Under the Influence will be taking some time off to overeat, over spend (good for the economy) and stare into space (good for the brain). We'll be back January 4th, 2010.

We wish you the best of holiday seasons!

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., was the recipient of the most fundraisers in 2009, according to Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time blog, which collects and posts invitations to congressional fundraisers.

The site tracked invites from a total of 3,660 congressional fundraisers and parties and found the most (35) for Burr. Other top partiers were Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC, (34 invites), Rep. John Sullivan, R-OK., (33 invites), Rep. Roy Blunt, R-MO., (30 invites) and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, (29 invites).

• "Washington's influence industry is on track to shatter last year's record $3.3 billion spent to lobby Congress and the rest of the federal government -- and that's with a down economy and about 1,500 fewer registered lobbyists in town, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics," Politico reports. "Many lobbying firms have escaped the worst of the corporate belt-tightening, thanks, in large part, to" Obama's "ambitious agenda."

• "Rep. Gary Ackerman (D) has erased an old debt, and he wants the record to show it: The New York lawmaker recently amended his 2005 financial disclosure report to show he had repaid a personal loan," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

(From this morning's Early Bird, which is late in posting due to the snow)

• "An analysis of public documents by Northwestern University's Medill News Service in partnership with the Tribune Newspapers Washington Bureau and the Center for Responsive Politics found a revolving door between Capitol Hill staffers and lobbying jobs for companies with a stake in health care legislation," the Chicago Tribune reports. "At least 166 former aides from the nine congressional leadership offices and five committees involved in shaping health overhaul legislation -- along with at least 13 former lawmakers -- registered to represent at least 338 health care clients since the beginning of last year."
• "The Senate bill's language on abortion, intended to segregate federal funds from going to support abortions, made for strange bedfellows from groups on opposite sides of the abortion debate, virtually all of which said today they oppose the Senate's bill," The Hill reports.
• "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who led the Senate's investigation of disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is gearing up to tackle defense earmarks next -- with a particular focus on the PMA Group, the now-defunct lobbying powerhouse," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

Bi-partisan lobbying firm Ogilvy Government Relations announced a management shake up that includes the departure of John Baker, John Green and C. Stewart Hall, who are leaving to pursue other interests.

Democrat Gordon Taylor will take over as president of the firm and Republican Drew Maloney will serve as CEO. Wayne Berman and Moses Mercado have been named co-chairs of the lobbying group, which is a part of Ogilvy Public Relations, a unit of global public affairs firm WPP.

Baker, Berman, Green, Hall and Maloney were all part of the Federalist Group, an all GOP lobbying firm they founded and sold to Ogilvy Public Relations in 2005. The buy-out from the merger will be completed by the end of this year, which is why some of the former Federalist Group partners decided to head their own way.

"Everyone's happy," said Maloney. "It's been a great ride with the whole team together but over time people want to do other things."

Meanwhile Berman considered leaving too. He had two other offers to leave the lobbying business from insurance firms--an industry that he's long lobbied for and had close ties with--but opted to remain at Ogilvy.

(Photo above of Taylor, the new president of Ogilvy. Photo from Ogilvy website)

Anthony Principi, who has been running Pfizer's Washington lobbying outpost for a few years, is going to be moving soon to work in the office of the drug giant's chairman Jeffrey Kindler, according to sources. The shift was announced internally earlier this month, and it remains unclear who will take Principi's place.

A former head of the Department of Veterans Affairs in the Bush administration, Principi joined Pfizer's Washington office in early 2005 but left after a couple months to become chairman of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. He returned to Pfizer later in the year when the commission's work was completed.

Kindler is known for being a hands-on executive when it comes to drug industry policy in Washington. He is poised to become chairman of the board of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "As the contentious health care debate drones on into the holiday season, advocacy groups are looking for creative ways to keep the attention of the public and lawmakers who may be dreaming of a policy-free Christmas," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "A coalition that is lobbying for generic drugs decided to incorporate the imagery of holiday gift-giving to prod Congress to pay heed to its concerns. This week the Coalition for a Competitive Pharmaceutical Marketplace, launched television, radio, banner and print ads that include the warning that 'Congress is about to give a big present to the brand drug companies by restricting access to affordable generic and biogeneric medicines.'"

• PhRMA, Independent Community Bankers of America and credit unions top The Hill's analysis of the biggest lobbying triumphs of 2009.

Look for a lot more television ads next year from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce aiming to derail the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. This month, the lobby group launched a hefty TV blitz against the CFPA with a two-week buy in a handful of states--including Indiana and Montana, where it hopes to win over swing senators--plus some national cable ads. Sources say the chamber's 2010 spending on the issue will be a multiple of the $2 million it shelled out this year for print, TV and radio spots.

Andrei Cherny, a Democrat running for state treasurer in Arizona, is going full bore against the Scarlet L crowd in a recent mailing. In it, he bashes two potential Republican opponents for hanging with influence-peddling types and then attempts some fund-raising jujitsu.

"At the end of this month, all the campaigns will have to reveal their fundraising totals. Will you help us show that hundreds of citizens can outmatch the contributions of 17 lobbyists and their friends?" Cherney wrote.

You can check out his message here:

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "While the job market across the country has taken a tumble, K Street's thirst for Capitol Hill talent is holding steady," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Nearly one year into the Obama administration, lobby shops, law firms and corporations are still on the hunt for senior Democratic aides to add to their rosters."

• "A week after regaining its independence from Time Warner, AOL said it plans to open a government affairs office in Washington early next year," The Hill reports. "The office will be led by Tekedra McGee Jefferson, who has been named senior vice president for government affairs."

The American Banker Association's chairman Art Johnson is urging the industry's lobbyists and member companies to make an all-out push to oppose financial services reform legislation in the Senate, according to a memo obtained by the Huffington Post.

The memo was written by Johnson one day after President Obama asked top financial services industry executives at a White House meeting to tell their lobbyists to stop opposing reform on Capitol Hill.

Microsoft has tapped Frank Cavaliere as director of government affairs for the Senate. He was previously deputy legislative director to former Sen. George Allen, R-Va., who chaired the Senate Republican High Technology Task Force and the Congressional Nanotechnology Caucus.

Cavaliere arrives at Microsoft from the Motion Picture Association of America, where he was vice president and senior counsel of federal affairs. He represented MPAA on the Hill and before the Federal Communications Commission. Before that, he was vice president of federal and regulatory affairs at Vonage.

Financial industry lobbyists are working to kill a new House bill that would  impose a 0.25 percent tax on stock, options and futures trades. The measure was introduced by by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.

Interested parties include the Investment Company Institute, the New York Stock Exchange, the Managed Funds Association, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Lobbyists began to mobilize earlier this month when the NYSE hosted a conference call to  round up signatures for a Dear Colleague letter organized by Rep. Michael McMahon, D-N.Y., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. The letter opposing the suggested tax was released yesterday with 36 lawmakers aboard and was sent to the two top members on the House Ways and Means Committee, Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich.

The letter raised concerns that the tax "will fall on millions of hardworking Americans who are saving for their future, through 401 k plans, mutual funds, pensions and other savings vehicles." Sponsors of the proposed tax, which has strong union backing, say it would raise $150 billion a year which could be used to pay for jobs stimulus measures and to cut the deficit. Proponents of the tax argue that it would not impact most Americans but would mainly affect highly paid financial traders, a point that critics dispute. 

All that lobbying and issue advertising against health care reform continues to pay off. A plurality of Americans remain opposed to the bills currently under consideration by Congress, according to Gallup.

A poll taken December 11-13 shows 48 percent of respondents would tell their Congress members to vote against the measure, compared to 46 percent who favor the legislation. 6 percent had no opinion.

The numbers show a continuing, though tightening, public trend against health care reform. In November, 49 percent of respondents were against the measure, and 44 were in favor. The last time the public favored health reform was in early October.

Many conservatives haven't been happy that business groups have tried to play ball with the Obama administration this year, but for the Business Roundtable the strategy appears to be paying off.

President Obama personally lobbied BRT chief John Castellani at a White House holiday party on Monday to encourage the group to support health care reform legislation, according to Politico.

The key graphs:

In an interview with POLITICO, Castellani confirmed the impromptu meeting and said he used the opportunity to encourage the president to back a package of amendments being offered by freshman Democratic senators aimed at accelerating cost containment measures. "I hope they will make that decision," Castellani said. The White House official described the meeting as "very productive."

That move certainly shows how important the Business Roundtable's 160 company CEO members are to Obama and how influential he thinks the group is on Capitol Hill.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "When" Obama "emerged from a meeting with banking executives Monday, he seemed to think they'd agreed to change their lobbying ways," Politico reports. "But on Tuesday morning, there was little evidence that the major Wall Street firms planned any changes in their approach to lobbying on financial regulatory reform. "

• "Sources on and off Capitol Hill say the quick life and death of the Medicare buy-in reflects the complex politics and a brutal reality at this stage of the Senate's deliberations, in which there is little time to refine proposals that do not immediately attract the 60 votes needed for health-care legislation to pass," the Washington Post reports. "In the midst of this intricate dynamic, lobbyists for hospitals and doctors launched a broadside to try to kill the idea, focusing on two groups of Senate Democrats they viewed as most susceptible to their message."

We still don't know why the American Legislative Exchange Council's former chief Alan Smith was canned, but there's some interesting back-scratching and grassroots history at the outfit.

Turns out the ties to the telecom industry in ALEC's leadership go further than we already reported. The largest campaign contributor to the elected official who serves as ALEC's board  chairman, Tom Craddick, during the 2008 election cycle turns out to be .....AT&T. According to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, AT&T contributed $101,500 -- more than double the amount from the next largest contributor, and almost 4 per cent of his total take.

At the time, Craddick was still Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, having survived an attempt by fellow Republicans to oust him in 2007. He eventually lost the post to a more moderate Republican in early 2009 but retained his seat in the House. AT&T is described in the Texas press as a longtime supporter of Craddick, and was also a major sponsor of an annual charity golf tournament held annually since 2003, bearing Craddick's name. The AT&T Foundation also contributed $250,000 towards a $1 million 2007 renovation of Craddicks state-provided apartment (the renovation included a $1,066 brass-trimmed toilet, among other decorator touches) according to the Ft. Worth Star Telegram.

Prior to being named ALEC acting Executive Director, Ronald Scheberle was a senior consultant for Bingham Consulting, a firm that "helps national and global companies create and execute effective multi-state legal political strategies that are particularly essential in state-regulated industries" according to its website, and whose clients include "financial services, pharmaceuticals, multimedia, healthcare, technology, telecommunications, and homeland and national security areas, to name a few."

Scheberle's own bio on the Bingham site says that while he worked for Verizon and GTE, he was "instrumental in developing and directing: 50-state legislative/governmental key contact program; Issue management and advocacy programs on dozens of corporate jugular issues; Coalition management program; PAC and corporate political contributions planning; strategy and implementation program; Multicultural marketing program utilizing the Advocacy Team." It also notes that he has "extensive experience developing and implementing grass roots advocacy plans."

Public interest and tech industry advocates voiced disappointment about being left out of a round table discussion Tuesday afternoon being hosted by Vice President Joe Biden and several cabinet officials to discuss enforcing laws against the piracy of intellectual property.

In addition to the vice president, the event will feature a who's who of Obama administration officials who have a role to play in enforcing IP laws. They include Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, FBI Director Robert Mueller, U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos and the White House's new IP enforcement coordinator, Victoria Espinel. The industry participants include executives from the movie studios, record companies, book publishers, television networks and the heads of the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America, as well as unions representing actors and directors.

Both Public Knowledge and TechAmerica released statements arguing that they have important roles to play in the debate. "Hopefully the administration can avoid this oversight in the future and include all of the stakeholders," said TechAmerica President Phil Bond, who described being left out of the meeting as receiving a "political lump of coal" for the holidays. "The technology and content industries depend upon each other in the digital economy. We will have to work together to protect privacy and to help the government enforce the law."

Continue reading Techies Protest Lack Of Invite To Biden Meeting

The American Legislative Exchange Council Executive Director Alan Smith was abruptly fired last week, without explanation.

Smith's position has been filled on an acting basis by Ronald Scheberle, a telecommunications lobbyist and chairman emeritus of the organization's private enterprise board which helps run the group. The council itself is a collaboration between corporate interests and free-market oriented state lawmakers to advance business-friendly legislation around the country.

Neither the chairman of the private enterprise board, Dallas-based AT&T Services Senior Vice President Jim Epperson, nor the board chairman, Republican Texas State Rep. Tom Craddick, who was formerly Speaker of the state's House of Representatives, could be reached immediately for comment. ALEC press spokesman Jorge Amselle said Tuesday morning that he wasn't authorized to explain the change, which had yet to be formally announced.

The appointment of Scheberle, who spent more than three decades on Verizon and GTE's federal and state governmental affairs advocacy teams, gives the organization especially heavy representation by telecommunications interests. The companies that Epperson and Scheberle have long represented, AT&T and Verizon, respectively, have both been active recently in opposing "network neutrality" initiatives at the federal level. AT&T has also been active in fighting  state and local resolutions in support of a federal net neutrality policy that have been offered by net neutrality activists around the country. ALEC also has been on record since 2007 opposing a federal net neutrality stance.

Smith, who had also been a member of the council's private enterprise board, had helped restore some stability to the organization after the tumultuous tenure of the previous executive director, Lori Roman. Smith has told associates that he didn't know the reason for his firing.

Amselle confirmed that the council's regular spring meeting of the group's task forces was being cancelled for budget reasons, but said that the organization was not in financial difficulty and hoped to resume the spring meeting in 2011.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Drugmakers intensified their lobbying push Monday against a popular proposal to allow Americans to buy cheaper drugs from other countries, one of several heated disputes that have bogged down negotiations over a heath-care reform bill," the Washington Post reports. "The talks prompted hospitals, insurers and other major industries attempting to steer the legislation in their favor to push for changes as lawmakers work through a handful of complex issues."

• "Typically, this time of year, a long day at the office for most K Streeters would consist of hopping from a holiday fete to a fundraiser to a client soiree. But the city's influence-peddlers have had little time to enjoy wassail as health care inches closer to the finish line and Members try to wrap up other legislative priorities before year's end," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

President Obama got tough on financial services chiefs in a meeting Monday and said he now expects those executives to tell their lobbyists and trade associations that they support financial services reform.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the 12 bank bosses who met with Obama, including executives from Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Bank of America Corp., U.S. Bancorp , and JPMorgan Chase & Co., expressed their support for reform and Obama then told them to tell their lobbyists to support reform.

"All of the executives discussed their support for the concept of financial reform," Gibbs said. "The President said clearly that he and the administration were hearing something markedly different from their lobbyists and from organizations that they funded to lobby on their behalf....[and] what he expected them to do was now go tell their lobbyists, and to go tell the agencies and groups that they helped fund that they just told the President they're for financial reform."

But though Gibbs said that Obama has gotten tough with bank executives, he declined to say whether or not the president would direct Democrats to stop taking contributions from individual executives in the financial services sector.

Gibbs reiterated that Obama didn't take money from political action committees or lobbyists during the campaign and said those lawmakers who were taking contributions from lobbyists in the financial services sector were Republicans.

"I think the people that are taking contributions -- most of the people that seem to be taking contributions are the lobbyists that are standing in the way of financial reform," Gibbs said. "I read -- what was it I read last week, that hundreds of lobbyists were called to Capitol Hill to put the quash by the Republicans on financial reform?"

The numbers don't seem to tell that story. So far in the 2010 election cycle, campaign contributions from the securities and investment sector have totaled $10.3 million, of which 74 percent went to Democratic candidates and parties, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Former Hoyer Aide to National Restaurant Association

Scott DeFife is joining the National Restaurant Association as executive vice president of policy and government affairs. He was previously a senior policy adviser to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. and a legislative director to Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn. and Rep. Karen McCarthy, D-Mo.

DeFife arrives at NRA from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, where he was senior managing director of government affairs. DeFife's private sector experience has included stints representing the American Public Power Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations. He also has his own restaurant experience from his college days.

DeFife received his B.S. in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin and a Masters of Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.

Fifteen months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers left financial services industry lobbyists in a defensive crouch, Wall Street has come roaring back.

Commercial banks spent close to $40 million on lobbying in the first three quarters of this year, Center for Responsive Politics data show, despite bankruptcies and mergers that knocked several players off the field. The banks also doled out about $5.7 million in campaign contributions in the same period, according to CRP, much of it to lawmakers on key financial oversight committees.

Legislation recently approved in the House to overhaul the financial regulatory system includes key concessions to the banking industry, including a measure that bars states from imposing tougher restrictions than the federal government. The bill does include a proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency that finance industry lobbyists had sought to kill, but consumer advocates say it's been significantly watered down.

Financial institutions have given out more campaign money this year than any other sector.

"Wall Street has exerted, so far, impressive power in framing the debate and keeping a certain set of very popular and, we believe, very appropriate policies out of the debate," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, which is part of a coalition pushing for tougher consumer protections.

It's "a testament to Wall Street's enduring power" that proposals to break up big banks so they don't become "too big to fail" never even made it through committee, Weissman added.

Continue reading Big Banks Are Back In The Lobbying Game

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "As Senate Democrats show tentative signs of coalescing around a compromise health care bill that eliminates the controversial public insurance option, some of their allies are wasting no time in trying to sink the new proposal," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "While lawmakers await a Congressional Budget Office cost analysis of the proposed substitute, doctor and hospital groups are already trying to scuttle part of the plan that would allow people ages 55 to 64 to enroll in Medicare."

• "The U.S. Supreme Court has put off until next year a ruling that could remake the political landscape for the 2010 midterm elections, and that's making things tricky for those eagerly awaiting the decision, including political professionals, regulators, advocacy groups and even the White House," Politico reports. "The case in question, which was brought by the conservative non-profit group Citizens United against the Federal Election Commission, challenges decades of law limiting corporate and union spending on elections."

• "While the two sides rarely see eye to eye, the energy industry and environmentalists can agree on at least one thing: The White House's decision last week to regulate pollution alters the legislative prospects for a Senate climate change bill that could emerge early next year," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• Roll Call (subscription) reports on recent management and structural changes at various lobbying and advocacy groups, including the American Petroleum Institute and the Specialty Tobacco Council.

Advocacy and lobbying stories from this week's National Journal: (subscription)

• "Conservative Watchdogs Awake": New right-leaning nonprofits are financing online publications targeting government malfeasance.
• Inside Washington: AT&T, which is perennially a big spender on lobbying, aimed its sweet talk at the media this week by delivering to select reporters a box of cupcakes with its company logo on top of each one. Anyone familiar with the confections from Georgetown Cupcake knows they aren't cheap (a box of six costs $15)
• "Who Are The Parties' Best Strategists?": As part of a series of stories this week, we ask congressional insiders rank the best strategists. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Mississippi GOP Governor Haley Barbour won as the parties' best political strategists. Political insiders gave the best strategist title to White House senior adviser David Axelrod and Republican Karl Rove.
• People: Brian Peters has moved to the Franklin Square Group after a year and a half as director of government affairs at Research in Motion, the Canadian company that makes a ubiquitous Washington accessory--the BlackBerry. Before that, he was director of government relations at the Information Technology Industry Council.

In mid-October, the financial behemoth Goldman Sachs hired former Rep. Harold Ford Sr., D-Tenn., according to an early December lobby disclosure filing.

Why did the firm hire Ford -- now a 64-year-old lobbyist who splits his time between Tennessee and Florida? The disclosure form sheds little light. Under "specific lobbying issues" it helpfully explains that Ford will provide "assistance with gathering information and sharing ideas about "government-related activities that impact the financial services industry."

Neither Ford nor Goldman Sachs returned calls seeking comment. But a New York Times article in early December suggests one possibility: Congressional Black Caucus members, according to the Times, made their support for financial services reform contingent on getting Obama administration support for aiding black-owned businesses, including the restructuring of loans by Goldman and GE Capital. Ford and the caucus have a history together: It gave moral and financial support to Ford in the late 1980s and early 1990s in his fight against federal charges of fraud and embezzlement, on which he was ultimately acquitted.

Goldman Sachs has plenty of ways to make its views about financial sector regulation known in Washington. Not only does the executive branch double as an alumni association for the storied financial firm, the company and its partners has showered money on members of Congress

The Center for Responsive Politics ranks the firm fourth on the list of top campaign contributors, having doled out $31 million over 10 years. It spent $3.4 million last year to hire not only a fleet of in-house lobbyists -- led by the former assistant staff director of the House Financial Services Committee Michael Paese -- but also roughly a dozen private firms, including some of the biggest names on K Street, including the Gephardt Group, the Duberstein Group and Elmendorff Strategies.

A recent American Petroleum Institute advertisement appears to have been doctored to include an African American man and an Asian man in the group pictured.

The advertisement discusses American jobs associated with the oil and natural gas industry. Among the group are two faces that don't quite fit the bodies. The black fellow on the left has been caught white-handed. The man on the right clearly suffers from Caucasian-neck disease.

Here's the original stock photo. (You'll notice it too has been photoshopped, doubling the faces in question.)

"API, they're against hybrid cars, but for creating hybrid images," said David Di Martino, communications director for the Clean Energy Works Campaign, which discovered the photo manipulation.

API has been contacted for comment and we will update this story as events transpire.

A California-based consumer organization has accused UnitedHealth Group of coercing its workers to listen to a seminar on healthcare reform legislation.

Consumer Watchdog released an internal email from the company which said, in part, "Health care reform is at a critical moment with the Senate considering proposed legislation. Join United for Health Reform for a status update on this important debate! United for Health Reform will be hosting a webinar on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 from 1:00-1:30 PM CDT to provide an update on the health care reform debate in Washington, D.C. ... As with all events held during business hours, please confirm your ability to attend with your supervisor."

"This demand that workers attend a virtual meeting about company lobbying messages, on company time, is political harassment," said Judy Dugan, research director for Consumer Watchdog, in a statement. "A later statement in the e-mail that participation is voluntary is a joke, after telling employees to 'confirm' participation with a supervisor."

UnitedHealth officials supplied a written response: "Given our role in the health care system and the importance of the reform debate, it is our responsibility to provide employees with opportunities to learn about the reform process, through forums such as educational webinars. In fact, many of our employees ask for this information. As with any other activity, when employees voluntarily take time during the work day to listen to the webinar, they of course should let their supervisors know they won't be working."

Lawmakers are scheduled to attend more than 135 holiday parties that are also campaign fundraisers in December, Sunlight Foundation's Political Party Time reports.

A year ago, there were only 38 holiday party/campaign fundraisers scheduled during December, the site says. That number was probably low because of the recession and it was only a few weeks after the Presidential election where historic sums of money were raised and people were suffering from donor fatigue.

The key to holiday parties that are also fundraisers is that the lobbying gift ban rules don't apply. Lobbyists can host and attend parties for lawmakers as long as they are fundraisers.

Among lawmakers to be feted at these parties are Rep. Mazie Hirono, D, Hawaii, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "David Gelbaum, a major donor to the Sierra Club Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and an organization that provides services to military personnel, said he would cut donations next year because investments in alternative-energy firms have 'placed me in a highly illiquid position,'" the Wall Street Journal reports. "Mr. Gelbaum said in a letter released Wednesday by the ACLU that he had donated about $389 million to the three groups from 2005 to 2009."

• Indianapolis "on Wednesday unveiled new reporting requirements for lobbyists who target its officials and employees, and they're stricter than the standards for lobbying state lawmakers," the Indianapolis Star reports. "The new policies take effect Jan. 1 and will require lobbyists to register in a public database. Starting in January 2011, they also must file annual reports with the city that detail what they were paid for each meeting with elected officials, board members and city employees."

President Obama's open government initiative unveiled Tuesday aims to improve government accountability and to increase collaboration with the public, wrote Norm Eisen, White House special counsel for ethics and government reform and Beth Noveck, deputy chief technology officer and director of the White House open government initiative, in a blog post Wednesday.

"Creating an open government - one that is committed to transparency and civic engagement - does more than promote accountability," the two officials said. "Working in the open fosters collaboration between government, private industry, and the public to improve the lives of Americans in their communities."

Among the information that will now be available and more searchable for the public are published patents, data on portion sizes for common food items and the ability for multiple states to share emergency response information.

On the campaign trail, Obama pledged to increase the government's use of technology to make its activities more transparent.

More chairs are open and the music has yet to stop at the Mortgage Bankers Association which has had more than its share of turnover in recent months.

The latest staffers to announce their departures are Jan Sternin, senior vice president for commercial and multifamily products and Chris Oswald, the director of state government affairs.

Continuing its efforts to rebuild its depleted lobbying bench, the group is head-hunting for a new senior vice president for advocacy. That job had essentially been part of Senior VP for Government Affairs Steve O'Connor's portfolio, but O'Connor, who lacks Capitol Hill experience, is being shifted to a new senior vice president for public policy and industry relations slot -- a post reminiscent of the one he had before being promoted two years ago.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Financial lobbyists are closely watching two key amendments that could dramatically reshape financial overhaul legislation and the proposed consumer protection agency, "The Hill reports. "The House Rules Committee was scheduled to vote by" this afternoon "on whether to allow floor debate on amendments backed by Reps. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) and Melissa Bean (D-Ill.). Centrist House Democrats, including Minnick and Bean, are wary of the scope of proposed powers under the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA)."

• "More than 800 companies and organizations that were not involved in health care at all last year... listed the hot-button topic as an issue that they were lobbying on this year in disclosure reports filed with Congress," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "That is an increase of almost a third in the number of entities lobbying on health care."

• "Unions are ramping up lobbying efforts to remove an excise tax on high-cost insurance plans in the Senate healthcare reform bill," The Hill reports. "New ad campaigns and coordinated fly-in visits to Capitol Hill by union members this week will keep the pressure on Senate Democrats."

• "Represented by the National Automobile Dealers Association, the dealers are a powerful local force, and they flexed serious muscle to win an exemption in the House version of the" Consumer Federal Protection Agency "bill, over the opposition of the committee's powerful chairman, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)," Politico reports. "Across the field from the auto dealers in this brawl are the consumer advocates -- a coalition that, after years of unheeded warnings, have gained new clout in the post-crisis world."

Seven House members who are sponsoring two measures that would weaken financial services reform legislation received $2.3 million in campaign donations this year from the financial sector, Public Citizen said in a report released Tuesday.

Using data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, Public Citizen looked at Democratic Reps. Melissa Bean, Ill., John Adler, N.J., Joseph Crowley, N.Y., and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, S.D.; and Republican Reps. Mike Castle, Del., Leonard Lance, N.J., and Ed Royce, Calif., who are sponsoring amendments that would block states from enforcing their consumer protection laws and set up an alternative to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

The House is currently considering an overhaul of the financial services regulatory system.

CTIA-The Wireless Association has tapped Vivian Lausevic as director of government affairs. She was previously director of public affairs for the American Gas Association, serving as lead lobbyist to congressional and Health and Human Services department officials.

Before that, she was director of political affairs at Investment Company Institute. In her new post, she foresees considerable work with commerce and judiciary staffers in both chambers.

"I'll be focused on telecommunication policy matters and talking about the tremendous innovation and competition within the industry," she said. "Besides the industry's vital economic impact, I'll also talk about issues that are important to me on both a personal and professional level--such as wireless being used to deliver healthcare, education, and mobile Internet to underserved and rural areas."

The National Association of Broadcasters has tapped Sue Keenom has as senior vice president for state associations.

Keenom spent 12 years as an aide to former Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who is now president and CEO of NAB. She finished her tenure in his office as director of administration. Keenom arrives at NAB from the International Women's Forum Leadership Foundation, where she was executive director. Her new role will entail outreach to the state broadcast associations.

Hailing from Portland, Ore., she graduated from the University of the Pacific with a bachelor's degree in communications.

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag has announced a new  "open government" directive aimed at making information and policy-making more transparent to the public.

"The directive, sent to the head of every federal department and agency today, instructs the agencies to take specific actions to open their operations to the public," Orzag wrote on the White House blog. "The three principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration are at the heart of this directive. Transparency promotes accountability. Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise to government initiatives."

The directive sets deadlines for agencies to make information available to the public online and instructs them to be more proactive about providing information rather than waiting for Freedom of Information Act requests. It also calls for agencies to create an open-government page that enables the public to comment on agency activities. It also tells agencies to appoint an individual to be in charge of the quality and objectivity of spending data provided to the public.

The Sunlight Foundation hailed the move. "The Open Government Directive issued today demonstrates the seriousness of the administration's commitment to data transparency and citizen engagement," Ellen Miller, executive director and co-founder of the foundation said in a statement.

As a Supreme Court decision that could weaken campaign finance laws looms, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said that a ruling giving an upper hand to corporations and labor unions could be the catalyst needed to pass election-reform legislation.

He and Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., spoke at a Center for American Progress event on Friday to promote their legislation, the Fair Elections Now Act, and discuss the impact of the pending decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That decision could open the door for unrestricted spending on campaign advertising.

"It takes a major scandal to create a major reform," Durbin said. "I don't know that we've reached the level in the Senate or in the nation where people are going to demand this of us.... But if they think that the Supreme Court has tipped the scales so dramatically that they don't have a fighting chance any more, they may be open to this."

FENA would put in place a public financing system, driven by small-donor contributions, that would cost the government, by Durbin's estimate, $186 million and would be subsidized by a surtax on federal government contractors (with a $500,000 ceiling per contractor).

In the House, the bill has almost 120 cosponsors. "The best place that I go to enlist people for this program is down to the DCCC as they're dialing for dollars," Larson said.

But on the Senate side, wealthier candidates and incumbents who are convinced that they have a winning formula will resist reform, Durbin said. What's more, he continued, finding the time to debate the bill will be a challenge given the Senate's busy docket.

As such, the discussion inevitably turned to the influence of special interests in the debate that has recently dominated both chambers -- health care. Durbin's remarks on this issue, as well as his explanation of how his proposed financing system would work, can be watched after the jump.

Continue reading 'Citizens United' Decision Could Be Catalyst For Reform

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The health insurance industry is not fighting reform proposals primarily with glitzy advertising campaigns or slick messaging, but rather with wonkish studies and data-heavy reports," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "But those reports on the costs associated with the Senate health care reform package are not getting much traction on Capitol Hill, and that has led some industry insiders to quietly grumble about the sector's lobbying strategy at a critical moment in the debate."

• "While many small businesses are fighting to block passage of health care reform, restaurant owners have decided to work for something they can support," Politico reports. "It's quite a departure for a group that historically moved in lock step with its business brethren, and it's another illustration of the different calculations and strategies adopted this year by groups that opposed the Clinton administration's attempts to pass a health care bill in the '90s."

Women's Voices Women's Vote has just put out a statement that Amy C. Young will be the group's new executive director.

Young was previously president of consulting firm Progressive Solutions Group. She has also worked as executive director for the group Voices for Working Families. Young was Midwest and deputy political director for the Democratic National Committee, and she was executive director for the Ohio Democratic Party. She's also worked for some liberal heavyweights: the AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union, and the American Civil Liberties Union. Young is a native of Ohio, with a bachelor's degree from University of Dayton.

Women's Voices. Women's Vote is a 501 (c)3 educational and research group focused on unmarried women in the electorate. The group's founder and president is Page Gardner. John Podesta, former White House chief of staff and president of Center for American Progress, sits on the group's board of directors.

Business Roundtable President John Castellani may be facing a potential internal revolt by CEO members over the organization's stance on health care reform, the Wall Street Journal reported on its editorial page Monday.

The Journal said:

"And now even the Business Roundtable, the association of CEOs from the largest companies, is engaged in a furious internal debate about the way forward. The Roundtable has been vaguely supportive but restive. But last week Roundtable president John Castellani was informed in a contentious conference call that many of his members will quit if the organization isn't more assertive against ObamaCare."

Castellani denied the Journal's story.

"The WSJ gets it wrong," he said in a statement posted on the Roundtable's blog. "We have not had any members threaten to jump ship."

The Business Roundtable last month published a study on the potential benefits to employers from health care reform, which has been used repeatedly by the White House and Congressional Democrats to bolster their case.

Brian Peters has moved to Franklin Square Group after a year and a half at RIM, where he was director of government relations. Before that, he was director of government relations at the Information Technology Industry Council. Peters is a former legislative assistant in the office of Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash. where he worked on technology and telecom policy, serving there for five years.

Franklin Square represents technology clients such as Cisco, Intel, Google, and RIM. One issue Peters will focus on is green technology policy. "It really is where high-paying American jobs will come from," he said.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is hosting a "fly-in" on Wednesday that's expected to draw to D.C. scores of executives from local chambers, businesses and associations nationwide. Here they will take marching orders from the lobby group to fight pending health care legislation in the Senate.

The chamber's game plan calls for executives to meet at its headquarters from 10am to 11:45am before fanning out for meetings with senators and staffers later in the day.

A chamber email invite says "we need your voice on this issue--and your senators need to hear from you first hand." The call to action concedes that the Senate bill "has some improvements over the House version," that passed earlier this year, but quickly adds that the Senate's "efforts to protect American jobs and revive the economy fall flat."

MoveOn.org is asking supporters to contact the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and urge it to drop its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the issue of healthcare reform.

It's the latest effort by the progressive MoveOn to target the national chamber organization. The group previously asked the American Medical Association to drop its chamber membership because of the business lobby group's opposition to pending healthcare legislation in Congress.

"As a dues-paying member of the national U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce is helping pay for lobbying and TV attack ads trashing health care reform, says a recent email to MoveOn supporters. "Only about 10 percent of local chambers belong to the U.S. Chamber federation, and many of those who belong don't realize how extreme the U.S. Chamber is."

MoveOn has also taken issue with the U.S Chamber over new energy legislation, which the chamber is also opposed to.

"The list of local chambers that have distanced themselves from the national U.S. Chamber is long and growing," said the MoveOn email. "Local chambers in Seattle, San Jose, New York, San Francisco, Connecticut, Boulder and Aspen, Colorado have all distanced themselves from the U.S. Chamber. And 90 percent of local chambers were never members in the first place."

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Comcast Corp.'s intention to take over NBC Universal is expected to spark a lobbying frenzy on Capitol Hill as lawmakers prepare to hold hearings on the mega-deal," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The Philadelphia-based cable provider has built up a formidable, bipartisan lobbying presence in Washington, D.C., that includes two dozen outside firms as well as a sizeable in-house team. In the first three quarters of this year, the company spent just more than $9 million on federal lobbying."

• "The pharmaceutical industry may have to cough up more than the $80 billion it agreed to contribute to President Barack Obama's health overhaul effort, reflecting pressure from Democrats and their supporters for more money to cover older and low-income people," AP reports. "Many Democrats believe the industry will profit when roughly 30 million uninsured Americans gain coverage for prescriptions."

• "A downtown advocacy group is trying to recast the meaning of the phrase, 'Who's your daddy?' Started more than a decade ago by a scorned husband, the American Coalition for Fathers and Children is readying itself for a lobbying campaign to pressure lawmakers to establish national paternity DNA testing requirements for children of unmarried parents," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

The conservative Family Research Council announced it will call every household in Louisiana to urge opposition to "the healthcare takeover" in Washington.

The goal is to flood undecided Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. with calls and emails.

"Senator Mary Landrieu continues to waver between the arm twisting party bosses in Washington and her constituents who overwhelmingly oppose this government takeover of health care," said FRC President Tony Perkins in a statement. "The preliminary early results of our phone call campaign indicate that Senator Landrieu should take seriously the intense opposition that her constituents have to abortion funding, rationing, and higher taxes within the Senate health care bill."

Given the loaded survey questions, it's no surprise that respondents are showing negative inclinations about healthcare reform. Here's an example from the phone campaign:

"National health care changes being pushed by President Obama, Senator Reid, and Speaker [Pelosi] would institute rationing of medical care by an unelected board that can reject surgeries, drugs, or therapies which you or your loved ones may need. There are also great concerns about euthanasia. Do such documented facts make you want to stop changes to our health care system?"

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Today, alliances between Big Business, labor and environmental groups -- once nearly impossible to imagine -- are not only restructuring political advocacy but also shaping policy in" President Obama's Washington, Politico reports. "Labor unions, Fortune 500 corporations, utility companies and other corporate interests have joined forces with environmentalists in at least five different lobbying coalitions. The labor-environmentalist pact eventually became the Blue-Green Alliance, a strategic partnership of six unions," the Natural Resources Defense Council "and the Sierra Club."

• Nongovernmental organizations "are the backbone, muscle and voice of the environmental movement," Politico reports. The Environmental Defense Fund, "the World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council are among a band of green NGOs that have an insider's advantage at the Copenhagen summit, with established names and clout."

• "Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson, once seen as a strong Republican candidate for governor, is resigning his seat, three days after his ex- wife accused him on television of having an affair with a lobbyist pushing legislation he co-sponsored," USA Today reports.

Advocacy and lobbying stories in this week's National Journal: (subscription)

• "The D.C. Digerati": Washington is awash in information. How do the professionals cope with it? A new survey of Washington professionals by National Journal Group shows that everyone (or nearly everyone) is scrambling to keep on top of the proliferating tools of information.
• "Seeking Legal Clarity On Fraud": The Supreme Court will hear arguments on a controversial statute that has netted big fish such as now jailed former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
• "Regulators Want Short Leash For Short Selling": The American Bankers Association, General Electric, IBM, and others are pushing federal regulators or Congress to tighten rules on the short selling of stocks -- a practice that pummeled a number of large U.S. corporations in the wake of last year's Wall Street crash.
• "On The Move": As he joins Ketchum as director of the firm's North American public-affairs practice, 61-year-old Don Foley commends D.C.'s respect for seniority; Babak Zafarnia launched the public-relations shop Praecere last month in hopes of rising above the what he sees as the "crass" Washington media environment; FD Public Affairs has hired Travis Larson as a senior vice president. He comes from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, where he most recently was managing director of strategic communications; Jamie Pericola has launched the Seward Square Group, a bipartisan government-relations firm; Engage, a new media firm that serves candidates on the right, has brought Anna Handzlik aboard as an online marketing manager for Senate and gubernatorial races.

PhRMA has been busy the past few weeks running ads in D.C. media outlets touting the number of jobs supported by the pharmaceutical industry in key states.

Interestingly, the target states - California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Washington - are represented predominantly by Democratic senators. It's a pretty safe group of likely "yea" votes for healthcare reform, PhRMA's biggest issue before Congress.

So why spend all the money?

"We're doubling down," said PhRMA's chief spokesman Ken Johnson. "It's intended to be a reminder of the importance of our industry to select states around the country."

According to the ads - from data supplied by an outfit called Archstone Consulting - the job impacts are evidently impressive: 211,287 jobs in New Jersey, 89,675 jobs in Maryland, and 57,191 jobs in Colorado, for example.

PhRMA is a staunch supporter of healthcare reform, but likes the Senate bill better than the House language. "It respects medical innovation," said Johnson. Still, there are many tweaks coming in the Senate measure and the industry is pulling all the stops to make sure its voice is heard as the deliberations continue.

"Clearly we're trying to raise awareness of the contributions our industry makes to a lot of state economies," Johnson said. "Healthcare reform done in bad way will kill jobs."

PhRMA has spent $20 million on lobbying this year, according to OpenSecrets.org.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "With a Senate showdown looming, the politically potent AARP rode to the rescue of Democrats on Wednesday, supporting $460 billion in Medicare cuts to help pay for landmark health care legislation," AP reports. "As Republicans pressed to restore the cuts, AARP said Democrats merely were recommending elimination of waste and inefficiency within the giant health care program for seniors."

• "The trade group that represents the makers of sugar beverages like soft drinks, sports and energy drinks... spent more than $7 million in just three months this summer and early fall lobbying Congress as it fought a proposed tax on its products to help pay for health care," AP reports. It's "a prime example of 'defensive lobbying' -- when trade associations and high-priced lobbyists gear up to protect their members and clients from costly action by Congress, even if there's little chance it will ever happen."

• "Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a darling of the Tea Party crowd, credited that movement with blocking Democratic health care reform efforts and predicted the conservative activists behind the movement could ultimately thwart the passage of that bill and others," Politico reports.

Doug Pinkham, president of the Public Affairs Council, had an interesting post on his blog regarding the revolving door that is sure to make some government watchdogs happy.

Pinkham discusses the recent hiring practices of companies who are active in Washington lobbying and how it appears fewer politicos are going directly from Capitol Hill to lucrative positions therein.

Pinkham says that a soon-to-be released survey of 80 D.C.-based executives found that 37 percent had experience working on Capitol Hill and 24 percent had experience working in the executive branch. That is down from a similar study the council conducted in 2006, which found that 50 percent of executives had Capitol Hill experience and 35 percent said they worked at a federal agency.

"Capitol Hill experience is no longer a firm requirement for those wanting to become senior corporate public affairs executives," Pinkham wrote.

The study also found that corporations' D.C. budgets are tight, with one in three offices saying they had cut their spending on lobbyists and consultants.

Scores of elite Washington association leaders will be jetting down to Palm Beach, Fla., later this week to attend a semi-annual meeting of the 100 biggest D.C. trade groups, hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The event, called "Committee of 100," will be held at the posh Breakers Hotel and Resort starting Sunday December 6 and ending Tuesday the 8th. Slated to speak are chamber president Tom Donohue, as well as the association's top lobbyist Bruce Josten. The events typically draw trade association heavies from such groups as the American Petroleum Institute and the Edison Electric Institute. Earlier this year, a similar meeting took place at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia.

Lobbying firm Dutko Worldwide announced it has been acquired by the London-based public affairs firm Huntsworth Plc.

"This will dramatically enhance our public affairs and international capabilities, and I think it will provide unprecedented avenues for new business development and growth," Dutko CEO Mark Irion wrote in an e-mail this morning.

The release says that Dutko will coordinate with Huntsworth's public relations, public affairs and investor relations network, Grayling, creating a $50 million public affairs firm.

For the first nine months of 2009, Dutko reported lobbying income of $14.8 million, down 3 percent from the same period of 2008, putting it in the top ten lobbying firms by revenues in Washington. (See my post from October.)

Back in 2003, Dutko inked a $50 million deal with Chicago-based Lake Capital. (See National Journal story  2003, subscription required)

Specific terms of the purchase by Huntsworth weren't disclosed.

(Photo of Irion by Rick Bloom)

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Tom Daschle's history as an adviser to some of the health care industry's most influential companies is raising the ire of public interest groups and GOP officials, who have questioned his increasingly prominent role in discussions on health reform among senior White House aides and senators," Politico reports.

• "As their former bosses wade through complex health care arcana at a breakneck pace, staffers-turned-health-care-lobbyists are relying on their contacts and policy expertise to shape the fast-evolving legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "'It is helpful. We have lines of communication open,' a lobbyist and former Senate Democratic staffer said. 'We have access to lay out our argument.'"

• "Robert 'Bud' McFarlane, a former Reagan official known for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, has done an about-face by registering as a lobbyist for the government of Qatar after publicly denying that he needed to," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "McFarlane filed documents with the Department of Justice on Nov. 9, nearly six months after signing a contract with the Qatari government. The agreement is dated May 14, but documents detailing McFarlane's multimillion-dollar contract show the firm began working for Qatar in February."

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "As the Senate launches into an expected marathon health care debate this month, interest groups are working furiously to shape -- or spike -- the current legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "From deep inside Metro stations to aboveground in Capitol Hill offices, lawmakers and their staffs will be deluged with messages from health care stakeholders."

• "Abortion-rights groups are holding a lobby day on Wednesday to fight language in the House healthcare bill that would impose greater restrictions on access to the controversial procedure," The Hill reports. "Abortion-rights groups Planned Parenthood, NARAL-Pro-Choice America and others are sponsoring a lobby day on Wednesday as part of a national 'week of action' in opposition to the" amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., restricting the use of federal funds for abortions.

• "Stimulus money for high-speed rail has sparked a feeding frenzy among lobbyists, according to a new report from a watchdog group," the Chicago Tribune reports. "Competition for federal stimulus grants led more than 50 groups to lobby on high-speed rail policy in the third quarter of 2009, the Center for Public Integrity reports. That number is roughly triple the 17 groups doing so just a year earlier."