To battle an "unprecedented threat" to the beverage industry, the American Beverage Association spent significantly more than it ever had on lobbying and advertising last year -- nearly 30 times what it spent in 2008, said ABA spokesman Kevin Keane.

The dramatic increase, from $667,590 on total lobbying activities in 2008 to $18.9 million in 2009, reflects the industry's concerted efforts against inclusion of a proposed sugary beverage tax in health care reform legislation. The $18.9 million included an advertising campaign costing about $11 million during the second half of the year. The firm Goddard Claussen handled the ad campaign.

"This was a situation we found ourselves in as an industry. There was talk about a discriminatory tax on our products, and there was a very active set of advocates for the tax that were out there," Keane said. "We did the logical due diligence to get our message out and make sure that people understood the facts on the issue."

Continue reading Beverage Lobby Spent $18.9 Million To Fight Tax

From this week's National Journal: (subscription)

"Wild West On K Street?": The controversial Supreme Court ruling on campaign advertising has shoved aside Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown's surprising Senate win as the hottest topic of conversation on K Street. All across town, lobbyists and campaign consultants, media consultants, and pollsters discussed how and whether clients should take advantage of the January 21 Supreme Court decision, which ended a ban on direct spending by corporations and unions in political elections.

"Moneybags To Punching Bags:" It was hardly how Wall Street and banking-industry lobbyists wanted 2010 to begin. Facing fresh political headwinds, public ire over bank bonuses, and tough election prospects in November, the Obama administration has grabbed Wall Street's attention by adopting a more populist and critical tone toward the nation's largest banks and backing its rhetoric with high-profile proposals for new taxes and regulations.

"On The Move:"Jim Ford, who spent the past 10 years with the American Petroleum Institute, has signed on as vice president for federal government affairs in the Washington office of energy company ConocoPhillips. In that role, he'll report to Red Cavaney, the institute's former chief executive, who was Ford's boss at the oil and gas industry trade association;Michelle Goldstein is joining New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Washington office as executive director. She previously led the city's Albany office, representing its interests before the state Legislature;Joining the Podesta Group as a principal is Steve Northrup, who comes to the firm from the health insurance company WellPoint. He is also a former policy adviser to Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee ranking member Michael Enzi, R-Wyo.;Former Rep. David Skaggs, D-Colo., has joined McKenna Long & Aldridge as a senior strategic adviser in the firm's Denver office.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Democratic lawmakers said they were uncertain they could muster broad Congressional support for new lobbying rules" President Obama "proposed Wednesday night in his State of the Union address," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "The White House is looking to expand lobbying registration requirements to those who spend less than a fifth of their work time lobbying," The Hill reports.

• "A day after bashing lobbyists, Obama's administration... invited K Street insiders to join private briefings on a range of topics addressed in Wednesday's State of the Union," The Hill reports.

Tammy Cota has been named executive director of the Internet Alliance. She's been serving in an interim capacity since July of 2009.

The Internet Alliance is an Internet, e-commerce, and technology advocacy group. IA membership includes Google, Yahoo!, Match.com, eHarmony, Amazon, AOL, and Comcast. Cota has been working with KSE FOCUS, a 50 state legislative, regulatory, and government information monitoring service. The Internet Alliance is owned by the Direct Marketing Association.

Cross-posted from National Journal.com:

It's not one big happy family for the Democrats when it comes to some of the brothers and sisters in the house of labor. Frustrations are so great that union chiefs on the AFL-CIO's executive committee have discussed backing primary election challenges to Democratic senators cool to their agenda.

The idea was kicked around at the executive committee's January 25 meeting in Washington, even though just over a year ago labor pulled out all the stops to put a Democrat in the White House and expand the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

"Some people clearly supported" the challenges, said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, who participated in the meeting by speakerphone. McEntee said that no specific proposal was advanced for mounting primary fights against Democrats whom the leaders view as less than loyal to labor's cause. Rather, "it was a matter of discussion. When you're in the condition we're in, legislatively, you're looking around like a blinded doe; you're looking for means to pay back and make things better."

The chairman of the AFL-CIO's political committee continued, "Maybe it might be a good idea to let [potential targets] really know some things, let them know where we really stand; maybe we primary some of them--'Blue Dogs' or others."

Click here to keep reading.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "At least 36 lawmakers -- about 8 percent of the House membership -- came under scrutiny by the ethics committee in the first half of the 111th Congress, Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) revealed Wednesday," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "The financial services industry is scrambling to find its voice to rebut the president's assault while facing withering clout on Capitol Hill," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "'There's a real void in the financial services community,' said one banking lobbyist, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity. 'The fray is coming to them quickly, and they don't have anything in place to fistfight with. I think the industry should be scared.'"

• AP reports on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's negative reaction to President Obama's criticism of the high court's recent ruling on campaign finance.

• "Lobbyists should be required to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with lawmakers and the administration," Obama "announced in his state of the union speech Wednesday evening," NationalJournal.com reports.

Lobbyists should be required to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with lawmakers and the administration, President Obama announced in his state of the union speech Wednesday evening.

He also called for imposing strict limits on campaign contributions to federal candidates by lobbyists. Further he asked Congress to pass legislation that would bar foreign corporations from getting involved in federal elections.

"It's time to require lobbyists to disclose each contact they make on behalf of a client with my Administration or Congress. And it's time to put strict limits on the contributions that lobbyists," Obama said. "Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests - including foreign companies - to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, and worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that's why I'm urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong."

The comments are sure to please those outside Washington who see lobbyists as the source of Washington's problems and sure to raise the hackles of Washington's approximately 14,000 lobbyists.

Here are the specifics of the proposals provided by the White House.

Continue reading Obama: More Lobbyist Disclosure

Environmental advocates, their business allies and other non-profits are trying to resuscitate comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation in the Senate.

Today, after a forum sponsored by business, farm, environmental, labor and veterans groups-- featuring Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, and other Senate and Obama Administration allies-- nearly 100 attendees from around the country dropped by Congress to petition their home state Senators. In early February, some 200 executives from the business coalition "We Can Lead" will fly into Washington to do likewise, followed a week later by a dozen business leaders from the joint environmental-business coalition, US Climate Action Partnership.

Both of these coalitions are also running advertisements--mainly in Washington.

We Can Lead, has a $1 million television advertising campaign, including an ad running this week, playing up the job creation potential of the legislation. USCCAP is also running print ads in Washington highlighting business support for the measure. Meanwhile, a veterans group called Operation Free has begun a two-month 17 state bus tour called the National Tour for Clean Energy, Security, focusing on threats to American security from climate change and dependence on foreign oil.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• President Obama "in his first State of the Union address on Wednesday night will encourage Congress to pass legislation restricting foreign corporations from getting involved in federal elections, according to an administration official," Politico reports.

• "The head of a foreign subsidiaries trade group Tuesday lashed out at reports that congressional Democrats are looking to block foreign-owned corporations from seizing on the Supreme Court's campaign finance ruling last week to influence American politics," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

• Business models vary widely among K Street's biggest 25 lobbying practices, Roll Call (subscription) reports.

If you haven't gotten your ticket to Super Bowl XLIV in Miami yet, perhaps you should think congressional fundraiser.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., sent an invitation out to K Streeters to join him at the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 at 6 pm at Sun Life Stadium in Miami. No price was put on the invite, but those interested were asked to contact the lawmaker's fundraiser, Vita Levatino.

Proceeds from the event appear to benefit Scalise's leadership political action committee, called the Eye of the Tiger PAC, according to the invitation. So far this election cycle, Scalise, who is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has raised zero for his leadership PAC and $586,677 for his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

There are usually fundraisers at the Super Bowl, so readers if you know of any more, please pass them along.

I missed this great story by the Hill's Susan Crabtree this morning on the tale of the man who leaked the story of infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the media.

His name is Tom Rodgers, a former aide to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and a lobbyist to Native American tribes. With the help of the tribes that Abramoff was supposedly representing, Rodgers gathered information and gave it to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and to media including National Journal and the Washington Post. The tribes had grown suspicious about Abramoff and sought out Rodgers' help to prove their concerns.

Many in Washington believed it was Emily Miller, a one-time aide to former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who had leaked the story to the media. Miller had been engaged to Michael Scanlon, one of Abramoff's partners in crime.

(This profile of James Bopp, architect of the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, ran September 5, 2009 in National Journal.)

The Supreme Court's unusual rehearing of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, slated for September 9, is a shot at vindication for those who oppose government regulation of campaign financing.

That goes double for James Bopp, the indefatigable legal gadfly from Terre Haute, Ind. Over the past 35 years, Bopp has led many of the legal challenges to campaign finance laws on behalf of conservative and Republican Party activists -- including the original lawsuit brought by Citizens United.

For those who believe that limiting corporate money in elections is not only good policy but also settled law, the rehearing is the latest example of two troubling and interrelated trends: a flood of legal challenges, led mainly by Bopp, and the rightward tilt of the Court.

"There does appear to be a concerted effort to attack the campaign finance reform system across the board, in as many places and using as many theories as possible," says Susan Liss, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, which does research, advocacy, and litigation in support of campaign finance laws.

Continue reading Bopp Backgrounder from NJ

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Lobbyists and representatives for interest groups are engaging in last-minute conference calls and meetings with White House officials hoping to sway what President Barack Obama says to Congress and the nation during his State of the Union address Wednesday night," Roll Call reports.

• "House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson urged farm leaders Monday to use the hearings he will hold this year to take control of the farm bill reform movement," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

Over the past five years, as alarm over childhood obesity has risen, companies that produce or market processed foods to kids have scrambled to show that food advertising doesn't need to be regulated.

The industry has been pushing a voluntary self-regulation effort adopted by a group of food and beverage companies in 2006 called the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, run by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Companies pledged to advertise to children only those items that met established scientific and/or government standards and to do so by 2009.

But by late last year, the signs were mounting that the voluntary effort might not be enough. In December, three non-profit advocacy groups issued reports saying the initiative had made only a modest difference. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission announced an inquiry into all advertising to children via old and new media, and the financial reform bill that passed the House in December would give the Federal Trade Commission new rulemaking and enforcement power.

Among the signs of industry angst: Mars and Hershey just signed on with a lobbying coalition called the Alliance for American Advertising, formed in 2005 by veteran lobbyist James Davidson, now with the firm of Polsinelli & Shughart, whose dozen existing members include General Mills, PepsiCo., Kraft and trade groups for the processed food, cable, broadcast and advertising industries. Its goal: "finding and supporting strategies to reduce the incidences of childhood obesity in America." The Alliance reported $345,000 in lobbying expenditures in 2009, up 15 per cent from 2008.

A federal interagency working group has previewed a new model policy for food marketing that should be put out for comment by the end of January.

The top-spending groups on health care reform generally spent about as much lobbying last year as they did in 2008 -- with one notable exception. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce stood out not only for consistently outspending other groups, but also for nearly doubling its lobbying spending over the previous year. In the fourth quarter of 2009 alone, the group's outflows easily topped the amount spent by any other group all year.

The chamber spent $123.3 million on all lobbying activities for 2009, compared to $62.3 million in 2008, according to lobbying disclosure forms. Lobbying disclosure forms do not break down spending by legislative issue, and the chamber lobbied on subjects other than health care in 2009.

Over the summer, Under the Influence profiled the 25 top-spending health care players by total lobbying expenditures for the first half of the year. To find out where groups stand on health care reform, read all of the profiles here. The complete 2009 spending breakdown for the top 25 groups is available after the jump.

Continue reading U.S. Chamber Dwarfs Other Groups For Health Care Lobbying

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Longtime K Street antagonist Fred Wertheimer may soon find that he has an unusual collection of supporters for his revived attempt to create a public financing system for Congressional races: fundraiser-weary lobbyists," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "Energy companies significantly increased their lobbying expenditures last year as Congress considered controversial climate change legislation that promised to rearrange the nation's energy mix," The Hill reports.

• "The Senate Ethics Committee will continue its investigation of Sen. John Ensign's affair with an ex-staffer, despite a nascent Justice Department probe into the Nevada Republican," Politico reports.

• "China is hoping to close thousands of local government lobbying offices in Beijing to cut down on waste and corruption, official media reported" today, AP reports.

A new Gallup poll shows 57 percent of Americans agree that campaign giving equals free speech and should be protected under the constitution. But those same respondents strongly support controls on corporate, union and individual contributions.

First Amendment issues aside, the survey shows Americans still wanting limits on campaign giving. Sixty-one percent of the 535 people polled said the government should place limits on individual donations and 76 percent favor government limits on corporate and union contributions. And 55 percent said they think corporate and personal donations should be limited under the same rules.

"Thus, it would appear that, regardless of Americans' support for the principle that campaign donations are a form of political speech, and that corporations and unions should get the same treatment as individuals, they are likely to have significant concerns about the practical effect of the court's ruling, that is, more corporate and union money being poured into elections," writes Gallup pollster Lydia Saad.

The Motion Picture Association of American announced what has long been known: Its chief, Dan Glickman, is leaving.

Glickman's departure will be official on April 1, when he will become president of Refugees International. Bob Pisano, president and COO at the MPAA since 2005, will become interim CEO, while the search continues for Glickman's replacement. The MPAA used the search firm Spencer Stuart when it hired Glickman in 2004.

"In making this announcement, I want to thank Barry Meyer, Jim Gianopulos, Brad Grey, Bob Iger, Michael Lynton, Ron Meyer, and the entire MPAA Board of Directors, for their guidance and leadership. It has been an honor to have worked so closely with them. I also want to thank Bob Pisano and all the MPAA staff for their dedication during a time of major transition in our business," Glickman said.

From this week's National Journal: (subscription)

• "The Money Lady:" Call her the financial power behind the throne -- or the woman with the Midas touch. Agnes Warfield has quietly run the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's massive fundraising machine for almost a decade. In the past few years the operation has roped in an average of $200 million annually to fund its major political, legal, and lobbying operations.
• "A Big Yawn For Credit Card Cap:" t is usually unnecessary to preach to the choir, let alone lobby it. But lawmakers supporting a bill to cap credit card interest rates are stuck with that unenviable task. Efforts to combat credit card hardship normally come with the backing -- and at the behest -- of consumer advocacy groups. This time, however, the major customer lobbies have declined to endorse legislation aimed at easing cardholder pain.
• "On The Move:" Kurt Gardinier's new job raised his mother's eyebrows. As the Marijuana Policy Project's communications director, Gardinier joins an organization that's pushing for reform of the nation's marijuana laws; When the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade merged with the International Financial Services Association on January 19, Bankers President Donna Alexander took over as chief executive of the new organization.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "A divided Supreme Court on Thursday swept aside decades of legislative restrictions on the role of corporations in political campaigns, ruling that companies can dip into their treasuries to spend as much as they want to support or oppose individual candidates," the Washington Post reports.

• "The Supreme Court has handed a new weapon to lobbyists. If you vote wrong, a lobbyist can now tell any elected official that my company, labor union or interest group will spend unlimited sums explicitly advertising against your re-election," the New York Times reports.

• "Democratic leaders will push legislation to limit the impact of Thursday's Supreme Court decision that lifted restrictions on corporate spending in politics, The Hill reports.

• "Viewers in media markets nationwide are already well familiar with being bombarded with ads either supporting or criticizing candidates for Congress and the White House in the months before an election. But that could be nothing compared with what today's landmark Supreme Court campaign-finance decision appears to invite, experts say," the Los Angeles Times reports.

Campaign reform advocates stunned by the Supreme Court's sweeping rejection of existing limits on political spending are taking comfort in two small consolations.

First, while the court threw out decades-old constraints on corporations and unions today in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, it preserved disclosure requirements that at least force those expenditures into the public eye.

Second, the court's dramatic reversal does not threaten the existing ban on direct corporate and union campaign contributions. So while those players may now lavish money from their treasuries on independent campaign expenditures, they still may not donate directly to candidates.

"It clearly doesn't neuter the law," said election lawyer and former FEC Chairman Trevor Potter, general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center. "It upholds the disclosure provisions for all of the spending, it upholds the soft money ban." Referring to the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, he added: "It removes a piece of the McCain-Feingold architecture, but it leaves much of it intact."

But it's an open question how meaningful or effective disclosure requirements will be in a regime that allows corporations and unions to spend freely in campaigns. And with other campaign finance challenges in the pipeline, and the high court so clearly disposed to deregulation, it may only be a matter of time before other election restrictions topple.

Read the rest of Eliza's commentary here.

President Obama said his administration will talk to bipartisan congressional leaders to "develop a forceful response" to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which he panned as a "green light to...special interest money."

Which special interests?

"[B]ig oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans," his statement said, arguing that the ruling gives such groups "and their lobbyists" power to drown out the influence of small-dollar donors.

Members also reacted. Considering the case concerns laws that some of them wrote and all of them were subject to as they campaigned, it's a personal topic for some lawmakers.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY., was partially vindicated when the Court overturned a piece of a precedent that bore his name. He hailed the ruling as "an important step in the direction of restoring the First Amendment rights" of political participants. "By previously denying this right, the government was picking winners and losers."

Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., and John McCain, R-Ariz., lamented the Court's decision to invalidate a piece of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which they crafted and crusaded for earlier in the decade.

Feingold called the decision a "terrible mistake," criticizing the Court for issuing a sweeping decision to a "narrow legal issue." Feingold said he would work toward new legislation aimed at "restoring...critical restraints on corporate control of our elections."

Continue reading Mixed Reactions to Court Ruling

The American Academy of Pediatrics has promoted Mark Del Monte to director of federal affairs. He succeeds Elizabeth Jackie Noyes who retired last year after 36 years on the job.

Del Monte has been with the AAP for nearly five years as an assistant lobbying director. Earlier in his career he served as director of policy and government affairs at the AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families and before that he was a senior attorney for the HIV/AIDS Law Project at the Hawkins Center.

Del Monte holds a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Lobbying firms run by prominent Democrats like Tommy Boggs, Norm Brownstein and Tony Podesta posted robust growth in fees during 2009.

Patton Boggs (chaired by Boggs), Brownstein Hyatt & Farber (co-founded by Brownstein) and the Podesta Group (founded by Podesta) were three of the top five most successful firms on K Street last year, according to data provide by firms and lobbying disclosure documents filed with Congress.

The numbers reflect the story line of the year, which was Democrats' active legislative agenda on Capitol Hill on health care, energy and financial services reform fueled clients desire to hire firms with Democrat ties in Washington.

"2009 was clearly a very active year on the Hill," said James Christian, partner at Patton Boggs. "Our clients faced many challenges and opportunities and these figures reflect that activity."

Here's an initial top ten list compiled by me and will be updated as we get more information about filings. It always takes Congress at least a week to compile all the data.

Firm 2009 vs 2008 Fees

1. Patton Boggs $40.8 mln vs $39.2 million
2. Akin Gump $32.3 mln vs $34.4 million
3. Van Scoyoc $28.07 mln vs $25.8 mln
4. Podesta Group $25.6 million vs $15.9 mln
5. Brownstein Hyatt & Farber $23.5 mln vs $14.96
6. Ogilvy Government Relations $21.8 mln vs $21.7 million
7. Holland & Knight $21.7 mln vs $14.6 mln
8. Cassidy & Assoc $21.5 mln vs $23.3 mln
9. Dutko $19.35 mln vs $20.2 mln
10. K& L Gates $18.5 mln vs $14.99 mln

Lobbying firms are required to report the fees to Congress every quarter.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• Scott Brown's "victory on Tuesday is sending shock waves down K Street, where trade associations, contract lobbyists and interest groups began frantically reconsidering their advocacy strategies in light of the GOP's new power to filibuster," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "The labor movement plans to lend its considerable weight to help pass" Obama's "proposed bank fee this year," The Hill reports. "Envisioned as a tax on big banks to help recoup the government's losses from the 2008 bailout of Wall Street, the proposal has attracted labor support. Unions see the tax as a part of a broader agenda for financial regulatory reform."

• "K Street's top 25 firms cashed in on the aggressive legislative agenda unleashed by the new president and bigger Democratic majorities in Congress in 2009 to post double-digit growth of about 10 percent over the previous year," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "Pro football players sought lawmakers' help Wednesday in preventing NFL owners from imposing a lockout after next season and said a league victory in a Supreme Court antitrust case could affect free agency and ticket prices," AP reports.

TechAmerica announced Wednesday that CEO Chris Hansen is giving up his post to head the group's foundation, leaving TechAmerica President Phil Bond as the tech association's sole leader. Hansen and Bond have worked together to lead the tech association since it was created from the merger of the Information Technology Association of America, which Bond led, and AeA, where Hansen served as president and CEO. Bond will assume his new role of both president and CEO immediately, the group said in a news release.

"We have two great leaders at the helm and now we want to expand our foundation's role as TechAmerica continues to grow and assert its influence" TechAmerica board of directors Chairman Hank Steininger, managing partner of Grant Thornton's Global Public Sector practice, said. TechAmerica board Vice Chairman Peter Boni, CEO of Safeguard Scientifics, praised Hansen for his work in helping to successfully merge ITAA and AeA, while also touting Bond as "the perfect person to lead TechAmerica into the future."

(Photo above of Phil Bond from TechAmerica website)

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "With fourth-quarter lobbying reports due to the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House" Tuesday night, "a number of large companies and associations have already disclosed that their spending to influence federal officials was either equal to or greater than the previous year," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "The financial industry won't be shy in fighting a new fee proposed by President Obama that could strip as much as $2 billion from some balance sheets," The Hill reports. "The industry sees the fee as an unjust punishment on firms that have paid back money received from the government under the $700 billion bailout with warrants and dividends."

• "While election-year restrictions on the Office of Congressional Ethics could create a bottleneck of its investigative referrals to the House, government watchdogs say the potential delays should not significantly impede the ethics process," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "Twenty-two executives and employees at suppliers to the military and law enforcement agencies were arrested on the eve of their industry's annual trade show in Las Vegas after a 2 1/2-year undercover sting operation aimed at schemes to bribe a foreign official," AP reports.

• "The Justice Department and the FBI have begun a preliminary investigation into actions by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who arranged to provide money and career assistance to the husband of his mistress, sources familiar with the case said Tuesday," the Washington Post reports.

The news Jeffrey Birnbaum has signed on as president of BGR Public Relations is interesting because Birnbaum covered the lobbying industry and is well known on K Street.

BGR is affiliated with BGR Group, the lobbying firm formerly known as Barbour Griffith & Rogers. Birnbaum covered lobbying in a variety of capacities, including for a period at The Washington Post where he wrote a column on K Street. More recently, Birnbaum was managing editor-digital at the Washington Times, a newsroom that announced restructuring and layoffs in December.

Birnbaum also spent many years at The Wall Street Journal, which included a period covering the White House. And Birnbaum was also formerly the Washington bureau chief for Fortune magazine, where he once wrote a story about how BGR was one of the most effective lobbying firms in Washington.

In 1987, Birnbaum co-authored with Alan Murray the book "Showdown at Gucci Gulch", which chronicled the passage of the 1986 Tax Reform Act. BGR, which was co-founded by current Mississippi Republican Governor Haley Barbour, had previously been an all GOP lobbying firm, but it has tried to reestablish itself as bipartisan in recent years.

The progressive non-profit MoveOn.org solicited members to sign a petition Friday requesting that credit card companies waive processing fees for charitable donations. "Credit card companies shouldn't be getting rich off of Americans' generosity. They should waive all fees on charitable contributions from today on," the petition reads.

214,000 people signed the petition since Friday and the liberal group hopes to reach 250,000 by the end of this week.

Indignation over the issue ensued after revelations that the Haiti tragedy serves as an economic boon for credit card companies, most of whom take 1 to 3 percent in transaction fees from donations. The Huffington Post estimated that credit card companies make roughly $250 million a year from charitable donations.

In light of the situation, Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover announced they will waive some of the Haiti-related fees for the near future. But MoveOn says that isn't enough.

"It's the least they could do after the role they played in crashing the entire global economy last year," says the email imploring members to sign the petition.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Several high-profile Democrats, including North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy and former Sen. Bob Kerrey (Neb.), are said to be in the running to fill former Oklahoma Republican Gov. Frank Keating's post as CEO and president of the American Council of Life Insurers," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "American International Group Inc. is seeking to reduce and pay out early a batch of retention payments to employees at its financial products division, as the insurer tries to defuse a potential showdown over the bonuses, according to people familiar with the matter," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports.

• "Harriet Melvin, a longtime lobbyist at Quinn Gillespie & Associates, has launched her own operation, the Capitol Group," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Melvin had been with QGA almost since its inception in 2000."

Our story this week recounting the secret funding of attack ads by the health insurance industry continues to reverberate. Politico reports today on a new ad accusing the lobby group America's Health Insurance Plans of "money laundering." The spot from Americans United for Change hits on multiple Godfather themes -- though not the horse head.

Among the myriad health care coalitions vying to influence the shape of reform, America's Agenda: Health Care for All has one of the more modest budgets and low profiles. But late last year, this union-inspired group hired one of its own board members, former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, to help get its priorities included in the reform measures in both houses.

The group's ambition: lowering health care costs by changing how medical care is delivered--chiefly by requiring more emphasis on preventive and chronic care management services, and greater use of primary care doctors to coordinate care.

When it was first formed, early in George Bush's second term, the organization was almost entirely comprised of unions, and focused on trying to advance health care reform at the state level, devising campaign strategies for passing legislation in states, such as Vermont and West Virginia. Later, it began courting business members -- which now include PhRMA, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Textron--and shifting its focus to the federal level.

In 2008, the outfit launched an effort, underwritten by PhRMA, to help expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program. It now also boasts a bipartisan board, with the addition of former Bush Administration Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson.

Continue reading Changing Healthcare Delivery

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

• "Broadcasters Face Squeeze:" The government wants to make more radio frequencies available for wireless services.
• "Public Sector Enemies:" One retired millionaire is sick and tired of the big salaries earned by government employees.
• "Inside Washington:" Redesigning K Street sounds like an Obama campaign promise. But the D.C. Transportation Department is taking things more literally with a plan to update Gucci Gulch's 30-year-old road infrastructure.
• As the French Parliament enacts lobbying regulations for the first time in the country's history, the new codes are not the only things raising eyebrows in Paris. Some people are hung up on the word "lobbying" itself, an anglicisme that has sidled its way into the French vocabulary.
• "On The Move:" Chad Mitchell is a new director of digital advocacy and outreach in the Washington office of Wal-Mart; Robert Bauer is leaving the Motion Picture Association of America to plan a birthday party; Former White House press secretary Dana Perino is launching her own communications firm, Dana Perino and Co.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The Census Bureau unveiled a $133 million advertising campaign Thursday that urges people to mail back the questionnaires that will be sent out in mid-March," the Washington Post reports. "The ads, in 28 languages, aim to save taxpayers' money by reducing the need for temporary workers to survey people who don't return their forms."

• "The Office of Congressional Ethics forwarded 12 ethics investigations to the House during the past 12 months, including three reviews in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a report released by the office Thursday," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

Lobbyist Missy Edwards is starting her own government affairs firm, Missy Edwards Strategies.

Edwards has been working as a senior vice president at Clark & Weinstock. Before that, she worked at the Washington Group, which eventually merged with Clark & Weinstock. She still expects to have a business relationship with Clark & Weinstock, but she says the details have yet to be worked out. Edwards says her firm will deal with financial services, health care, and energy matters.

A well-known Republican, she served as director of development and finance at the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles under then-Chair Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. More recently, Edwards was a fundraiser for Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. She has also spent time as assistant director of congressional relations for the American Medical Association.

She got her start in Washington working for six years as an aide for Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. Edwards is a local, growing up in Northern Virginia. Her father, Macon Edwards, is a longtime agriculture lobbyist who also runs his own shop. His roots are in Mississippi, where Missy attended the University of Mississippi.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "A number of K Street interests have begun to switch gears to help Haiti recover from its catastrophic earthquake Tuesday," The Hill reports. "Unions, religious groups and even lobbyists working on trade agreements are now scrambling to find more foreign aid for Haiti."

• "Outside interest groups are springing up on a daily basis to dump huge sums of money into the" Massachusetts "Senate race, funding negative television ads that seek to tip the race in its closing hours," the Boston Globe reports.

• "News conferences were scheduled and telephone briefings were penciled in, but Washington advocacy groups were disappointed yet again Wednesday: The Supreme Court did not issue its long-awaited decision on campaign finance laws," the Washington Post reports.

• "Google Inc.'s threat to pull out of China is the most visible reflection of U.S. companies' growing disillusionment with the country nine years after it joined the World Trade Organization, business groups said," Bloomberg News reports.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue blasted a range of White House policies Tuesday as the business lobby's fight with President Obama bounced back into the spotlight," The Hill reports.

• Six major health insurance companies funded U.S. Chamber of Commerce health care attack ads (NationalJournal.com).

• "A defense contractor accused of diverting money from an earmark provided by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has been scheduled for sentencing at the end of February, suggesting that his cooperation with federal agents investigating earmarks is coming to a close," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "A congressional commission examining the causes of the financial crisis is drawing fire even before its first public hearing gets under way" today, "with business interests complaining that some panel members' ties to a major plaintiffs law firm could aid litigants seeking to sue financial firms," the Wall Street Journal reports.

Updated at 10:30 am 1/13/10

Just as dealings with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats soured last summer, six of the nation's biggest health insurers began quietly pumping big money into third-party television ads aimed at killing or significantly modifying the major health reform bills moving through Congress.

That money, between $10 million and $20 million, came from Aetna, Cigna, Humana, Kaiser Foundation Health Plans, UnitedHealth Group and Wellpoint, according to two health care lobbyists familiar with the transactions. The companies are all members of the powerful trade group America's Health Insurance Plans.

The funds were solicited by AHIP and funneled to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to help underwrite tens of millions of dollars of television ads by two business coalitions set up and subsidized by the chamber. Each insurer kicked in at least $1 million and some gave multimillion-dollar donations.

"There's no question that AHIP has quietly solicited monies from their members which were funneled over to the chamber for their ads," said a source. The total donated by the health insurers, according to one estimate, was as much as one-quarter of the chamber's total health care advertising budget.

A spokesman for Kaiser said it contributed funds to AHIP last year for positive ads on health care reform, and that AHIP has told the insurer that none of its monies were sent to the chamber.

Continue reading Health Insurers Funded Chamber Attack Ads

Another day, and still no Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Campaign-finance watchers are getting antsy.

Election money groups have had their post-ruling conferences planned for weeks, but these sessions have been repeatedly pushed back as the Court continues to hold off on issuing the major campaign-finance decision.

When the ruling finally comes, the Center for Competitive Politics and the James Madison Center for Free Speech will team up to present a joint conference call. Both groups advocate for less restrictive campaign finance laws. On the other side, rules advocates at the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, and Public Campaign will host a teleconference. So will the Brennan Center for Justice, which favors campaign finance reform.

And Public Citizen, US PIRG and Voter Action will join forces when the ruling comes for a post-ruling conference that doubles as a strategy announcement: The groups will unveil a plan to counter the ramifications of the decision.

The ruling is widely expected to vindicate the Citizens United, a conservative advocacy organization. It's the breadth of the decision and how far it will go in scaling back campaign finance law that remains in question.

If it seems like years since this whole thing started, that's because it has been. The case started last term, but the Court chose to broaden the scope of the case and rehear oral arguments, pushing its decision into a new season.

If you've been sitting this one out, some background after the jump.

Continue reading Awaiting The Imminent

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka" said Monday that "Congress must pass healthcare reform but criticized the Senate package, which would fund the legislation by imposing a 40 percent excise tax on health plans costing more than $8,500 for single coverage or $23,000 for family coverage," CongressDailyPM (subscription) reports.

• "Reform groups are giving the Obama administration high marks for its first year of lobbying, ethics and transparency reforms," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "Civil rights organizations and advocates for the growing Caribbean and African immigrant population are setting aside differences and have formed the Unity Diaspora Coalition to push all blacks to fill out" the 2010 Census, USA Today reports.

• "The Supreme Court might rule today in the closely watched case of Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission, which could expand the role of corporations and labor unions in financing elections," the Wall Street Journal reports.

• "The government should not choose winners and losers in the technology sector when allocating broadcast spectrum, says the senior lobbyist for television and radio broadcasters," The Hill reports. "'Government is not very good at picking winners and losers,' said National Association of Broadcasters CEO Gordon Smith, who until last year was a Republican senator from Oregon."

It seems everyone on the planet is awaiting the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling from the Supreme Court. Tomorrow (Tuesday) morning could be show time, if the word on the street is correct.

Campaign finance reform advocates are expecting a big loss that could tip the balance in election funding back to corporations and labor unions.

We'll provide coverage and analysis as the story breaks.

When former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., jumped from Alston & Bird to DLA Piper late last year, it left a big hole and there's a focused effort underway now at Alston to find another high-profile Democrat to replace him.

Two lobbyists familiar with Alston say that the hunt for a new Democrat -- a search that focuses on current and former members -- is being conducted with some help from another ex-Senate Majority Leader, Bob Dole, R-Kan., who has been at Alston for several years as a special policy adviser. 

The loss of Daschle, whose non-lobbying niche at Alston involved providing strategic advice to clients and other firm lobbyists, was sizable: one GOP source who has known Dole for many years says that the Kansan "was stung by the Daschle departure." Another GOP influence merchant on K Street says he's hearing that Dole has been busy dialing around town trying to find the best candidate for the empty post.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The presidents of about a dozen labor unions will meet with President Obama" today "to push him to limit the scope of a proposed tax on high-cost insurance plans," The Hill reports. "Labor sources acknowledge they will not succeed in completely eliminating the tax, but they hope to raise its threshold so that fewer labor households feel the impact."

• The Washington Post profiles the relationship between Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., and his wife, Debbie, to illustrate the limits of congressional conflict-of-interest rules.

• "The community bank lobby and HuffingtonPost are urging people to move their money out of the nation's biggest banks," The Hill reports. "Liberal activists Arianna Huffington and Rob Johnson started a campaign late in December to encourage people to move their money away from Wall Street banks and into community banks."

Steering Small Business Left

The voice of small business in Washington has had a conservative accent for decades. Two new groups are providing an alternative.

The Small Business Majority, run by John Arensmeyer, and the Main Street Alliance, led by Sam Blair, gained prominence on Capitol Hill and at the White House during the health care debate last year as Democrats looked hard for support in the small-business community.

You can find story here. (subscription required)

Taxing the Golden Goose

The New York Stock Exchange has hosted conference calls twice a month since late fall that draw several dozen lobbyists for large Wall Street banks, mutual funds, and other financial services companies. The discussions aren't on such hot issues as financial services reform or executive pay: They're about trying to kill a proposed tax on large stock and derivative transactions.

The measure, formally introduced early last month by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and 22 colleagues, would impose a tax of 0.25 percent on stock transactions of more than $100,000, the equivalent of a $250 tax on a $100,000 sale. The levy would also apply to derivative transactions involving futures and options at a rate of 0.02 percent. DeFazio's bill would provide a $250 tax credit, which basically would exempt all individuals from their first $100,000 of stock trades. Proponents say that the tax would raise about $150 billion annually.

You can find the story here.  (subscription required)

When the Family Equality Alliance was created in 1982, the Boston-based non-profit had its hands full offering advice, support and defense of the then-pioneering families headed by same-sex couples. But as it approaches its 30th anniversary, the group has decided to expand into the public policy arena.

In 2008, the group hired Kara Suffredini, former state legislative director at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, as its public policy director. Now the group, which boasts 50,000 supporters and a $1.7 million budget, has just opened a Washington office and hired full time lobbyist Emily Hecht, formerly a staff attorney with the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network -- a group that lobbies and provides legal services focused on discrimination against gays in the military.

The group not only lobbies at both the state and federal level on issues that no other outfits are focused on, Suffredini says, but because its constituency includes children, the organization also offers a new, politically persuasive voice to issues already lobbied by the broader gay rights community, such as same-sex marriage, or ending employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. At the federal level, the group is focused on promoting a new bill -- which would penalize the roughly half-dozen states who ban or restrict adoptions by gay, transgendered, or unmarried individuals by withholding some federal child welfare funds.

Those ubiquitous invites that lobbyists receive to attend Democratic fundraisers at the home of Heather and Tony Podesta will probably accelerate during this tough election season, but  tonight at the chic Ristorante Tosca, the partying Podestas plan to indulge in another passion--Italian cuisine. An e-mail invitation announced that the two lobbyists are throwing the bash at the eatery to celebrate a new cookbook, Venice, Food and Wine, with a guest appearance by Venetian chef Luca Di Vita.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Many of the Washington interest groups that are seeking to shape final health-care legislation in the coming weeks operate with opaque financing, often receiving hidden support from insurers, drugmakers or unions," the Washington Post reports.

• "The Republican Governors Association is reorganizing itself for 2010 to build a larger in-house political operation -- part of an effort to cut costs while staying competitive in the 37 gubernatorial races this year," Politico reports.

EMILY'S List, a prolific fundraising group for Democrats, announced Wednesday that its founder, Ellen Malcolm, (pictured at right) has stepped down as president and will be succeeded by Stephanie Schriock. Malcom will remain as chairman of the board of the group which supports the election of progressive female candidates to public office.

Schriock comes from Capitol Hill where she was chief of staff to Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. "I am deeply honored to join this trailblazing organization," said Schriock in a statement. "I look forward to growing the organization and reaching out to the millions of young women who will further change the future of politics and America."

In 2008, National Journal's Bara Vaida and Jennifer Skalka profiled Emily's List and touched on some of its difficulties in getting candidates elected in recent years, including its risky decision to back Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary against Barack Obama. Click here for story (subscription required)

If you college hoops fan and went to Georgetown University or University of Connecticut, or you are just a fan of giving money to Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., the Verizon Center is the place to be on Saturday Jan. 9. That is where a noon fundraiser for Courtney is being held. (Oh yes and of course, there will be a basketball game: Hoyas vs. the Huskies). The invitation helpfully notes that Courtney is a member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces, the Military Readiness Subcommittee as well as the House Education and Labor Committee. It only takes a $500 donation for an individual to attend.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "A liberal coalition that has been highly critical of the Senate health care legislation has launched a campaign to prod Congressional negotiators to adopt a final measure that resembles the more expansive House version," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Health Care for America Now, which has already poured millions of dollars into advertisements that promote health care reform, Tuesday began running ads on cable television that tout the House bill."

• "The 2010 federal spending bills disclose $10.2 billion for pet projects inserted by members of Congress, a drop of nearly a third since 2008, an analysis of the bills shows," USA Today reports. "The 9,297 'earmarks' reported in spending legislation for 2010 were down from 11,282 reported for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to data compiled by the non-partisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. The 2009 earmarks were worth $14.3 billion."

• "A Pennsylvania defense contractor that received earmarks from Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has been barred from receiving further government contracts after allegedly offering kickbacks to another federal contractor," Politico reports.

The group that manages the Internet's address system has hired a new Washington-based lobbyist. Jamie Hedlund will take over at the end of the month as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' vice president for government affairs for the Americas, according to an ICANN insider.

Hedlund has a broad background in telecom and technology policy issues. He is currently the vice president of regulatory affairs for the Consumer Electronics Association, where he has worked since late 2008. Prior to that, he served as director of public policy for Yahoo. Hedlund, who began his career as a staff attorney at the FCC, has much experience in the telecom field, having also worked for Level 3 Communications, Sprint and T-Mobile.

In an interview, Hedlund said he has focused on Internet issues in recent years, particularly on the plumbing of the Internet while at Level 3, and was excited to tackle a new aspect of the Internet world at ICANN. "It's a really exciting time for ICANN," he said, noting that ICANN's relationship with the U.S. government changed last fall giving the group more independence from U.S. oversight. "This model of governance is innovative ... one that if done correctly, will succeed in maintaining a single Internet."

The job Hedlund is taking on has been broadened to include areas outside of
Washington. In addition to helping ICANN maintain its relationships with officials in Washington, Hedlund, who speaks both Spanish and French, said he also will be responsible for interacting with ICANN stakeholders from North and South America. He is set to start his new job at ICANN on Jan. 26. He will replace ICANN's former Vice President of Corporate Affairs Paul Levins, who decided to move back to his native Australia.

(Cross posted from Tech Daily Dose)

"Welcome to the war," the young man at the front desk said as a visitor walked into the National Organization for Women's office on a busy Wednesday afternoon. The night before, the Senate had voted down Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson's amendment to restrict abortion coverage in health care reform. Nelson's defeat was a victory for NOW, but there were no signs of celebration -- or even calm.

Instead, NOW officials were planning for the next step -- monitoring Majority Leader Harry Reid's forthcoming manager's amendment, which would end up including restrictions on abortion rights. And in doing so, they found themselves in the ritual dance of nonprofit advocacy groups -- trying to decide how to balance fundraising appeals with policy alerts and calls to action.

The steps seem a bit awkward for NOW, which, despite being an established brand in the women's rights movement, is trying to reassert itself as a grassroots force -- a role that, by the measure of its own president, the group hasn't been filling. This attempt at reinvigorating its network of members and supporters comes as NOW faces challenges raising money during a recession and overcoming a change in the perception of public opinion on abortion.

At the same time, abortion rights advocates like NOW, coming off years of playing defense against the Bush administration, have had to unexpectedly roll up their sleeves under a Democratic president. Barack Obama had promised to be an advocate for abortion rights during his campaign but hasn't done enough to suit advocates. His support of abortion rights and a Democrat-controlled Congress have galvanized abortion opponents, who have additionally been buoyed by a resurgent conservative grassroots and an alliance with Catholic Bishops.

In the video after the jump, NationalJournal.com profiles NOW alongside a conservative rival, the Susan B. Anthony List, and shows how their organizations have been affected by the recession, a public opinion shift and the Obama presidency.

Continue reading Abortion Rights Advocates Tap Grassroots

The Center for Competitive Politics has promoted Laura Renz to research and government relations director and has hired Martha Corrao as government relations assistant.

Renz (pictured at right) was previously CCP's research director. She has worked as a legislative assistant at firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney and has interned for former Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn.

Corrao (pictured at right) arrives from Americans for Tax Reform, where she was a government affairs associate. She also served a stint at political ad analyst the Wisconsin Advertising Project, where she researched judicial campaigns.

CCP is a First Amendment group that works in the advocacy, litigation, and research arenas. The group's government affairs team is currently taking aim at the Fair Elections Now Act, a measure that would create a public financing system at the Congressional level. CCP also seeks to raise contribution limits.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "On the heels of major departures at Ogilvy Government Relations in the final days of last year, two more lobbyists are leaving to launch their own K Street shop," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Democrat Andy Rosenberg and Republican Chris Lamond are setting up Thorn Run Partners this week."

• "Citing what its founders call a 'volatile climate for lobbyists,' K Street Research opened shop" Monday "in hopes of helping clients with policy and research needs while lowering their lobbying disclosure numbers," NationalJournal.com reports.

• "The Democratic and Republican governors associations Monday announced record fundraising last year," Politico reports. "The Republican Governors Association raised $30 million in 2009 and has $25 million in the bank. The Democratic Governors Association raised $23.1 million and enters 2010 -- with 37 gubernatorial campaigns in play -- with $17.5 million on hand."

• "The RNC has transferred $20K to the Northern Mariana Islands in the past 2 months, according to FEC reports, in what could be support for local candidates or, RNC critics say, political payback," Hotline On Call reports.

Citing what its founders call a "volatile climate for lobbyists," K Street Research opened shop today in hopes of helping clients with policy and research needs while lowering their lobbying disclosure numbers.

According Brien Bonneville,(pictured at right) the new firm's vice president, lobbying disclosure totals are often inflated because it's hard for lobbying firms to distinguish how much of their fees go to lobbying and how much go to other consulting services, such as policy advice and research. Bonneville and Larry Mitchell, (pictured below) the firm's president and chief operating officer, decided to depart their lobbying posts at KSCW to create a non-lobby shop just for those functions.

"We don't have to wear the 'Scarlet L' anymore," Bonneville said. "A number of corporations have needs outside of lobbying and we wanted to exploit that."

Bonneville said his main gripe with last year's new lobbying rules is that lobbyists cannot serve in the administration. After arriving in Washington two and a half years ago hoping to make a career out of lobbying, "now I can't say it's a career path I want to go down," he said. "It just sparked my mind into thinking of new avenues for my skill set and how to serve companies that don't want to be deemed evil."

Bonneville deregistered after serving as director of research and communications at KSCW, where he picked up a background on lobbying disclosure act compliance. Mitchell is also deregistering after serving as a partner and associate at KSCW. He was previously a Clinton appointee at the Agriculture Department.

Bonneville's inspiration for branching out on his own? Gerald Cassidy, for founding a major lobbying firm and for reaping credit that he "revolutionized lobbying," Bonneville said. "After reading the book about Cassidy, I thought, 'I have to do something to leave my mark.'" (Washington Post reporter Robert Kaiser wrote a book about lobbying and Cassidy published in 2009)

With financial services reform gaining steam in Congress, the banking industry continues to give more to Republicans than Democrats in the 2010 election cycle.

According to data from OpenSecrets.org, the historical friendship between banks and GOP candidates remains strong. Commercial banks have contributed $6.2 million so far in the cycle, with 54 percent going to Republicans. The top contributor: the American Bankers Association at $1.3 million.

The savings and loan industry has given $196,000 to congressional candidates with 69 percent going to Republicans. Top contributor: Beal Bank at $99,000. Top recipients: a seven-way tie at $9,600 between Reps. Rob Portman, R-OH, Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, Sam Johnson, R-Texas, Pete Sessions, R-Texas, Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Republican Ralph Hall, of, you guessed it -- Texas.

Other sectors of the financial industry have showed more money on Democrats. The securities and investment industry - the one most directly under fire by regulators - has given $24.2 million so far in the 2010 election cycle, with 67 percent going to Democrats. Biggest contributor: the Investment Company Institute at $488,000. Top recipient: $1 million to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY., who sits on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

The hedge-fund sector is also leaning heavily Democratic. So far it has donated $2.1 million with 70 percent going to blue candidates. Top contributor: Renaissance Technologies at $256,000. Top recipient (surprise, surprise): $170,000 to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY.

It's clear the securities and investment industry is just gearing up. The sector contributed a whopping $157 million to congressional candidates during the 2008 election cycle.

Nearly a year after President Obama launched his administration with sweeping new ethics and transparency rules, the war over lobbyists and their role in Washington is just beginning.

On the one hand, the administration has set a new standard for government openness and sparked a lively debate over just how aggressively lobbyists can and should be regulated.

On the other, Obama's new rules have angered many lobbyists and public interest advocates alike, and failed to address the root cause of ethics abuses -- namely, the campaign finance system that pumps special interest money into elections.

Obama's new ethics regime has also exposed flaws in the rules that define who is and is not a lobbyist. Too often, administration restrictions shut out registered lobbyists who disclose their activities but leave the door open to corporate executives and advocates who don't meet the technical definition of lobbyist.

Most troubling, the new rules may have fueled so-called deregistrations among lobbyists who now prefer to fly under the radar. This obviously hurts transparency rather than advancing it. At the same time, the debates over health care, energy and financial services have boosted business on K Street.

Read Eliza's full column here.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Public interest groups" today "will call for federal antitrust watchdogs to investigate an industry-wide strategy by television service providers that they say will strap users to unnecessarily high monthly subscription fees and stifle competition," the Washington Post reports. "The 'TV Everywhere' plan by cable, satellite and phone companies" would bring "television shows and movies to computers and devices, but only for those that subscribe to both television and high-speed Internet services."

• "Anyone who doesn't know there is a Census this year will know after" today. "The government's unprecedented $340 million promotional blitz of the 2010 Census launches Monday with the debut of the Census Portrait of America Road Tour in New York City's Times Square," USA Today reports. "A 46-foot trailer, to be unveiled on NBC's Today show, and 12 smaller cargo vans with 14-foot trailers will crisscross more than 150,000 miles nationwide through April to promote the benefits of responding to the 10-question Census."