lobbyists

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Geithner Cracks Down on Bailout Lobbyists

(Newser) - Timothy Geithner announced new rules cracking down on lobbyist influence over government bailout funds today, the Wall Street Journal reports. “American taxpayers deserve to know that their money is spent in the most effective way to stabilize the financial system,” the newly-minted Treasury secretary said. Contact with lobbyists...

Dem Lobbyists Leave K Street For Capitol
Dem Lobbyists Leave K Street For Capitol
ANALYSIS

Dem Lobbyists Leave K Street For Capitol

Obama's new rules have some seeking 'cleanse' on Hill first

(Newser) - President Obama’s tough anti-lobbying policies have Democrats headed for Capitol Hill, Politico reports. “Any Democrat worth their salt in this town wants to go work for the administration,” one lobbyist says. “But they’re just not talking to us.” Because Obama has strict policies against...

Bailout Bucks Go to Lobbyists
 Bailout Bucks Go to Lobbyists 

Bailout Bucks Go to Lobbyists

Bailed-out firms' spending on lobbying threatens to spark government backlash

(Newser) - A surprising number of firms that reaped billions in bailout funds from the government have been spending big to lobby the government for more, the New York Times reports. Citigroup, General Motors, and at least seven others have paid lobbyists millions since October. Some recipients actually increased the amount they...

Republicans Flee DC Ahead of Inauguration

Depressed and out of a job, it's time to go to Switzerland

(Newser) - The Obama inauguration is looking like a good time for Republicans to abandon DC, reports Politico. Depressed by the reminder of their defeat, and often newly unemployed, they're renting their houses to visiting Democrats and heading to Vegas or Europe. Says a former John McCain flack, “I will also...

Sans Stevens, Lobbyists Down a Sugar Daddy

Hard times fall on careers that hinged on access to Ted

(Newser) - Some Alaskans make a living off of oil piped from the Arctic. Others, for years, have made it off of federal money, piped from DC by former Sen. Ted Stevens. But with Uncle Ted's downfall, lobbyists who traded on their access to him face disaster, the New York Times reports....

Spouses Put Obama's Lobbying Rules to Test

President-elect struggles with ethical promises

(Newser) - The spouses of some of Barack Obama’s top appointees are lobbyists, the New York Times reports, presenting a test to strict ethics policies the Democrat pushed on the campaign trail. Health Secretary-designate Tom Daschle’s wife, Linda, is one of Washington’s top aviation lobbyists, and reported energy-czar pick...

Pols Flout Ethics Law on Trip to Carib Isle

Opulent weekend was funded by top corporations

(Newser) - Six US lawmakers, all members of the Congressional Black Caucus, have been caught rubbing shoulders with lobbyists on a trip that violates federal ethics laws, the New York Post reports. Joining them were three New York officials, including the state's governor—who avoided breaking the law by paying his own...

Atheists Offer 'Reason's Greetings' in Marketing Blitz

With fewer Americans claiming organized religion, nonbelievers step up campaign

(Newser) - It just isn’t the holiday season in America until nonbelievers and the devout begin sparring. This year, the godless are on the offensive, launching a marketing campaign to capitalize on the loosening grip of organized religion, telling neighbors, “We’re just like you,” the Wall Street Journal...

Dem Lobbyists Step Up, Prepare to Cash In

High premium on connection to the party in power

(Newser) - As Democrats adjust to controlling all three branches of government, Democratic lobbyists are flying high, reports the Washington Post. Barack Obama's stated resistance to influence-peddling notwithstanding, the trend that took off after control of Congress flipped 2 years ago is gaining speed. “In this climate, Democratic backgrounds are attractive...

Lobbyists Gobbling Up $700B Bailout
Lobbyists Gobbling Up $700B Bailout

Lobbyists Gobbling Up $700B Bailout

There's not much left as everyone fights for piece of shrinking pie

(Newser) - That $700 billion allocated in this fall's federal bailout sounded like a lot of money—but after a feeding frenzy led by Washington lobbyists, there's not much cash left over, reports the New York Times. Of the first tranche of $350 billion, only $60 billion remains uncommitted, and everyone from...

Obama Team Lays Out 'Strictest' Ethics Rules

Lobbyists, corporations banned from contributing to transition

(Newser) - Barack Obama's transition team has set out what one official called "the strictest, most far-reaching ethics rules of any transition in history,” the Hill reports. Lobbyists, corporations and PACs will be barred from donating funds to the transition operation, and lobbyists on the team won’t be allowed...

Biofuels' Green Cred in Dispute

Some say producing more of the greener fuel makes world less green overall

(Newser) - Biofuels, once hailed as a planet-saving alternative to gasoline, are now savaged as much the opposite, the Wall Street Journal reports, with critics charging the “ripple effect” on land use globally actually adds climate-harming carbon. The EPA has signaled plans to modify biofuel emissions measurements to reflect that, but...

Lobbyists Lavish Gifts on Lawmakers' Fave Charities

More than $13M donated to charities and nonprofits in name of House, Senate members

(Newser) - New congressional ethics rules are showing the public for the first time how much money lobbyists and companies are donating to charities and nonprofits to woo lawmakers, the New York Times reports. Companies and interest groups donated more than $13 million to such groups associated with more than 200 House...

Pro-Democracy Group Links Lobbyists, McCain
Pro-Democracy Group Links Lobbyists, McCain
investigation

Pro-Democracy Group Links Lobbyists, McCain

Nonprofit's workings clash with maverick image

(Newser) - The workings of a nonprofit democracy-promotion group John McCain has chaired for 15 years are “in many ways at odds with the political outsider image that has become a touchstone of the McCain campaign,” the New York Times reports. The International Republican Institute is a “something of...

McCain Needs Clinton-Style Rebranding
 McCain Needs
 Clinton-Style
 Rebranding 
OPINION

McCain Needs Clinton-Style Rebranding

Repub must become a fighter

(Newser) - John McCain desperately needs a dose of the strategy that kept Hillary Clinton competitive with Barack Obama during primary season, Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru write in the National Review. McCain should adopt a “conservative version of her occasional theme of a ‘fighter for you’”—the...

Hedge Funds Turn Bullish on Lobbying

As Congress ponders new taxes, regulations, industry opens wallet

(Newser) - The hedge-fund industry is stepping up its lobbying efforts, Politico reports, having belatedly realized how tempting a target it presents to cash-strapped politicians. Facing attacks from both sides of the aisle for their tax-free offshore accounts and lightly taxed incomes, hedge funds upped lobbying spending to $1.9 million last...

McCain Adviser Black Has Friends in Low Places
McCain Adviser Black Has Friends in Low Places
Opinion

McCain Adviser Black Has Friends in Low Places

Black's young-conservatives comrades have sleazy record

(Newser) - Senior campaign adviser Charlie Black drew fire recently when he suggested that a terror attack would help John McCain, but maybe we shouldn’t have been so surprised. Black’s past is littered with questionable associations, Thomas Frank writes in the Wall Street Journal, with comrades from a 1970s young-conservatives...

Democrats Balk at Obama's Donation Ban

Lower-level candidates need the cash; policy offends lobbyists

(Newser) - Barack Obama won't accept contributions from lobbyists and PACs, but the rest of his party is unlikely to follow suit, reports Politico. Democratic lobbyists and fundraisers are outraged that the donations they secure are automatically considered suspect, while Senate and House candidates simply need the cash to compete. "You...

Obama's Campaign Manager Denies Being a Lobbyist

Does David Axelrod qualify for the title?

(Newser) - As John McCain struggles to purge his campaign staff of lobbyists, Barack Obama’s campaign manager is denying he fits the bill, too. "I've never lobbied anybody in my life," says David Axelrod, who is the senior partner at a consulting firm that has done what Newsweek calls...

McCain Guru's Work for Foreign Dictators Draws Fire

Angola's Savimbi, Philippines' Marco haunt Charlie Black's clients list

(Newser) - A client list that included dictators in Angola, the Philippines, Kenya, and Somalia is now haunting a key strategist for John McCain, the Washington Post reports, with Democrats baying over Charlie Black’s lobbying record. Black was among the earliest users of the revolving door between lobbying and campaign consulting...

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