.
-- Peter H. Stone
Health Care For America Now, a grassroots campaign that calls itself a coaltion of about 1,000 progressive organizations and labor unions, launched a $1.1 million television advertising campaign aimed at senators from 10 states, urging them to pass a health care bill that includes a public option.
The ad, titled "What If?", is running for 10 days in Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington. (See the ad on Health Care for America Now's website. Click here.)
The ads come as the Senate Finance Committee is considering drafting a bill that would include alternatives to a public plan, such as Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad's co-op alternative. The North Dakota Democrat has suggested creating non-profit co-ops, funded initially with public dollars, to compete with private health insurers.
The next issue of National Journal will be devoted to profiling more than 350 Obama administration officials. The Decision Makers issue will be delivered to subscribers on Monday, June 22.
Hotline OnCall editor Jennifer Skalka reviews a poll of National Journal's political insiders on how the White House staff has been doing:
Political Insiders gave passing marks to the WH staff, but offered less stellar reviews of President Obama's economic and national security teams.
Also in Decision Makers, NJ's James A. Barnes and Peter Bell asked Democrats (97) and Republicans (91) to grade the White House staff. On average, Democrats gave a 'B+' while Republicans gave a 'B-.'
"Dealing with the toughest challenges inherited by any administration in two generations," said one 'B+' bestowing Democrat. "Rahm looked especially 'Rahmbo' on the NBC special. Get a leash," said a Democrat who stamped the Obama team with a 'B.'
A Republican 'B' giver: "They'd get an 'A' if they stopped blaming Bush for everything under the sun."
Meanwhile, the Democrats gave Obama's economic team a 'B-' and the national security team a 'B+.' The Republicans were less kind, rating them a 'D+' and 'C' respectively.
One Republican issued a 'D' to the economic team, adding: "If Obama ends up as a one-term president, it will be because these guys pushed economic politices that would make even Jimmy Carter roll his eyes."
And a Republican who tagged the national security team with a 'C' said: "Repacking a lot of the former administration's ideas, just selling them better. But North Korea? Do we have a plan? Time is ticking."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "American International Group (AIG), the insurance firm that has received roughly $180 billion in government support in the financial crisis, is officially closing its Washington lobbying office," The Hill reports. "AIG was a major lobbying presence in Washington for many years. In 2008, the firm spent nearly $10 million on lobbying, according to congressional records."
• "The practicality of President Obama's pledge to change the ways of Washington is colliding once more with the reality of how money, influence and governance interact here," the New York Times reports. "He repeatedly declared while campaigning last year that he would 'not take a dime' from lobbyists or political action committees. So to follow through with that promise, Mr. Obama is simply leaving the room."
• "The coal industry is pushing back against a climate change bill that would likely curb coal use by circulating a map that shows which states would see their electric bills increase the most under the legislation," The Hill reports. "But supporters of the bill say the industry's figures are off the mark and don't factor in ways the bill will offset rising energy costs or the jobs that it will create."
"A draft proposal in the Senate to overhaul the nation's health-care system would require most people to buy health insurance, authorize an expansion of Medicaid coverage and create consumer-owned cooperative plans instead of the government coverage that" Obama "is seeking," the Washington Post reports.
White House
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
dodged questions today about why the administration won't pressure the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial
Campaign Committee to stop taking donations from
lobbyists.
Obama is
headlining a DCCC, DSCC fundraising dinner this evening, but lobbyists aren't
permitted to attend or to have donated money for the dinner, though they are permitted to attend an "issues conference" being held on Friday. Obama didn't
take lobbyist or political action committee donations during his campaign. When
he won the Democratic primary, he banned the Democratic National Committee from
taking lobbyist and PAC campaign money as well.
But as
president, it appears the administration isn't willing to push the same
policy.
Here's the
Q&A from the White House briefing today:
Q The President is going to go to a fundraiser in the DCCC and the DSCC, this one night only. They won't take lobbyists' money and all this stuff --
MR. GIBBS: Well, the President won't be involved in a fundraiser that does that.Q But as the titular head of the Democratic Party, why doesn't he have any influence to change the rules of the two major national committees?
MR. GIBBS: I think people know where the President stands. I think -- we're the head of the DNC, and they don't take lobbyists' money, and the President is not going to be involved in fundraisers where that happens.
Q But it's the Democratic Party -- I mean, you're head of the Democratic Party, why can't you have this influence on the DSCC or the DCCC?
MR. GIBBS: Call Bob Menendez. (Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. is chair of the DSCC)
The different treatment of lobbyists has some Democrats bristling.
"There's no reason to villify good people that are trying to help your Administration and treat them as if they have the plague. They want it both ways. And for the DSCC and DCCC to cave on the [issues conference] makes this event particularly demeaning to attend - 'you're welcome here, and we'll take your money, but not here,'" said one lobbyist who didn't want to be named.
The numbers tell the story why the congressional parties are reluctant to ban lobbyist donations. 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.
The U.S. Travel Association has used a novel tactic to find a new grassroots "lobbyist" to tell its story better on Capitol Hill -- it held a video contest on YouTube.The winner, by 16,000 votes, was Paco Saldana, an immigrant from Mexico who worked himself up the ladder from bus boy to director of guest services at the Ritz-Carlton hotel on Amelia Island, Fla. His video told the story of the negative impact the economy has had on his hotel and Amelia Island. Saldana said a couple of Ritz-Carlton managers urged him to submit a video for the contest because "they thought I had a good story to tell." The hotel has had to cut its staff to 500 from 700 a year ago.
See the video here.
(Photo of Saldana courtesy of U.S. Travel Association)
Continue reading Association Holds Contest To Find Lobbyist.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The House clerk and Senate secretary have clarified guidance for the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) that had confused K Street on how lobbyists can de-register," The Hill reports. "The clarified guidance makes clear that individuals can only de-list as lobbyists if they do 'not reasonably expect to make further lobbying contacts' on behalf of a client."
Though he was forced to withdraw his nomination for Health and Human Services secretary earlier this year, former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., hasn't disappeared from the health care debate. He is still working to influence the shape of the legislative battle in Congress.
Daschle joined with former Senators Howard Baker, R-Tenn., and Robert Dole, R-Kan., on Wednesday to offer a bipartisan compromise for health care reform, just as the Democrats' efforts on the Hill seemed to be slowing. Click here to see report.
Daschle currently works as a special public policy adviser at Alston & Bird and isn't registered to lobby. His nomination was derailed earlier this year after he failed to pay some back taxes on use of a car.
The reform proposal, developed with the nonprofit Bipartisan Policy Center, calls for letting states develop public plan options, which Daschle said could be "similar to those [that] many already operate," CongressDailyPM reported (subscription). The federal government would provide funds to start the plans.
Earlier in the day, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said mark-up of health care legislation may slip to July as the committee deals with finding a way to address the Congressional Budget Office's assessment that its reform measure would cost $1.6 trillion over 10 years. See CongressDaily's story on Finance Panel news (subscription).
(Photo courtesy of Creative Commons)
Sam Brunelli of the Whitaker Health Freedom Foundation, the political arm of Freedom of Health Foundation, which advocates for alternative medicine practices, is planning a June 24 breakfast fundraiser for Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time reports.
The Whitaker Health Freedom Foundation was founded by Dr. Julian Whitaker of nutrition supplement fame.
Brunelli was executive director of the conservative state-focused group American Legislative Exchange Council, but in 1995 was ousted over charges of financial mismanagement, National Journal reported. (subscription)
Grassley has earned a strong reputation as a crusader for drug safety -- but he also has a record of supporting the alternative health industry, which some consumer critics say is inadequately regulated.
See the invitiation and more of the story here.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• Although President Obama "prohibited his campaign from accepting contributions from lobbyists and political action committees, he nonetheless took advantage of their campaign and policy experience to help him win the presidency," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Yet nearly five months after Obama took office, several Democratic lobbyists who supported Obama say their loyalty hasn't translated into any tangible benefits."
• "The Obama administration on Wednesday will unveil its wide-ranging proposal to remake the financial regulatory system, but lobbyists across the political spectrum were already digging in and drawing up strategies for a major overhaul battle that will last at least through the rest of the year," The Hill reports.
"Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, abruptly canceled a campaign fundraising lunch scheduled for Wednesday after the Washington lobbyist, Heather Podesta, helping to organize the event suggested in an invitation that the committee's work would be served as the 'first course,'" the Washington Times reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
About 50 people attended last Friday afternoon's meeting at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where business groups were invited to discuss the state of play on health care reform on Capitol Hill.
The discussion was aimed at getting K Street's biggest trade associations on the same page with regard to opposing certain measures that are being considered in the House and Senate.
"There's an emerging consensus that the bills seem to be going in a way that we don't like," said chamber Vice President Randy Johnson. "We need to be more aggressive in making our views known to the committees of jurisdiction in a formal way. There will be stepped-up visits with possible allies in both parties on the committees of jurisdiction. Given what other groups are doing there's a need to step up the pace."
Representatives of trade groups were asked to get more directly involved in the health care debate this week as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee begins to mark up a bill. Particularly, they were asked to send letters to Capitol Hill and the White House if the marked-up bill contains a public plan option and an employer mandate.
Health insurers and Republicans have been clear that they oppose a Medicare-style insurance plan for all, which was included in the initial drafts of the HELP committee's bill. The actual bill, introduced by the committee didn't contain either measure, to allow Republicans to offer their ideas, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. said last week. Whether the HELP bill will contain such an insurance option isn't yet clear.
The business community is also against a measure that would mandate that employers provide health insurance and if they don't, require them to pay into a fund that would be used to help the uninsured get coverage.
"This meeting was not designed to build the anti-reform coalition or to replace existing reform coalitions," said one attendee. "Rather the meeting was designed to build a common communications front across industries and coalitions to help salvage positive reform from the punitive excess seen in many of the reform measures - if at all possible."
The public plan and the employer mandate aren't the only issues of concern to business groups, but for the moment these are the hot-button worries for many on K Street.
At least one attendee wished this meeting had occurred earlier this year. "I think this is terribly late," said one lobbyist who participated. "My druthers would have been to have these contingency plan discussions months ago." But he added that at least the talks are now underway. "Better late than never."
Separately, the chamber President Tom Donohue appeared on 'Fox News Sunday' yesterday saying that U.S. capitalism is threatened by new regulations and mandates, and highlighted his group's $100 million national ad campaign to warn Congress and the Obama administration that any new health care reform package and global warmining bills must not hurt the competitive position of American businesses, Politico reported.
President Obama attempted to sell the American Medical Association today on the idea of a public insurance option, a central component of his healthcare overhaul plan. "The public option is not your enemy; it is your friend, I believe," he told members gathered at their conference in Chicago, CongressDailyPM reported. (subscription)
See the transcript of Obama's speech here.
Obama tried to address concerns that a public option would pay Medicare rates considered too low by most healthcare providers and would result in a single-payer system in which health care is a function solely of the federal government.
AMA began debating its official position on a public option Sunday and plans to vote on a resolution that will express its position in a few days.
Read the rest of the story here. (subscription)
CongressDaily also has an excellent page on the web devoted to health care reform coverage.
The Supreme Court's landmark Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co. ruling has prompted sweeping predictions on both sides of the debate over judges and campaign money.
Some see the high court's June 8 ruling as a signal that states should reconsider the system of installing judges through election campaigns, which have become increasingly costly and hard-fought. Thirty-nine states elect at least some judges.
"I hope this decision will spur states to focus on whether our 19th-century method of selecting judges works well in the 21st century," said Thomas Phillips, the former chief justice of Texas and a partner at Baker Botts, in a recent interview with Legal Times. Phillips co-authored a brief in the Caperton v. Massey case on behalf of the Conference of Chief Justices.
On the flip side, critics of the 5-4 ruling -- including Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the dissenting opinion -- predict that it will unleash a wave of litigation and actually undermine the credibility of the courts. Roberts' dissent warns that the ruling creates an ambiguous standard that states will find difficult to enforce.
In fact, both scenarios miss the mark. The ruling's more likely outcome is that state supreme courts will establish and enforce clearer recusal rules for judges who may face conflicts of interest, guidelines that are long overdue.
To read more of Eliza Newlin Carney's column "Rules of The Game" click here.
Amid discussion on Capitol Hill over health care reform legislation, Americans United for Change launched a new ad today in support of President Obama's plans to reform health care. Americans United for Change, a government reform group dedicated to amplifying the progressive message, has partnered with Health Care for America Now in this campaign. HCAN members include about 1,000 members such as MoveOn.org.
The ad, entitled "62%", promotes the fact that a majority of Americans support health care reform that gives people a choice between keeping their current plan or joining a public health insurance plan. The figure comes from Hotline/Diageo poll results released on June 10. As part of a five-figure media buy, the ad (see here), hits the DC cable market today and will air throughout the week.
"Republicans in Congress aren't listening," said Tom McMahon, acting executive director of Americans United for Change in a press release today. "They're standing in the way of progress, saying no to the 62% who back President Obama's overhaul efforts."
From this morning's Earlybird:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is hosting a meeting this afternoon to discuss if and how the business community should work together to oppose elements of health care reform legislation, which is rapidly moving along in Congress. The first Senate bill on health care reform dropped this week and more is coming next week.
Among the 30-to-40 groups expected to convene at the Chamber's downtown offices are: the National Federation of Independent Business; the National Retail Federation; the Business Roundtable; and the American Benefits Council. They are expected to convene at 3 p.m. to talk about the state of play on Capitol Hill and where the battle lines should be drawn, if needed.
Up to now, the business community has been fairly mute about its mounting concerns over health care legislation, as many on K Street wanted to see what legislation congressional Democrats would champion. Further, health care costs have been taking a huge toll on businesses and many wanted to be cooperative with lawmakers. Now that legislation is dropping, business groups have decided they need to gather and discuss their next steps.
"We invited a wide swatch of the business community to share their concerns about the pending legislation and to figure out a strategy going forward," said Randy Johnson a vice president at the Chamber. Johnson said that whether decisions are made about launching an ad drive will "depend on the depths of concerns that we see at the meeting,"
Another person said of the meeting: "We're not blowing anything up yet, but we're making sure that we have the troops ready if we do have to oppose one or more bills and key provisions. At this stage, we still want to salvage health care reform, just not at any cost."
Given that it is Friday afternoon and the first sunny day in awhile in Washington, the level of attendance at the meeting will signal just how anxious the business community is about the health care debate, said Jade West, senior vice president of government relations at the National Association of Wholesaler Distributors.
Readers stay tuned.
My National Journal.com colleague Theresa Poulson shot video of my interviews with Karen Ignagni, CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, Dan Danner, head of the National Federation of Independent Business and Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.
These short videos give viewers a little more of the personal side of Ignagni, Danner, and Pollack than I was able to provide in my story in this week's issue which looked at the battle lines that might be drawn on the coming health care debate in Congress.
In this week's National Journal: (subscription)
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The House ethics committee is investigating the PMA Group and its ties to lawmakers, the panel confirmed Thursday," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The announcement comes eight days after the House called on the committee to disclose within 45 days whether it is probing the now-defunct lobbying firm's dealings with senior Democratic appropriators."
• "The largest medical insurers and drug companies spent 41% more on lobbying this year as Congress began debate on an overhaul of health care, which may include a public insurance plan the industries oppose," USA Today reports. "Despite an overall decline in lobbyist spending this year... 20 of the largest health insurance and drug companies and their trade groups spent nearly $35 million in the first quarter of 2009, up more than $10 million from the same period last year."
• "An investigation into Rep. Don Young's (R-Alaska) relationship with an oil services corporation in his home state has cost the 18-term congressman more than $1.3 million, according to records made public this week," The Hill reports.
Not wanting the Obama administration to have the last word on its new campaign, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce penned a response -- by Senior Vice President Tom Collamore -- to Jared Bernstein, Vice President Biden's economic advisor. Earlier today on C-SPAN Berstein said the chamber was "missing the point" in launching its campaign to trumpet the merits of free markets. (Click here to see that post)
"I believe that it is Mr. Bernstein who is both missing the point and forgetting (perhaps willfully) recent history," writes Collamore.
Corbin Casteel, campaign manager of the Michael Williams campaign for U.S. Senate Committee, told National Journal that "Matt does not have any affiliation with our campaign, nor will he."
Matt Mackowiak responded that "I am proud to be supporting Michael Williams campaign and I hosted a young professionals event for him in Austin in May. I am willing to help in any way that I can." Mackowiak declined to directly address for the record the campaign's statment about him.
Earlier in the week
Matt Mackowiak has launched Potomac Strategy Group, a Republican political consulting and public affairs firm based in Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas. The firm will provide political consulting to congressional campaigns and communications services to corporations, trade associations, business coalitions and nonprofits. Mackowiak is currently advising the campaigns of Greg Ball of New York for Congress and Michael Williams of Texas for Senate.
Mackowiak recently served as press secretary to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. He has been the press secretary for former Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and worked on the Bush-Cheney 2004 reelection campaign in Iowa. Mackowiak, who hails from Austin, Texas, manages the site http://www.potomacflacks.com.
With the top lobbying job still vacant at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, banking lobbyists have been buzzing about who the leading prospects are and how long the slot will stay open.
Three industry lobbyists say that at present Kevin Fromer, who ran legislative affairs at the Treasury Department under former Secretary Hank Paulson, looks to have the inside track. One of the lobbyists cautioned that there might be some "push back" from certain SIFMA members who would rather see the job go to a Democrat. The SIFMA post has been open for almost a month since Michael Paese, a Democrat, jumped ship to lead the Goldman Sachs lobbying team in Washington.
-- Peter H. Stone
The Interior Department announced today the appointment of endangered species expert Michael Bean as counselor to Tom Strickland, assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks. Bean is the environmental community's top authority on the Endangered Species Act and has directed the Environmental Defense Fund's wildlife conservation policy programs since 1977.
Last year, Bean helped lead the charge against efforts by the Bush administration to overhaul the federal rules that protect declining species, describing the changes as a "disastrous proposal [that] makes about as much sense as eliminating homeland security at airports."
Although Bean has frequently worked with land owners and businesses to protect species, he would have faced tough opposition from property rights advocates in Congress if he had been nominated to a position that required Senate confirmation.
Jared Bernstein, economic policy adviser to Vice President Biden, said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is "missing the point" with its new $100 million "Campaign for Free Enterprise" announced yesterday. (see our blog postings yesterday here and here).
The campaign is aimed as a counter-offensive to the Obama administration's increasing involvement in the private sector.
Bernstein made his comments on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" this morning, when he was asked to comment on the chamber's new campaign. Jared said President Obama's involvement is aimed at addressing deep problems with the economy and to ignore them "because of ideology would have been a tremendous mistake."
See clip provided to us by C-SPAN below:
From this morning's Earlybird:
Boyden Global Executive Search has hired Lonnie Taylor as managing director in its Washington, D.C., and Baltimore offices, where he will help clients to recruit government affairs, non-profit and public-affairs staff.
Prior to joining Boyden, Taylor worked for the executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, which was forced to cut staff earlier this year because of the slumping economy. Before that, he worked at Sprint Nextel Corporation and the Atlanta-based law firm of Powell, Goldstein, Frazer and Murphy.
Taylor also worked at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were he was senior vice president for congressional and public affairs.
Ready to fight fire with fire, the SEIU countered the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's 'Campaign for Free Enterprise' (see earlier blog post today), with an ad attacking the business heavyweight for an anti-working families record. This is the latest exchange in the multi-million dollar battle over the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), labor legislation that would make it easier to form a union.
The message of the ad: the Chamber's opposition to EFCA is consistent with their anti-worker record. Entitled "Bad Company" (view here), the ad states the Chamber has lobbied to keep kids from getting health care, opposed increasing the minimum wage and fought against family leave. As part of a roughly six figure buy, the SEIU will run the ad online in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Louisiana, Virginia and North Dakota.
"We are at a time of unprecedented income inequality," said Christy Setzer, SEIU spokesperson. "[The Chamber of Commerce] is an organization that's gone out of their way to support the interest of a narrow band of wealthy corporations."
In a press release, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer called the Chamber's efforts, "a deep-pocketed misinformation campaign."
From Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time blog:
Whoops. Is the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) interested in getting Rep. Gary Peters, D-Mich. reelected? It would seem so from a list of fundraising events the party committee sent out yesterday featuring a fundraiser for the Michigan congressman on June 11, featuring "special guest" Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich
UPDATE @ 12:20 PM. The Politico says this campaign has been budgeted at $100 million.
With sweeping health care and energy and labor initiatives being taken up on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has apparently decided it has little to gain by engaging with congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration and has decided instead to launch a broad-brush counter-offensive that Chamber President Tom Donohue calls "one of the most important and necessary initiatives in our 100 year-history."
The Chamber has yet to offer many specifics about its new Campaign for Free Enterprise, announced at a meeting of its board in Washington today, but says it will spend "tens of millions of dollars" on "a sustained-multi-year effort," including "highly visible" television and print advertising, mobilization of state and local affiliates and small business members.
"Everyone we have talked to thinks this is really important...that it must be done...that only the Chamber can do it right and effectively...that in an important way it brings us back to the bedrock cornerstone of this institution...to be the voice of free enterprise here and around the world," Donohue told his board.
The move, which a Chamber official said has been in the works for "months," comes at a pivotal moment: the Obama Administration and Democrats have benefited from the engagement of some business interests in advancing its global warming and health care initiatives, while other business groups are debating whether to trade engagement for outright opposition. Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, have been stepping up pressure on business groups to become more outspoken in their opposition.
The Chamber has also invited business leaders to come to their offices on Friday to talk about a coordinated business strategy for the health care reform legislation on Capitol Hill.
At their board meeting today, the Chamber elected Robert S. Milligan, chairman of small animal and meat protein processing company, M.I. Industries, as its new chairman.
(Photo of Tom Donohue by Liz Lynch)
Yahoo! Inc. has just announced officially that it will bring in Margaret Stewart, a former assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for legislative affairs.
Stewart, who starts on June 15, will serve as director of federal public policy in the Washington office and work under David Hantman. Stewart has also worked as director of legislative affairs at the Office of Management and Budget and she spent six years at the Senate Budget Committee. Stewart grew up on Capitol Hill and earned her degree from Duke University in 1999.
Matt Mackowiak has launched Potomac Strategy Group, a Republican political consulting and public affairs firm based in Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas. The firm will provide political consulting to congressional campaigns and communications services to corporations, trade associations, business coalitions and nonprofits. Mackowiak is currently advising the campaigns of Greg Ball of New York for Congress and Michael Williams of Texas for Senate.
Mackowiak recently served as press secretary to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. He has been the press secretary for former Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and worked on the Bush-Cheney 2004 reelection campaign in Iowa. Mackowiak, who hails from Austin, Texas, manages the site http://www.potomacflacks.com.
The Mortgage Bankers Association, which earlier this year cut its staff by 20 people for budget reasons, is now losing a top Democratic lobbyist. Francis Creighton is leaving the MBA at the end of the month to take a job with Rep. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who serves on the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. Creighton, who came to the association from Capitol Hill, was promoted late last year to chief lobbyist and vice president. The group says it will be looking to find a replacement.
-- Julie Kosterlitz
Elizabeth Frazee and Sharon Ringley, two well-known business and high-tech lobbyists are joining forces and launching a new bipartisan lobbying firm, TwinLogic Strategies.
Previously, Frazee was legislative director and counsel to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., director of government relations for the Walt Disney Co. and vice president for America Online and AOL-Time Warner. She has operated her own firm, Frazee Associates since 2003.
Ringley was deputy chief of staff to Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., director of federal affairs at Amazon.com, vice president at Bockorny Group and most recently ran her own firm, Ringley Policy Group.
"Elizabeth and I share a similar philosophy and approach to lobbying and client representation and our parallel career tracks make working together a natural fit," said Ringley.
See their press release here.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would result in millions in additional political funds for organized labor over the next 10 years, a business group opposed to the legislation will argue in a report to be released" today, The Hill reports. "Unions would stand to gain an additional $320 million more to spend on political activities in the next decade, according to a report put together by the anti-EFCA Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI)."
• "With the House gearing up for a potential vote on climate change legislation before the Independence Day recess, major interest groups are preparing the latest front in the public relations war," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Groups on the left want to boost the bill's requirement for electric utilities to produce renewable electricity and to reduce their energy consumption. They do not want the bill to prevent the Obama administration from regulating carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act."
In anticipation of another court appeal by Norm Coleman to keep the fight for the Minnesota Senate seat alive, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is boosting fundraising efforts to stop him. PCCC is doubling down on its 'A Dollar A Day to Keep Norm Away Campaign', which has raised more than $148,000 to date. The group is hoping to discourage the National Republican Senatorial Committee from continuing to fund Coleman's battle.
-- Eliza Krigman
The Obama administration has deftly defused a nasty argument with some of its allies over restrictions on lobbyists seeking economic stimulus money, but the war over how to regulate lobbyists is far from over, writes Eliza Newlin Carney in this week's "Rules of the Game" column.
The recent dispute over lobbying curbs tied to the $787 billion recovery package points up the need to revisit lobbying restrictions across the board, say reform advocates, who predict more rules changes ahead.
"Lobbying disclosure is certainly something that's moving back on the table," said John Wonderlich, policy director of the Sunlight Foundation. Discussions are under way in the administration and on Capitol Hill about reopening the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, Wonderlich added, with an eye toward broadening the definition of who qualifies as a lobbyist and requiring more real-time reporting.
Given the recent uproar over lobbyists' contact with the administration, however, any further changes are sure to kick up a fight. The administration generated enough of a stir when it issued a directive in March that barred executive branch officials from speaking with lobbyists seeking stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Continue reading War To Regulate Lobbyists Is Far From Over.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "United Against Nuclear Iran, a well-funded group warning that enrichment activity by Tehran could be used for arms, is running its first TV ad this week to encourage President Obama to ratchet up pressure on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," Politico reports. "'This is Iran,' the narrator says. 'Young, vibrant -- a people Americans have no quarrel with. Unfortunately, this is also Iran -- radical rulers seeking nuclear weapons, threatening the world.'"
• "The meat industry has a beef with food safety legislation that is making its way through the House Energy and Commerce Committee," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The Subcommittee on Health is expected to mark up a food safety bill as early as Wednesday, and the committee's Democratic and Republican staffs were meeting into the evening Friday to try to iron out some of the measure's sticking points. But meat industry groups say they will have a difficult time swallowing the bill in its current form."
• "Automobile dealers have been among the biggest contributors to U.S. political campaigns over the past decade, surpassing all but two groups in donations," Bloomberg News reports. "That investment may be paying off as the dealers get a lot of attention on Capitol Hill."
• "FedEx is expected to launch a multimillion-dollar lobbying offensive as early as Tuesday to thwart legislation that would put the Memphis, Tenn.-based package delivery company under the same labor laws as its main competitor, United Parcel Service Inc.," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The legislation would make it far easier for some 100,000 FedEx Express drivers and certain other employees to unionize."
• "Months of characteristic doggedness paid off last week for Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) when he appeared to accomplish a feat his own leaders have struggled to match: backing a muscular Democratic majority into a corner, then getting it to fold," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Aiming to head off Flake's latest attempt to force an ethics committee investigation of the defunct lobbying firm PMA Group and its ties to senior Democrats, the majority on Wednesday overwhelmingly called for the ethics panel to disclose whether it is probing the matter."
Here's something of note from earlier in the week since it involves President Obama's ethics rules. TechDailyDose reports:
A pair of watchdogs on Wednesday urged the White House to halt the pending appointment of Google's top global public policy executive, Andrew McLaughlin, to the position of deputy chief technology officer under CTO Aneesh Chopra, saying it would violate the intent of Obama's ethics rules.
My colleague Andrew Noyes had the scoop Thursday evening in TechDailyDose:
"On Friday, the National Association of Broadcasters' president and chief executive officer will say goodbye to the trade group he has led for the past four years and on Monday will report for work at communications firm Crosby-Volmer. David Rehr announced his departure last month and will join the advisory council for the PR shop whose clients include NAB and the National Beer Wholesalers Association, where he was previously CEO.
From this week's National Journal: (subscription)
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "With the expansion of FCC regulations aimed at preserving an open Internet all but inevitable during President Obama's administration, Verizon Communications Inc. has softened its opposition in an effort to influence the agency's tougher approach to network neutrality," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "During a news briefing Thursday, Verizon's chief lobbyist Tom Tauke struck a conciliatory tone when asked about his company's position. 'We're starting with the premise that we're going to work with the new chairman,' he said, referring to Julius Genachowski, a close friend of Obama who's been nominated to run the five-member commission."
• "Opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act are questioning the validity of a new business coalition supporting the union-backed bill, saying the group's motive is to lessen competition for unionized companies," The Hill reports. "Launched Thursday, Business Leaders for a Fair Economy, put together by labor groups like the AFL-CIO, is running newspaper ads and hosting business roundtables to garner support for the bill, which would make union organizing much easier if passed."
• "The staff of Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) continued its outreach to business lobbyists on Thursday, convening a meeting of K Streeters to discuss health reform legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Thursday's 'stakeholders' meeting included representatives from big business lobby groups and some of America's largest companies, according to people familiar with the session."
• "The oil-and-gas industry is gearing up for a battle over the regulation of a high-tech drilling technique that has opened up huge new fields for drilling, but that environmentalists fear could contaminate ground water," the Wall Street Journal reports. "On Thursday, a congressional subcommittee held a hearing on the practice, known as hydraulic fracturing, and two Democratic lawmakers said they would introduce legislation that would regulate it at the federal level for the first time."
Following a successful charity clothing drive, the American League of Lobbyists is promoting Hoops for Hope, a lobbyist-versus-lawmaker basketball tournament from which all proceeds will go to the Hoops for Youth Foundation, a nonprofit that supports at-risk kids in DC.
The adult three-on-three tournament will take place on July 25th at the Georgetown Visitation center. The cost: $175 per team. See the details and registration form here: HoopsForHope.pdf
This will be the 12th annual Hoops for Hope event, for more information see the foundation's website.
-- Eliza Krigman
Porter Novelli hired Catherine "Kiki" McLean as partner, global head of public affairs and managing director of the agency's Washington, D.C. office, the public relations firm announced today. A veteran of DC, McLean is leaving her post at Dewey Square Group where she led the group's communications practice.
"I chose [Porter Novelli] because it's a terrific opportunity to expand my experience by working with a global agency," McLean said.
McLean will work under Julie Winskie, president and chief client officer for Porter Novelli Americas. With two decades of political communication experience, McLean has served as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, on-air surrogate for President Obama's campaign and national press secretary and spokesperson for Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign.
(Photo: Creative Commons)
From this morning's Earlybird:
"Google's recruitment of Seth Webb, the House Financial Services Committee's second-most senior Republican aide, is the latest in a string of recent GOP hires by major high-tech companies in Washington," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "The trend, some policy watchers believe, demonstrates the tech lobby hasn't shied away from wooing Republicans even as much of K Street has augmented its Democratic workforce since President Obama took office."
"As the Obama administration works to put the finishing touches on plans for a major revamp of financial services regulations, a who's who of the sector's top lobbyists and high-level representatives are making the rounds this week at Treasury and the White House," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
"The U.S. House approved by a wide margin an effort to force the ethics committee to report within 45 days on what actions, if any, it has taken to examine an escalating federal investigation involving at least one senior House Democrat and a defunct defense lobbying firm," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Democrats are under increasing political pressure to respond following a series of subpoenas issued last Friday to employees in both the congressional and campaign offices of Rep. Peter Visclosky (D., Ind.) regarding the lawmaker's relationship with the defunct lobbying firm, PMA Group."
In the spirit of the Age of Transparency, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced that members of the House are now required to disclose expenditures online, the Sunlight Foundation announced today. Sunlight, a government reform organization, has been advocating for this measure since March 2008.
The expenditure statements reveal how members spend their "representational allowances" - federal funds allocated to pay staff salaries, official travel, administrative supplies, and other expenses. Until now, the House has been disclosing this information in bound paper volumes known as the "Quarterly Statement of Expenditures."
Sunlight lauded Pelosi's decision in a blog post affirming it as a step toward increasing transparency and accountability.
Perhaps the decision will help the U.S. lawmakers avoid the kind of scandal engulfing the British Parliament over the abuse of taxpayer money by members. The misuse of funds recently caused Hazel Blears, the nation's secretary of state for communities and local government, to resign the New York Times reports.
-- Eliza Krigman
Dave Grimaldi has left The Raben Group to serve as senior counsel to House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. Grimaldi, a Washington, D.C., native, has been serving as a principal with the legislative consulting and lobbying practice and focused on intellectual property, finance, and foreign affairs issues. "I had no desire to leave my firm, as Robert Raben is not only a mentor but a big brother to me. However, I'm very pro-public service, and the rare opportunity to serve Mr. Clyburn and House Leadership was something I could not resist," wrote Grimaldi in an email.
Grimaldi has also served as a legislative counsel to Rep. Edolphus "Ed" Towns, D-N.Y., then a senior member of the House Government Reform and Energy and Commerce Committees, and as an aide to former Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo during his New York gubernatorial campaign. Grimaldi has also served as a law clerk for the Office of the General Counsel for the House of Representatives.
-- Winter Casey
From this morning's Earlybird:
• General Motors Corp. is firing all of its outside lobbyists as part of the automaker's massive court-supervised reorganization, the company confirmed on Tuesday," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "According to Senate disclosure statements, GM spent $2.8 million on lobbying during the first three months of 2009, including $100,000 in fees to Duberstein, $70,000 to the Washington Tax Group and $60,000 to the Nickles Group."
• "Internet search giant Google has been steadily increasing its presence in Washington as the company seeks to capture a larger share of the federal market for information technology products and services," Nextgov reports. "Google officials discussed the company's increasing involvement in the government space on at an event on Tuesday."
• Union leaders are pushing to reshape the boards of directors of some of America's largest companies, hoping to use government bailouts as leverage to fundamentally alter the way the companies are run in the years to come," Politico reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Obama administration officials are ramping up their outreach to financial industry representatives ahead of their expected announcement next week for sweeping new regulations," The Hill reports. "After a round of meetings last week with industry lobbyists, officials at the White House and Treasury are slated to meet with insurance industry CEOs on Wednesday and insurance trade association representatives on Thursday, two industry sources said on Monday."
• "The Obama administration's ethics chief said Monday that newly tightened restrictions on oral communication between federal officials and those seeking a share of the $787 billion economic stimulus package will ensure that grants and contracts only flow to the most deserving applicants," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "But, said Norm Eisen, White House special counsel for ethics and government reform, it is premature to view the rules as a prototype for a larger regulatory overhaul of lobbying in the nation's capital."
• "The health insurance lobby Monday proposed mandatory, industrywide paperwork standardization to reduce healthcare providers' administrative loads as part of a broader effort to drastically cut costs and help pay for healthcare overhaul," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "America's Health Insurance Plans proposed standardizing claims submissions, eligibility, claims status, payment, and remittance forms and putting it all online in regional or state portals that would act as a one-stop shop for healthcare providers and eliminate the need for actual paper. The Web sites are starting off as pilot projects in Ohio and New Jersey this summer."
We told you in our post two weeks ago about lobbyist Dave Wenhold's charity effort, "Capitol PurSuit Drive," to be held today in the foyer of the Rayburn House Office Building from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Now, Wenhold, partner at the firm Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies and president of the American League of Lobbyists, reports that as of today, the drive will have collected more than 50,000 items of business attire in 6 days, valued at over $2.1 million. The items will be given to local nonprofits that assist people in getting back on their feet and into the workforce.
"This is not giving a hand out, but a hand up," says Wenhold.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi will kick off a noon press conference at the event. "If you are on the Hill (on June 2) I urge you to stop by," says Wenhold. "It makes a wonderful 'good news' story about how lobbyists and members give back. In this economy this event is critical to those in need."
For more information contact Wenhold at 703-927-1453 or by email at dwenhold@mwcapitol.com
Go here for additional information and here to see a short video of the event.
The earmark scandals involving Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and the now-defunct defense lobbying firm PMA Group, as well as other developments, are keeping the spotlight on reform efforts. Democrats and Republicans alike are pushing bills, resolutions, and investigations aimed at curbing abuses.
Eliza Newlin Carney has the full story on earmark reform efforts. Read all about it in her column "Rules of the Game." Go here.
From this morning's Earlybird:
"Retail associations, anti-tax groups and even some progressive organizations are dusting off battle plans to fight a potential new tax they say would cripple the economy and unfairly target the poorest Americans," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The idea of a value-added, or national retail, tax has quietly been floated by some Democrats as a possible way to raise revenue. And last week after reports surfaced that the Obama administration might be eyeing the idea more seriously, groups that oppose the tax kicked into gear."
"Hospitals plan to begin a lobbying campaign this week to prevent Congress from including charity care requirements in legislation to overhaul the health care system," the New York Times reports. "The Senate Finance Committee is considering a bipartisan proposal that would require hospitals to provide 'a minimum annual level of charitable care' as a condition for getting or keeping the tax-exempt status available to charitable organizations."
"Billing it as their largest health reform campaign ever, progressive leaders are planning to spend at least $82 million to push reforms that include a public health insurance plan option," Politico reports. "The campaign, expected to be announced Monday, is designed to put public plan opponents on notice that supporters are ready for a fight."
