GOP operatives say that having Gillespie, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and Rove, the ex political guru to the George W. Bush administration, pitching donors is a potent combo. "Ed's got the better rap and Karl's got the better rolodex," says a GOP lobbyist familiar with the new venture.

Gillespie has indicated that he won't be formally affiliated with the 527, but acknowledged that he's hitting up contributors for it. "I've supported the idea of a 527," Gillespie told National Journal. "I've encouraged people to support entities like American Crossroads." Rove did not return a phone call seeking comment about his efforts.

So far, the new soft-money group, American Crossroads, has received commitments of almost $30 million and is seeking to raise a total of some $60 million to help dozens of Senate and House incumbents and challengers this fall, say three sources familiar with the new 527. In contrast, at the start of January, the Republican National Committee had only $8.4 million in the bank compared with the $22.8 million it had on had a year earlier when Steele was elected chairman.

Continue reading Bush's Brains, Rove + Gillespie Raise GOP Bucks

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is planning a broad effort to blunt the health overhaul by trying to shape its regulatory language and spending heavily to unseat vulnerable Democrats who voted for it," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports.

• The chamber also "gave its seal of approval to the" Education Department's "awarding its initial Race to the Top grants for public education to Delaware and Tennessee," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

Corrected at 10:32 a.m. on March 31.

After President Obama this morning likened his health insurance exchange to an idea proposed by the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank's president, Edwin Feulner, took "great exception" to "this misuse of our work and abuse of our name."

Appearing on NBC's "Today Show," Obama explained his insurance exchange as "being able to pool and improve the purchasing power of individuals in the insurance market, [an idea] that originated from The Heritage Foundation."

Not so, Feulner said in a press release. "True exchanges are simply a market mechanism to enable families to choose their health insurance," he said. "President Obama's exchanges, by contrast, are a vehicle to introduce sweeping regulation and federal standardization on health insurance."

Continue reading Heritage Takes Exception

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "James Hoffa, general president of the Teamsters union, praised President Barack Obama's recent recess nominations to the National Labor Relations Board," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "The European aircraft consortium EADS will likely decide within the next two to three weeks whether it will bid for a contract to build aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force, Thomas Enders, chief executive of EADS' Airbus aircraft division, told the Financial Times Deutschland" on Monday, CongressDailyPM (subscription) reports.

Lobbying firm Van Scoyoc Associates announced it has created a new non-lobbying business unit focused on federal marketing and business consulting.

The new unit, VSConsulting, initially will be staffed by vice president Martin Cargas, who previously handled international relations for Anheuser-Busch and vice president Christopher Bourne, who was previously in the U.S. Marine Corps and is an expert in military applications of science and technology. The Implementation Group, an existing non-lobbying consulting unit, will continue to operate as a division of VSConsulting and will be headed by Joe Danek, a senior vice president.

VS Consulting's initial focus will be on defense, higher education and international work. In addition, VSConsulting will market the services of its sister lobbying affiliates and eventually plans to add other services, including association management and public relations consulting.

H. Stewart "Stu" Van Scoyoc, president and CEO of all of the firms, said he was creating VSConsulting to expand into new avenues of business and to market the services of his existing government affairs firms, Van Scoyoc Associates and Capital Decisions Inc.

The Center for Responsive Politics points out the special interest links to the 15 recess appointments made by President Obama this weekend in a post this morning.

The Center says:

Among the appointees: Craig Becker, a union lawyer who Obama placed on the National Labor Relations Board. Jeffrey A. Goldstein, Obama's nominee for assistant treasury secretary, has worked for a variety of private political influence peddlers, and is a member of OpenSecrets.org's "Revolving Door" database. Eric L. Hirschhorn, a Department of Commerce under secretary appointee, is a former federal lobbyist, as is Michael W. Punke, a deputy trade representative appointee, and Jacqueline Berrien, who will now serve as chairwoman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Chief agricultural negotiator Israel Siddiqui, a former lobbyist for CropLife America, is also on Obama's list.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Lawmakers returning home for their spring recess won't be able to escape the burning issues on Capitol Hill," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "That's because many Washington, D.C., interest groups will continue their lobbying fights on financial reform, gays in the military and the new health care law back in Members' districts."

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

"Who Won? How 25 Players Fared In The Health Care Debate:" Our cover story profiles 25 players including those in the interest group world including Karen Ignagni, head of America's Health Insurance Plans, Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Howard Dean, the former Democratic candidate for president, Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union and John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress.

"Broadband's Next Big Fight:" Stakeholders have perused the FCC's new Web plan. Next up: a battle over implementation.

"Aviation Lobbying Gaining Altitude:" Craig Fuller relies on collaboration to keep the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association flying high.

"Inside Washington:" Talk about brazen. Campaign donations will buy lobbyists easy access to Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., according to a recent invitation. "During Easter recess, Senator Corker will be in Chicago and New York, and we have a few openings in the schedule," says an e-mail sent to influence-peddlers this week. "Please let us know if you have any members or clients who might be able to fill the open times with a small fundraising opportunity." For $10,000, the invite says, Corker will have a meal with the client or lobbyist; and for $5,000, the Volunteer State Republican will grant a "small" meeting ...

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Business associations and unions are preparing for a possible recess appointment by the White House of a controversial nominee to the National Labor Relations Board," The Hill reports.

The American Society of Association Executives, which has gone by the name ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, voted to change the official name of the organization to just ASAE, as part on overall branding campaign.

It also changed the name of its "Center for Association Leadership" to the ASAE Foundation. The Center is focused on economic research for associations.

ASAE said that Ogilvy PR will be handling the branding strategy and campaign for the organization.

ASAE's president and CEO John Graham explains more in a letter here.

The Obama Administration's lobbying rules came under fire last night at a large gathering of advocacy professionals devoted to honoring achievement in the field.

"We lobbyists have had a challenging year," said Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner Joel Jankowsky, who said his peers have been "scape-goated" by the administration as the definitive source of corruption in Washington.

Obama's rules have had unintended consequences, Jankowsky argued, such as pushing lobbyists to deregister from the official rolls on Capitol Hill. He singled out campaign contributions as an area that remains problematically unregulated.

In a speech to accept a lobbying award, Jankowsky argued that Obama's rules reinforce the faulty notion that politicians are inherently susceptible to corruption, adding that the reputation of the lobbying profession is tarnished by the behavior of a few bad actors. Jankowsky also pointed to checks on the system, including the press corps and bloggers. "No special interest gets a free ride," he said.

Continue reading Lobbying Defended At Dinner

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is buying Democratic boutique lobbying firm Parven Pomper Strategies, adding six new lobbyists to its law and lobbying  practice.

"We hire talent, when we see talent," said Joel Jankowsky, senior executive partner at Akin Gump of the purchase. "Their lobbying style fits our lobbying style and in terms of age and energy, they are going to make this place even better." He declined to detail the value of the transaction.

Parven Pomper reported $3.2 million in lobbying fee income in 2009. Akin Gump posted $32.2 million in lobbying fees last year, making it the second largest lobbying firm on National Journal's Top 25 lobbying firm list published in our March 13 issue. (subscription) Akin Gump currently has 45 registered lobbyists on staff.

Parven Pomper was co-founded by Scott Parven (photo above) and Brian Pomper in 2006 and the firm has specialized in energy, financial services, international trade, intellectual property and tax issues. Parven, who is a board member of the Democratic Leadership Council, previously led public policy teams at AOL Time Warner, Mayer Brown and Aetna International. Pomper was the chief international trade council for Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and before that worked for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Continue reading Akin Gump Buying Dem Firm Parven Pomper

From this morning's Earlybird:

"Many activists on both sides of the health care issue... have no plans to disappear even as the Congressional fight over health care may be finally coming to a close," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

"State are scrambling to the Supreme Court's landmark campaign finance ruling that would allow corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections, theWashington Post reports.

Karen Ignagni, head of the health insurance industry's trade group, America's Health Insurance Plans, said the industry will be participating in Enroll America, a new nonprofit organization that will seek to get all people who qualify for government insurance subsidies or the expanded Medicaid program enrolled.

"We have now about 10 million people who are eligible for public programs who are not on the rolls," Ignagni said in an interview. "You don't want to repeat that problem, both in public programs as well as private eligibility. It's important for people to understand how they can come into the system, what they will be eligible for, whether they have Medicaid eligibility they weren't aware of, whether they're eligible for subsidies in the private sector, how do they access coverage, how do they look at exchanges and portals and understand their choices. There's a lot to do there and it's very important that we start right away."

Under The Influence reported on Tuesday that Families USA executive director, Ron Pollack was spearheading the drive to create Enroll America.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• Roll Call (subscription) reports on the errors in the lobbying disclosure forms of companies, unions and other groups a new report by CQ MoneyLine has found. The report shows that at least $338 million worth of lobbying during the last 12 years has been underreported.

• "Interest groups that spent the past year fighting over President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul are quickly transforming themselves for battle in a new arena, working to sway the law to their benefit while helping the lawmakers who supported them during the bruising legislative debate," the Washington Post reports.

• "Unions are likely to rescind their backing of labor-friendly lawmakers who voted against the healthcare bill and may support challengers," The Hill reports.

• "College students swarmed Capitol Hill on Tuesday to plead for more financial aid as private lenders made a last push to preserve their endangered role in making federal student loans," the Washington Post reports.

American Crossroads, a fledgling 527 political organization that hopes to raise some $60 million to help dozens of congressional Republican incumbents and candidates in this year's elections, has snared Steven J. Law, the general counsel at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to run its operations and raise funds.

Law, who has been at the chamber for about two years, will be leading a group that seems poised to play a big role this fall, according to two sources familiar with the new 527. It recently raked in millions of dollars with the help of ex-RNC chairman Ed Gillespie and one source says it has received pledges for $40 million. Gillespie recently made fund raising stops in Texas and New York City to help American Crossroads get off the ground, although he has told National Journal that he doesn't intend to be formally affiliated with it.

Law is a former chief of staff to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., served as executive director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee under McConnell and was a deputy secretary at the Department of Labor during the George W. Bush administration. Law is known as a tough advocate and is respected for his fund raising prowess. He's bagged big money for the chamber's campaign to defeat "card check" legislation, a top priority of labor unions that, if enacted, would expand their ability to organize.

Growth Energy, a coalition of U.S. ethanol supporters, has added some former Hill staffers.

Katy Ziegler Thomas, a former aide to Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., has joined the coalition as chief of staff. She arrives from the National Farmers Union, where she was vice president of government relations.

Stephanie Dreyer, formerly the deputy press secretary for Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., comes aboard as a public affairs associate. The coalition has also tapped Roger Conway, former director of the Agriculture Department's Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, to serve as chief economist.

Disturbed by the religious and conservative stamp Texas educators recently voted to put into school textbooks, the Interfaith Alliance sent letters Monday to textbook publishers urging them to reject the state's proposed standards. With over 185,000 members from 75 faith traditions, the Interfaith Alliance promotes religious freedom and democracy.

"Should you need our support in resisting this pressure from the Texas State Board of Education to replace American history with conservative ideology," wrote Reverend C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, "we would be honored to stand by you and support your commitment to the most accurate educational materials possible."

Gaddy's letter comes in response to a March 11th decision by the Texas Board to amend state textbooks to reflect a more Christian and conservative worldview. Characterizing America as a Christian nation founded upon and governed by Christian beliefs and removing Thomas Jefferson from the curriculum on the Enlightenment period are among the recommended changes.

Don McLeroy, one of the members of the board, told the New York Times that the changes would "add balance" and that "academia skewed too far to the left."

The proposed changes are open for public comment now and a final vote will take place in May. If the standards are adopted, there will be implications for students beyond Texas' borders. The Lone Star state is a major client of textbook publishers and the Interfaith Alliance is concerned that the conservative and Christian curriculum could end up in classrooms elsewhere.

For 28 years, the health care consumer group Families USA has been pushing for comprehensive health care legislation. With that mission accomplished, the group's executive director, Ron Pollack, is working on setting up a new nonprofit organization that will seek to get all people who qualify for government insurance subsidies or the expanded Medicaid program enrolled.

The group will be called Enroll America, Pollack said in an interview. "This effort I believe is going to be a huge collaboration not just among traditional allies, but strange bedfellows as well," he said, explaining that he hopes to enlist business groups, the insurance industry, various health care groups and consumer organizations in the effort.

Since everyone has a stake in getting as many people as possible signed up for the new benefits, "there is no real difference in terms of the interests among all the different stakeholders," he said. The group's already been chartered and will eventually have a board of directors and staff director, Pollack said. "We catalyzed it," Pollack said. "It will be a broad-based effort."

• "Industry groups, labor unions and other stakeholders in health care reform offered up their parting shots on Monday," Roll Call reports.

Quinn Gillespie & Associates, the lobbying firm started by former President Clinton staffer Jack Quinn and former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, has tapped Christopher Brown as director of digital strategy.

Brown was a chair for new media efforts at the National Press Club last year, and served as managing editor for new media at America's Most Wanted on FOX. The addition comes as part of QGA's efforts to scale up its digital advocacy offerings. In that vein, the firm also added FishBowlDC blogger and PR veteran Matt Dornic earlier this year.

(Gillespie left the firm several years ago)

A group of more than 150 companies, including nuclear giant Exelon and several other utilities, issued joint statements today hailing efforts by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn., to craft climate and energy legislation.

"Until Congress passes comprehensive climate legislation, American companies will face a carbon purgatory -- they will lack the legislative and regulatory certainty they need to start making the substantial investments required to transition to a low-carbon future," John Rowe, chairman and CEO of Exelon, said in a statement. "We look forward to working with the sponsors to enact legislation that is good for the planet and the economy."

The statements were released by members of We Can Lead. The coalition includes member companies ranging from Starbucks to utilities such as Avista to NRG. The release comes on the heels of a similar statement issued Friday by nearly 20 environmental groups also praising the Senate trio for their efforts.

The senators plan to circulate (subscription) an outline of their bill to both industry and environmental leaders this week.

(Cross-posted from NJ's Energy and Environment page)

For all the praise that has greeted the Federal Communications Commission's blueprint for a wired nation, the recently released National Broadband Plan sets up an inevitable clash of telecommunications lobbying titans.

Mandated by last year's economic stimulus bill, the FCC's broadband plan sets out to solve a basic problem: The demand for wireless services and gadgets is booming, but the U.S. is short on spectrum and trails internationally in broadband use.

Much of the FCC's 360-page solution, which seeks to have 100 million households online and proposes freeing up 500 megahertz of spectrum, is noncontroversial. But even its FCC authors acknowledge that portions will trigger fights. And it's the hotly contested details that now promise to pit influential industry stakeholders in a high-stakes struggle.

The multifaceted FCC plan covers the entire telecommunications universe and has the potential to boost both competition and regulation. It's the biggest FCC undertaking since the sweeping Telecommunications Act of 1996 and will require both exhaustive federal rulemaking and congressional action. And billions of dollars is at stake.

"This is more than the broadcasters versus the wireless companies," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president and CEO of the Media Access Project. "Everybody has a stake in how the spectrum is allocated."

Flash points that will likely dominate upcoming lobbying battles include: the FCC's plans to free up spectrum by asking broadcasters to auction it off and share in the proceeds; to shift FCC Universal Service Fund subsidies from digital to broadband services; and to regulate the video set-top box market, to facilitate Internet access.

Continue reading Broadband Battle Begins

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Some analysts said as the" health care "vote neared that the final legislation was shaping up as much kinder to the industry than many initially feared," the New York Times reports. "Hospitals and drug makers, which supported the final legislation, would be clear beneficiaries, analysts say, even if the outlook for insurers was less certain."

• "Larger businesses worry the Obama administration's health-care overhaul could do too much -- and too little," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports. "The legislation hits companies in myriad ways, from stricter coverage rules to new taxes, which could change how they offer health care to employees. Yet, many larger businesses worry the measure will do relatively little to hold down their overall health-care costs, once a primary goal of the legislation, and could even force them up."

• "Even as the health care debate grips Capitol Hill, more than half of the Members of Congress still have carved out time this evening to mingle with thousands of mostly Jewish activists and donors," Roll Call reports. "The lawmakers will be making their annual pilgrimage to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's conference banquet at the Washington Convention Center, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be the featured speaker."

• "Immigration reform advocates are keeping the heat on key Senators to act quickly on a new legislative package, saying time is short to get anything done this year," Roll Call reports.

All 17 government executive agencies have "made concrete changes" to their transparency standards since President Obama issued his Open Government Directive last December, according to Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform Norm Eisen, who spoke today in detail at the Building Transparency panel hosted by the Center for American Progress.

After Obama issued the directive along with others last year aimed at improving the Freedom of Information Act process, Eisen said agencies are beginning to create transparency plans in time for the April 7 deadline.

FOIA compliance, Eisen said, is where he has seen the most improvement. The Department of Agriculture put in tracking technologies for FOIA requests; the Department of Defense retrained over 500 persons involved in FOIA request processing; and the Federal bureau of Investigation has changed policy to comply with requests.

"And the list goes on, and on, and on," Eisen emphasized.

Continue reading White House's Eisen Reports on Transparency

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

"Inside The Energy Bill War Room": When a group of young environmental activists set out to picket a late-February fundraiser hosted by nuclear power and coal-industry lobbyists for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the protesters didn't have far to go.

The swank downtown restaurant chosen for the event just happened to be in the same building where the demonstration was conceived. Six stories above sits the war room of a well-oiled but little-known operation called Clean Energy Works, created last fall by more than 50 nonprofit groups to push a comprehensive energy bill through the Senate.

"The Bible Goes To School": Kentucky is considering a bill that would establish an elective social studies course on the Bible in public high schools. Some advocates say that it will improve student behavior. Skeptics see a potential breakdown of the separation between church and state.

"On The Move:" Gloria Dittus has been working the public-relations game for a long time, and she's happy to share her business philosophy: "The great politicians from Tip O'Neill to Ronald Reagan understood that all politics is local. And you need to get out of the intelligentsia environment and talk to people on their own terms, in their backyards." Her latest project is Story Partners, which will do traditional coalition-building and digital media outreach for legislative and regulatory campaigns.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, is the latest lobbying heavyweight to formally give its seal of approval to Democrats' $940 billion health care reform legislation, urging House Members on Thursday to vote for the measure," Roll Call reports.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association has brought in Lisa LaBruno to be its new vice president for loss prevention and legal affairs.

A statement says LaBruno will be involved in RILA's asset protection offerings in loss prevention, retail crime, workplace safety, disaster recovery, and other matters. LaBruno was formerly an in-house lawyer for Home Depot.

She's a former assistant prosecutor in Hudson County, New Jersey, and was also a litigation lawyer for the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J. Last year, RILA had been considering a merger with the National Retail Federation, but the deal was called off. We reported yesterday that Matt Shay was just named president and CEO of NRF

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Labor unions are flexing their muscle this month in scores of protests against the country's largest banks, which are lobbying heavily to influence financial overhaul legislation," The Hill reports. "Unions will hold roughly 200 events by March 26 aimed at Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo."

• "A Pennsylvania lawmaker whose parents recently died of cancer is among the targets of an ad campaign by a conservative group that questions congressional Democrats' interest in preventing the disease," AP reports.

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports on President Obama's lobbying style, specifically how it pertains to the health care debate: "The strength of Mr. Obama's personal lobbying is being put to a severe test this week in a string of closed-door sessions with House Democrats as the president tries to find the final votes needed to secure passage of his top priority. His arguments range from sweeping points about the state of the nation to a nitty-gritty understanding of legislative details."

Corrected at 4:08 p.m. on April 6.

The Freedom of Information Act needs an upgrade befitting the ease and access of the Internet era, according to Rep. Steve Israel, who has introduced a bill promising just that.

The New York Democrat intends to improve access to public documents through POIA, the Public Online Information Act, which will require the executive branch to begin putting its public information online.

"'Public' is to be redefined to mean online and searchable," Israel said in a news conference outside the Capitol on Tuesday.

FOIA has become "outdated," said Ellen Miller, executive director of the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation, who helped Israel's office craft the legislation. Created in 1966 under President Lyndon Johnson as a way to make government documents accessible, FOIA now carries hindrances of its own, Miller said, restricting curious citizens to a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. window and mandating formal requests for documents -- followed by drawn-out waiting periods. Israel likened the experience of searching for files in federal basements to searching the cavernous government warehouse in Raiders of the Lost Ark, a process that he says is "out of the dark ages."

POIA requires the federal chief information officer to put all executive documents online, in a user-friendly format, permanently, and without charges or fees. Every federal agency will be required to establish a searchable catalogue of all public documents, because transparency isn't just having documents available, it's "knowing what documents" are available, according to Israel.

Continue reading Lawmaker Calls To Put Documents Online

Veteran Republican operative and consultant Ed Gillespie is raising funds for a new political organization called American Crossroads that's already roped in millions of dollars and plans to be active in dozens of House and Senate races this year to help GOP incumbents and candidates.

Sources familiar with the new organization, a 527 that is seeking to raise about $60 million, say the former chairman of the Republican National Committee recently went looking for money in Texas and had some success with wealthy individuals there. Sources say the fundraising for American Crossroads could also be getting a helping hand from GOP strategist Karl Rove.

According to a GOP operative familiar with American Crossroads, the fledgling group may have raised as much as $40 million to date and is preparing to name a well-known Washingtonian to run it. The 527 is one of several political ventures that Gillespie, an ex lobbyist who now runs the strategic consulting firm Ed Gillespie Strategies, is involved with this political season.

Continue reading Gillespie Raising Funds For New 527

Patton Boggs has snagged communications lawyer Mark C. Ellison as a partner in its Washington office.

Ellison previously worked at the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, where he served as senior vice president and general counsel and dealt with satellite TV, broadband, and smart grid technology, among other issues. Before that, he was assistant general counsel for Turner Broadcasting, and he also worked as general counsel at the Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Association.

This is a timely hire for Patton Boggs, considering the Federal Communications Commission's recent release of a strategy to expand broadband Internet access in rural areas.

Even as former Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., helps to lead the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in another multi-million ad drive to pass health care reform legislation, he is busy looking ahead to the future when he departs PhRMA this June and is eyeing launching a Washington consulting firm, possibly with one or more of his sons.

In a twenty-minute phone interview, Tauzin said that he will "probably be doing some consulting. A number of the drug companies have indicated an interest in working with me. I'm not leaving town."

Tauzin added that he's intrigued at the possibility of building a consulting business that might include some of his sons--one of whom is now a lobbyist with the Capitol Hill Consulting Group --much as his old friends, former Sens. John Breaux, D-La., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., have done at their firm the Breaux Lott Leadership Group. Further if he opts to launch a new firm, Tauzin said it might also do some lobbying, but stressed that he's still "ruminating" about different options including job feelers he's received from several law firms in town.

"I've got a lot of feelers from most of the big law firms." One thing that Tauzin is certain about though as he looks ahead to life after PhRMA is that he "wants the flexibility to do some very important work" back in Louisiana to protect New Orleans from future hurricanes like Katrina. Tauzin has had a number of conversations in recent weeks with old friends from the Bayou state including Breaux and Democratic strategists James Carville and Donna Brazile about the possibility of making New Orleans "water proof" via a large scale reengineering and architecture project.

Continue reading Tauzin Weighs Options

Matt Shay has just been named president and chief executive officer of the National Retail Federation.

Shay has plenty of experience heading a trade association: he comes over from the International Franchise Association, where he was named president in 2004 and CEO in 2007. Shay, an Ohio native, started off his career with the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants. At NRF, he succeeds the retiring Tracy Mullin.

After meeting with the executive committee and the board, Shay says the goal of the group is to make sure that "the footprint that the NRF and the retail industry have in Washington on an advocacy basis, reflects the economic footprint that the retail industry has in local communities across the country and in our economy."

When asked about potentially bringing in more lobbyists or manpower in D.C., Shay said it was premature to discuss that just yet.

Continue reading Retail's Newest Leader

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Lobbyists are scurrying to make major changes to the 1,336-page financial overhaul legislation Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) released this week," The Hill reports. "Everyone from consumer advocates to executives at big banks want changes to the long-awaited bill, which aims to prevent future financial crises."

• "With the final showdown over health care reform looming, conservative activists Tuesday descended on Capitol Hill to press lawmakers to spike the measure while medical stakeholders worked behind the scenes to protect their interests," Roll Call reports.

• "House phone lines were nearing capacity on Tuesday as conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh encouraged fans to call in their objections on healthcare legislation," The Hill reports. "The House e-mail system was also deluged in what the House's technology office called 'a very significant spike' in traffic."

• "A new federal tax requirement is exposing sensitive salary information of trade association lobbyists and other senior employees, setting off alarms downtown over how the information will be used," Roll Call reports.

The Obama administration is pushing government agencies to redouble their efforts to be more transparent to the public and, in particular, do more to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, according to a post on the White House blog by Norm Eisen, the president's special counsel on ethics and government reform.

Eisen highlights a March 16 memo written by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Bob Bauer, counsel to the president, urging agency and department heads to update FOIA guidance and training materials and to assess whether adequate resources are being allocated to responding to FOIA requests.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a group that has filed numerous FOIA requests, praised the administration for its efforts but said it still has "a long way to go" to make agencies, such as the Defense department, more transparent.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Just hours after Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) unveiled his financial services regulatory reform bill, business groups moved to oppose specific provisions in the legislation," Roll Call reports. (subscription)

• "Liberal groups, drug companies and assorted coalitions are moving to counter the heavy blitz of ads aimed at sinking the health care overhaul legislation that could be considered as soon as this week by the House," Roll Call reports. (subscription)

• "Wide-ranging bans on earmarks are forcing appropriations lobbyists to look for other avenues to find money for their clients," The Hill reports.

• "A lobbying firm with close ties to the late Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) -- and a central player in some of the most questionable earmarks sponsored by Murtha -- appears to have closed its doors," Roll Call reports. (subscription)

Out of the top 25 lobbying spenders of 2009, nine of those are heavily involved in the energy and climate debate -- including four oil companies and Southern Co., the recipient of the Obama administration's first nuclear loan guarantee.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranks at the top, spending more than $120 million last year on lobbying, nearly doubling its total from 2008. ExxonMobil came in a distant second, with a 2009 total of $27.4 million, down 5.4 percent from 2008. The other oil giants that made the list include Chevron (eighth), ConocoPhillips (12th) and BP America (16th).

Southern Co., the Southeastern electricity company that President Obama awarded the first conditional nuclear loan guarantee last month, is the 20th-highest spender. It spent $13.5 million on lobbying in 2009. While environmental groups have charged that the company has dedicated inordinate amounts of money and manpower to influencing the debate, its spending actually dropped 3.8 percent from 2008.

Energy and the environment made up a significant portion of the most common issues lobbyists reported in their 2009 disclosure filings, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, with 1,747 registrations for "Energy/nuclear power" and 1,259 for "Environment/Superfund."

National Journal delved into the state of lobbying in its March 13 issue (subscription). After the jump, see a list of the biggest spenders who have a hand in the climate and energy debate.

Continue reading Oil, Nuclear Giants Top '09 Spenders

In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent ruling to deregulate corporate political spending, public attention has focused squarely on whether businesses and for-profit companies will now lavish big money on elections.

But Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission may have as much or more impact on another type of incorporated organization -- nonprofits of all stripes. These include 501(c)4 advocacy groups, 501(c)5 labor unions, 501(c)6 trade associations and even 501(c)3 charities, which face both fresh opportunities and dangers in the wake of Citizens United.

Associations and advocacy groups can be expected to ramp up their political activities, election lawyers say. At the same time, the ruling -- by equating corporate and individual First Amendment rights -- could trigger sweeping changes in IRS law as it applies to political activity, some tax experts say. All this could thrust 501(c)3 charities, which are now barred from engaging in partisan political activities, into an uncomfortable spot.

You can read Eliza's full column here.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The yearlong legislative fight over health care is drawing to a frenzied close as a multimillion-dollar wave of advertising that rivals the ferocity of a presidential campaign takes aim at about 40 House Democrats whose votes will help determine the fate of President Obama's top domestic priority," the New York Times reports.

• "A coalition of business groups is hoping geeks rule the school in the next decade. To help make that happen, the new group launched a lobbying campaign late last week to press lawmakers for more federal dough for math and science education programs," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• "The senior attorney at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the Supreme Court's loosening of campaign finance restrictions will have little effect on the group's politicking," The Hill reports. "Steven Law, chief legal officer and general counsel for the Chamber, said the biggest beneficiary of the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision would be the labor movement."

• "Spending records indicate the House's two-tier ethics process spent a combined $3.76 million in 2009, with both investigative bodies reporting spending less than their authorized budgets even as the number of inquiries appears to have significantly increased over the previous Congress," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

Retailer JCPenney will not renew its membership in the National Retail Federation.

In a March 10 letter to NRF Chairman Terry Lundgren, JCPenny CEO Myron Ullman said his company will leave the trade group and focus its resources on the Retail Leaders Association (RILA).

"Given the gravity of the issues currently facing large employers -- and specifically large retail emplyers -- we have made a decision to focus all of our industry advocacy through RILA. Therefore, I am resigning as a director of NRF and JCPenney will not be renewing its NRF membership as of April 1," wrote Ullman.

The two retail associations were poised to merge last summer, but ultimately RILA decided not to consummate the deal.

This week's advocacy and lobbying stories in National Journal: (subscription)

"K Street Paradox:" In this week's special report on lobbying: President Obama's fight against special interests boomerangs as lobbying firms just get richer.

"Q & A With Obama's Ethics Gate Keeper:" Norman Eisen, special counsel for ethics and government reform, answers the president's critics.

"Top Lobbying Firms and Spenders:" A list of top lobbying firms and top spending organizations in 2009.

"Lobbyists Go Full Tilt In Health Fight:" The gloves are off as the forces of pro and con clash over the reform bill in Congress.

"On The Move:" Lisa Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for Legal Reform, has been promoted to executive vice president of the chamber; The Podesta Group has added three strategists: Gwen Mellor, Jennifer Bowman, and Melissa Merz; Fresh from a stint in Vice President Biden's office, Moe Vela has signed on as a partner with law firm Holland & Knight.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The American Future Fund, a conservative advocacy group, has placed a new $250,000 television ad buy targeting Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) over Democrats' procedural maneuvering on the health care bill," Roll Call reports.

• "As lawmakers imposed another restriction Thursday on congressional earmarks, private companies and lobbyists defended their work in securing federal money for what they deemed worthy projects," the Washington Post reports.

(Credit: Richard A. Bloom)

Updated with U.S. Chamber comment at 12:09 p.m. on March 12.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it's fighting for small businesses, but not all small-business owners appreciate the effort.

After the chamber's launched its $4 million ad campaign against the health care bill Tuesday, the progressive Main Street Alliance pushed back, saying its members were being misrepresented and left without voice in the reform debate.

The Main Street Alliance, which represents about 10,000 small-business owners, is taking an aggressive stance against the chamber's ads and sent a handful of its members to protest an insurance industry convention this week. Illinois small-business owner Dan Sherry, who sits on the group's national board, said he was "at the front lines" of the protest because the alliance "wants Congress to listen to small-business owners, not the chamber." After the protests, Sherry met with a number of Illinois legislative aides to discuss his coalition's outlook.

"The U.S Chamber claims they talk for us when the truth is they're a fully owned subsidiary in the pockets of the insurance companies," Sherry said. "They represent strictly large businesses. To me it's an absolute tragedy that most Americans think that whatever the chamber says is the voice of small business when it's not."

That's not an accurate portrayal of the group's motives, says James Gelfand, the chamber's senior manager of health policy, who claims the reform stance "is 100 percent driven by the effects that it would have on premium payers, not on the people who would collect premiums."

While MSA supports the Senate health care bill because it "provides subsidies, helps small businesses provide for their employees and levels the playing field," Employers for a Healthy Economy, a group that supports the chamber's ad campaign, countered that the bill is "unaffordable" and will end up costing small businesses more in state penalties.

Continue reading Chamber Ads Divide Small Biz

House Capital Markets Subcommittee Chairman Paul Kanjorski, D-Penn., said at a hearing this morning that we may be on the way to a Constitutional Convention due to repeated Supreme Court decisions scaling back campaign finance law in the name of the First Amendment. Such an event, however, could actually wind up harming the Constitution by paring it down, he said.

In the meantime, "We need a legislative response to Citizens United to restore balance in our Democratic system," Kanjorski said, referring to a January campaign finance decision allowing corporations to make unlimited independent expenditures to support or oppose candidates in elections. He advocated for empowering shareholders to weigh in on political decisions and for boosting disclosure requirements.

The hearing examined the Shareholder Protection Act of 2010, introduced by Rep. Mike Capuano, D-Mass., among other corporate governance measures that would empower shareholders to vote on companies' political spending decisions. Such measures aim to slow the influx of corporate cash and provide a check on the corporate executives' new leeway to dip into company treasuries to make political ad-buys. "Shareholders should not expect that a company will invest in candidates that the shareholders themselves do not support," Kanjorski said.

The proposal came under fire by a witness who said shareholders can take their money elsewhere if they do not like corporations' spending decisions. "Shareholders can sell their shares," said J.W. Verret, an assistant professor at George Mason University School of Law. He added that protections already exist to prevent questionable practices, such as audit committees and anti-corruption laws.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Washington's biggest lobbying firm is on the verge of getting even bigger. Patton Boggs LLP, which rang up nearly $40 million in lobbying last year, is in negotiations to purchase the Breaux-Lott Leadership Group, according to sources familiar with the talks," the Washington Post reports.

• "Previously undisclosed e-mail messages turned over to the F.B.I. and Senate ethics investigators provide new evidence about" efforts by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., "to steer lobbying work to the embittered husband of his former mistress and could deepen his legal and political troubles," the New York Times reports.

• "Frustrated at seeing their legislative agenda stymied, unions are becoming increasingly active in competitive Democratic Senate primaries," The Hill reports. "Across the country, labor groups are using their organizational muscle early against candidates whom they see as having walked away from their agenda."

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius this morning faced off with Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, at the group's Washington meeting. Although the two were cordial to each other, the tone was very serious.

Sebelius claimed she wasn't there to "vilify or blame insurance companies for all of the nation's health care problems," but her criticisms of the industry were severe. She restated her request that insurers make transparent information about their premium increases and profits. And she hammered insurers for "spending tens of millions of dollars to help kill health reform." If the industry continued to oppose reform, she said, failure would mean more uninsured people and higher prices. "It's not too late to work on this issue together."

Ignagni claimed her group has always backed reform, but that everyone must be brought into the system to make insurance affordable. Costs are the issue, she said, noting that premium increases are a result of underlying cost issues throughout all sectors of the health care system, and not just due to carrier profits. And she called for an end to the "relentless attack on the men and women of our industry."

The current reform legislation, Ignagni said, "would make health care more expensive, not more affordable." She said the group would be working with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners today on a template to help insurers offer transparency to customers and would get back to Sebelius shortly with proposals to improve reform legislation.

Continue reading Sebelius Slams Insurers At Industry Meeting

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of other business interests launched a multimillion-dollar television ad campaign Tuesday attacking Democrats' latest health care reform plans," Roll Call reports.

• "In a reverse twist on the old protesters' tactic of getting arrested to make a point, union leaders and other backers of President Obama's healthcare plan issued 'citizen's arrest' warrants for health insurance executives Tuesday -- accusing them of exploiting consumers," the Los Angeles Times reports.

• "The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is ramping up an already attention-grabbing effort to get senators to publicly support pushing a public option through reconciliation," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

• "The debate over financial regulatory reform sparked an industry feud on Tuesday as credit unions and community banks lodged complaints that payday lenders and other nonbanks would be treated more favorably than them under a proposal the Senate Banking Committee is considering," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

They may not have caught up to congressional candidates yet when it comes to raking in the bucks, but statewide ballot measure campaigns saw another increase in contributions in 2008, most of them from businesses or other special interests, according to a new study by the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Overall, ballot measure committees (for and against) took in $813.7 million. (Congressional candidates raised $1.42 billion in 2007 and 2008. In the off-election year of 2007, ballot measures attracted $55.4 million.)

The top six givers in 2008 ballot measures contributed to influence gambling measures in California, Maryland and Ohio, lead by the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians which wrote checks totaling $41.3 million.

Overall, campaigns related to California propositions 94-97 which all dealt with Indian gaming, scooped up $171 million (eat your heart out Jack Abramoff). Not surprisingly, efforts in the Golden State, which has made a habit of ballot-box governing, drew $471.6 million in contributions related to ballot measures.

Companies affiliated with oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, who has been promoting energy independence nationally, spent $21.6 million to pass a bond measure in California that would have provided rebates for the purchase of vehicles that ran on alternative fuels. The measure failed.

Labor unions opened up their wallets to the tune of $88.6 million on a variety of measures. After California gambling, the biggest ballot measure draw was California's Proposition 8 which banned gay marriage in the state. Those campaigns, both for and against, attracted $105.8 milion.

For a look at whole report click here:

The contest to characterize the Consumer Financial Protection Agency off the Hill has been just as fierce as negotiations in committee.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told NationalJournal.com in an interview on Friday that the financial reforms bill he helped devise has been tarnished by a "great deal of misinformation," in particular by ads from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Since financial reform first gained momentum in the House last year, the U.S Chamber of Commerce has spent millions of dollars on print and television advertisements that characterize the CFPA, a proposed agency to protect consumers from predatory lenders, as a tourniquet on the flow of credit to families and small business.

In a recent spot, a couple tosses and turns in bed, worried about "mounting bills" that will be made worse by a "massive new federal agency that will create new layers of regulation and bureaucracy." And in a print advertisement from last fall, the chamber warned that such an agency would hurt small businesses that extend credit to customers. (President Obama singled out the ad at the time, calling its claims "completely false.")

The chamber declined a request for comment on the impact of the CFPA on retail merchants. But Frank insists that small businesses would not be targeted. "You are only covered if you are arranging loans," he said. "If someone sells you something in the store, you're not covered by [the CFPA], even if they say you can buy this on store credit."

According to Frank, "heavy lobbying from the financial institutions" threatens to derail financial reform negotiations in the upper chamber. Wall Street has mounted an aggressive campaign to discourage Republican lawmakers from cooperating with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

With its membership facing continued scrutiny from Congress and the news media, the Managed Funds Association has hired crisis-management expert Steve Hinkson as its new director of communications.  

Hinkson joined the the hedge fund industry trade group in early February from Dezenhall Resources, where, his bio says, he "counseled corporations, trade associations and high- profile individuals in need of crisis management, media defense and public affairs support."

Before that, Hinkson was director of political communication for Luntz Maslansky Strategic Research where he advised the Bush II White House, members of Congress and state party caucuses on messaging. Hinkson's hiring is the latest suggestion that the MFA wants more control over its image in the press. Earlier this year, the group barred the media from covering its late January confab in Key Biscayne, Fla., -- a reversal of its policy for the past 15 years.

Mary Moore Hamrick is making the switch back to the for-profit sector, signing on as head of government affairs for accounting giant Grant Thornton. Hamrick, who will be national managing principal of public policy, will represent the firm before Congress and with regulators--including the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, where she spent nearly six years, before leaving in early 2009.

Hamrick, whose Washington career includes a stint as Republican counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and nine years as top lobbyist for the New York Life Insurance Co., spent the last year at the non-profit Center for Audit Quality.

With the battle over health care reform legislation nearing the final stages, a powerful business coalition led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching a multi-million dollar television ad drive to kill the Democratic measures.  The ads will start on national cable tomorrow and are expected to focus on 20 to 25 key districts, say two sources familiar with the new ad blitz.

Employers for A Healthy Economy -- which includes the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Retail Federation--and another coalition that the chamber also underwrote, previously ran over $100 million in ads to kill or seriously weaken health care reform bills in the House and the Senate, both of which ultimately passed.

The new ads will run for 10 days and were developed by National Media, a firm co-founded by long-time Republican ad maven Alex Castellanos. One source described the ads as "the closing argument" by the chamber and its allies to kill the bill and try to convince Congress to "start over," a message that business and GOP leaders have been trying for months to hammer home to the public and members of Congress.

The White House and Democratic leaders are now focused on getting the House to adopt the less ambitious and less costly measure that the Senate passed. The chamber and several other business and conservative groups have targeted a few dozen Blue Dog Democrats who are deemed swing votes. The health care bill narrowly passed the House last fall by five votes and was opposed by a number of Blue Dogs who are now getting enormous pressure from lobbyist on both sides of the issue as well as the White house and political leaders in both parties.

In a related move, a grassroots coalition called Start Over that includes many of the same trade groups, has commissioned public opinion polls on the health care issue. The results expected later this week.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Financial services lobbyists are upping the pressure on Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), a key Republican on the panel, to limit the scope of a proposed consumer protection agency," Roll Call reports.

• Leaders of nearly a dozen grass-roots immigrant rights groups excoriated President Obama and congressional Democrats on Monday, accusing them of moving too slowly to legalize the status of undocumented immigrants and citing a record number of deportations in 2009," the Washington Post reports.

• "In a bid to secure a much-needed bipartisan victory, the Obama administration is trying to secure passage of protections for government whistleblowers. But some advocacy groups are complaining that the legislation does not go far enough to protect government employees in the national security field and, in fact, would roll back protections that FBI whistleblowers now have," Politico reports.

• "Insurance industry executives sat down with administration officials in the White House last week to justify their rising premium costs, attributing them to increasing medical costs," Politico reports. "But it's an answer" Obama "apparently wasn't buying."

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Industry stakeholders that have spent the past year working overtime to influence almost every aspect of the massive health care reform bill are now struggling to put their imprint on a final product that likely will be shaped by the arcane budget reconciliation process," Roll Call reports.

• "A trade association for foreign-owned U.S. subsidiaries has hired a former Democratic Party lawyer to lobby on campaign finance reform legislation working its way through Congress," The Hill reports.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has launched an internal review to figure out what the group's strategic plan should look like three to five years from now. The effort is being led by Jim Robinson, a chamber senior vice president and long time speech writer for CEO Tom Donohue, and by an outside consultant John Raidt, a one-time aide to Sen. John McCain R-Ariz.

The review will look at issues such as what the international and domestic economic and political scenes will look like several years from now.  Robinson and Raidt will be interviewing members of the chamber's executive committee as well as its a bevy of outside consultants.

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

"An End Run Around Earmarks: " The enduring culture of pork-barrel spending means that appropriations lobbying is still a lucrative business for K Street even as budget constraints and public scrutiny of earmarks have grown. But that could change if more of those seeking earmarks listen to Chris Pedigo. He is the founder and president of Citizen Lobbyist, a firm that shows clients how to lobby for earmarks themselves instead of relying on high-priced K Street practitioners.  

"Alternative Business Groups Proliferate:" For decades, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and other 800-pound-gorilla trade groups have been the dominant voices of business in Washington. Recently, a handful of upstart progressive business organizations, including Business Forward, have been trying to provide a counterbalance.

 "Inside Washington:" What Ever Happened To ... Tony Coelho? It's been nearly a decade since Coelho resigned as chairman of Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign and was hospitalized for exhaustion. But the peripatetic pol, 67, has hardly slowed down.

 "People:" Although Steven Duffield named his firm Endgame Strategies, it represents a new beginning. The former chief counsel and policy director to Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl of Arizona just launched his own one-man shop.; Jimmy Williams, a onetime aide to then-Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., is heading to Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal as a senior managing director; Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications has added three people to its federal and international government-relations team -- Graham Shalgian, Shawn Sullivan and Patrick Bench.

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "As negotiations continue in the Senate over the financial services regulatory overhaul, non-banking entities are pressing Congress to leave them out of the final package," Roll Call reports.

• "The Senate's top Democrat on military matters," Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., "is pressing the Department of Justice to investigate whether the company formerly known as Blackwater and Raytheon Co. made false or misleading statements when bidding for an Army contract in Afghanistan," The Hill reports.

Milking the Oscar craze to the max, Opensecrets.org has analyzed the donation records of the top actors in the nominated films this year.

"In all, 15 of this year's nominees within the top six Academy Awards categories -- best picture, best director, best lead actor, best lead actress, best supporting actor and best supporting actress -- donated money to federal candidates, parties and political action committees at some point during the past two decades.The cash totaled at more than $400,000, with 87 percent of this money going to identifiably Democratic candidates and political committees, and 2 percent going to Republican candidates and political committees."

You can see the full list here.

A new system of public financing for state candidates in Connecticut resulted in a decrease in large donors and an increase in individual contributors in 2008, according to a Campaign Finance Institute study out this week.

Under a state law that went into effect with the 2008 campaign cycle, candidates must collect a certain number of contributions between $5 and $100 in order to qualify for public funding. According to the preliminary findings, the law "stimulated" candidates seeking public funding to steer away from large donors and instead involve a larger number of small donors.

Understanding why more people get engaged in giving small contributions and giving in some contexts more than others was the initial intent of the research, according to CFI Executive Director Michael Malbin. "We also wondered if you could get enough people into that game to replace the large donors," Malbin said, by using tools such as rebates and tax credits on contributions and public finance.

Yet while the law in Connecticut enthused low-dollar contributors, the study found the candidates did not "reach out to a more representative set of donors and volunteers" than in 2006 because once they reached the qualifying threshold, addition money raised would roll over to the state.

Continue reading Study: CT. Public Finance Mixed

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "It doesn't matter who the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee is to K Street, because Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been the de facto power behind the panel for some time, according to lobbyists and congressional staffers," The Hill reports.

• "In an action it hopes would create jobs and increase economic fairness, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. announced on Wednesday that it will sponsor two 'Weeks of Action' against the nation's major banks," the New York Times reports.

• "Pressure is building on the White House and Congress to resolve an almost year-old dispute over Mexican truck access to U.S. highways, which has led to costly tariffs on U.S. exports to that country," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Interest groups are ramping up in advance of" next Wednesday's "anniversary of Congress' move to block the cross-border trucking program that was part of the North American Free Trade Agreement."

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "The nation's biggest bank lobbying groups are calling on senators to support the Federal Reserve's power to supervise small and large banks," The Hill reports.

• "Natural gas lobbyists, who felt their industry got the short shrift in climate legislation, are pushing new incentives to encourage utilities to switch from coal to natural gas," The Hill reports.

• "Business groups are reacting with frustration and caution to the somewhat chaotic and piecemeal way in which Congress is handling jobs legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "And the rancorous debate over the bills may be straining relations between some Republican Members and their traditional downtown allies."

• "Eleven CEOs from the largest property casualty insurance companies in the country have formed a new coalition to urge Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) to leave them out of the financial services overhaul legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association, a trade group representing some 200 retailers, manufacturers and suppliers, today launched the Retail Litigation Center in effort to strengthen the group's influence over cases of interest to the industry.

RILA President Sandy Kennedy says they've been working on the litigation center for a number of years and aspire to be "as good" as the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform in giving businesses an opportunity to weigh in on a variety of litigation.

"We've been involved with the Chamber and others in partnering on different amicus briefs we thought had an impact on the retail industry," Kennedy said. "So this gave us an opportunity to set up focused organization separate from RILA that would be lead by some of the important legal minds in retail that could direct our activities."

Continue reading Retailers Launch Legal Center

The Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in the case of Skilling v. US, the final in a trio of cases the Court reviewed this session challenging the honest services fraud statute.

The case, which involved former Enron president Jeff Skilling, directly addressed whether the honest services fraud statute is too legally hazy, as many critics have contended for years. Dark hat former lobbyist Jack Abramoff was also charged under the law.

"We think the statute is unconstitutionally vague," Skilling attorney Sri Srinivasan said. "We think it's particularly vague as it applies to anything beyond the narrow category of bribes and kickbacks."

In December, the Court heard two other cases involving honest services fraud, and legal experts have predicted that the Court will make a significant ruling on the statute. It could limit the statute's application or strike it down as completely unconstitutional -- based on the number of related cases the Court has heard this session. But the cases heard in December, Black v. U.S. and Weyhrauch v. U.S., did not directly address the vagueness factor, though the justices expressed their eagerness at that time to get at the overarching constitutional questions surrounding the law.

Continue reading SCOTUS Continues Fraud Review

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "House Republicans are renewing their drive to force embattled Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) to surrender his gavel in the wake of his ethics wrist slap last week," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "And with politically vulnerable Democrats starting to peel off and join the call, top party strategists are wondering how long the Harlem Democrat can maintain his perch atop the tax-writing panel."

• "Two politically vulnerable Democrats on Monday called for" Rangel "to step down, The Hill reports. "Reps. Betty Sutton (Ohio) and Harry Mitchell (Ariz.) have joined the ranks of Democrats calling for the New York Democrat to relinquish his gavel in the wake of the ethics committee finding that Rangel violated House rules."

• "David H. Lynch, the top lobbyist for Freddie Mac until the government takeover of the mortgage-financing giant in 2008, has joined the Independent Community Bankers of America as vice president for congressional relations," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.

• "Defense company BAE Systems PLC pleaded guilty to conspiracy on Monday and a judge imposed a $400 million fine, among the largest in the Justice Department's efforts to combat overseas corruption in international business," AP reports.

Damon Munchus, a former top official in the Treasury Department, is headed to Cypress Group, a financial services lobbying and consulting firm based in Washington.

Munchus served as Treasury's deputy assistant secretary for banking and finance in its office of legislative affairs. He is now tasked with opening Cypress's New York office, claiming the managing director spot.

Cypress Group boasts that grabbing Munchus means it "now employs former senior-level advisers to the past three secretaries of the Treasury as well as Secretary Geithner."

At Treasury, Munchus was a liaison between Treasury and Congress. Before that, he was a member of President Obama's FDIC Review Transition Team, a vice president at Jefferies and Co., a securities and investment banking group, and an analyst at Fannie Mae.

Powell Moore, who began his career as a Senate aide, has been tapped as a senior adviser in Venable's government affairs practice.

Moore arrives after working in Vienna as one of two Defense Department appointments in Europe, where he was a representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation, which focuses on conflict prevention.

Moore began his career as a staffer for the late Sen. Richard Russell, D-Ga. He later worked as an assistant Secretary of State during the Reagan administration, as an assistant Secretary of Defense during the George W. Bush administration, and as chief of staff to former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn. Moore has also racked up more than two decades of private sector experience, including time at McKenna Long & Aldridge.

Business and conservative groups that spent tens of millions on advertising last year attacking health care reform bills in both chambers of Congress are mobilizing quickly to derail the latest efforts by the White House and Democratic leaders to pass a final measure this spring.

Employers for a Healthy Economy, a business coalition led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is expected to launch millions of dollars worth of television and other media ads later this month and is now raising funds to do so. The business coalition spent an estimated $100 million last year on attack ads in conjunction with another chamber-led coalition.

"I have no doubt that the business community and others that are strongly opposed to the Senate and House versions of health care reform will go all out to stop the legislation," said Dirk Van Dongen, the president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors which is one of about a dozen large members of Employers for a Healthy Economy.

Sources close to the chamber say that the coming ad drive will focus heavily on the House where a group of two to three dozen Blue Dog Democrats are viewed as pivotal votes. They're a prime target because the House passed its tough health care reform bill last year by only five votes; and the Democratic strategy now is to get the House to adopt the less ambitious health care bill passed by the Senate last year.

Continue reading Brace For More Attack Ads

Here's something you don't see every day: A House lawmaker praising lobbyists instead of bashing them.

Rep. Steven King, R-Iowa, went to the floor of the House on Feb. 26 to protest the Democrats' handling of health care reform and said: "Lobbyists do a very effective and useful job on this Hill ...There's a credibility there in that arena that I think somebody needs to stand up for the lobby, and it is a matter of providing a lot of valuable information."

The move prompted applause from the American League of Lobbbyists and the Center for Competitive Politics . "Way to go" the two groups wrote on Twitter.

King has received $67,700 from the health industry over his 21-year congressional career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

See the video here:

President Obama may have hoped to appease critics by creating the new, bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, but his appointment of SEIU President Andy Stern to the panel has drawn rebuke from conservatives.

"Either the White House doesn't read the newspaper or simply doesn't care, but naming Andy Stern as a member of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility doesn't pass the laugh test," said Katie Packer, executive director of the anti-union Workforce Fairness Institute, in a statement.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., a member of the House Budget Committee, told The Hotline that the appointment "makes sense for Obama's election efforts and funding for his election, but not about truly getting our deficit under control. This is more of an electoral insurance policy than a deficit reduction plan."

Continue reading Not Happy With Stern

From this morning's Earlybird:

• "Natural gas lobbyists, who felt their industry got the short shrift in climate legislation, are pushing new incentives to encourage utilities to switch from coal to natural gas," The Hill reports. "In doing so, the sector is starting a lobbying fight with the coal industry, which has long and deep ties on Capitol Hill and is determined to hold onto its role as the dominant source of electricity in the United States."

• "The House ethics committee report issued Friday on the PMA Group lobbying firm's relationship to Members of Congress included this odd nugget: Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) was probed by Congressional investigators for nine months despite the fact that there was never a specific allegation that he had done anything wrong," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

• As union leaders "meet in Orlando, Florida, this week to plan their 2010 political campaign," they're "reeling from a succession of defeats they never expected after helping President Barack Obama and the Democrats win elections in 2008," Bloomberg News reports.

• "More than half of the panel members appointed to review the Pentagon's latest four-year strategy blueprint have financial ties to defense contractors with a stake in the planning process, a USA TODAY analysis shows," USA Today reports.