Posts Tagged ‘K Street’

January13

Money and Democracy Update: Activists gear up to overturn Citizens United, Colbert pledges not to coordinate

By: Angela Bradbery

Stunning Statistics of the Week:

  • $5.7 million: The amount that Elizabeth Warren has raised in the last three months of 2011 for her race to unseat U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.)
  • $3.2 million: Amount that Brown raised in the same period

Activists gearing up as second anniversary of Citizens United looms
As the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s damaging Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling looms, thousands of people across the country will stage demonstrations, rallies, protests and other actions to magnify the urgent need to overturn the decision and ensure democracy is for people – not corporations. It’s not too late to get involved.

Occupy Congress
Just ahead of #J21 actions to protest the Jan, 21, 2012 anniversary of Citizens United, thousands upon thousands of occupiers will be filing into DC, where the DC Occupy Camp just passed a resolution against corporate personhood! Find out more about their planned actions here. 

Disclosure order on horizon?
Could it really be? The Obama administration is considering issuing that long-awaited executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose political donations. Yes, the one that was imminent last summer. Public Citizen’s Craig Holman heard this at a recent White House meeting.

Continue Reading

Posted in: Campaign Finance, Money & Democracy Update, Uncategorized0 comments

January19

The Midmorning Refill: Freshmen lawmakers waste no time raising the big bucks on K Street

By: Dorry Samuels

Today’s Flickr photo:

Flickr photo by RambergMediaImages

If you read one thing today…

On your mark, get set — wait, they’ve already started?! Freshmen lawmakers have already held more than 40 fundraising events on K Street, Capitol Hill and around the District of Columbia since Election Day, Politico’s Kenneth Vogel reveals. From breakfasts to cocktails, not to mention a luxury skybox at FedEx Field to watch the Eagles and Redskins, new members of Congress have wasted no time getting down to business when it comes to boosting their campaign coffers.

Just how quickly did this money come rolling in?

In just the first three weeks after Election Day — traditionally a slow time in the fundraising world — PACs contributed more than $444,000 to dozens of the 96 incoming members of Congress, according to Federal Election Commission filings analyzed by POLITICO.

So why the rush?

Continue Reading

Posted in: Campaign Finance, Ethics, Midmorning Refill0 comments

January12

The Midmorning Refill: Business gets a seat at the table? Ha. How about all seats…

By: Dorry Samuels

Today’s Flickr photo:

Flickr photo by chad_k

If you read one thing today…

It keeps spinning and spinning and spinning. It’s a wonder people don’t get dizzy with the the revolving door between the government and Big Business spinning out of control.

More than 340 former members of Congress and 3,665 former congressional staffers have since taken up lobbying or related activities, reports the Center for Responsive Politics. Add to that former OMB chief Peter Orszag, who cashed out to become VP of Citigroup, and outgoing White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, who wants to move on to consult corporate clients.

But don’t worry. The revolving door spins the other way, too. Take, for example, Bill Daley, President Obama’s new chief of staff, who comes to the West Wing straight from JP Morgan. Add to the mix all of corporate K Street lobbyists making a new home in congressional offices.

Does Big Business get a seat at the table? It’s looking more and more like it’s getting all the seats at the table — “and more on back order,” says WaPo’s Dana Milbank.

Continue Reading

Posted in: Congress, Ethics, Financial Reform, Midmorning Refill, Open Government0 comments

December9

The Midmorning Refill: Did it matter who won the election? K Street lobbyists still on top

By: Joe Newman

Today’s Flickr photo

Thousands of demonstrators marched in Cancún to ask UN negotiators to achieve a fair deal against climate change. Flickr photo by Oxfam International.

If you read one thing today . . .

Got to love the piece from the WaPo’s Dan Eggen who points out that the political circle is once again complete — the upstart GOP candidates who ran “against” Washington are now filling their staffs with corporate lobbyists from K Street. Public Citizen’s Craig Holman told Eggen that the situation benefits the former corporate clients of the new congressional staffers.

“Lobbyists for the most part are hired guns that represent corporations and other special interests that pay for them,” Holman said. “Those lobbyists now have direct access to the political agenda of these lawmakers.”

Posted in: Congress, Ethics, Midmorning Refill0 comments

November4

The Midmorning Refill: The sun is shining in Boehner-land

By: Joe Newman

Today’s Flickr photo

Republican leaders Eric Cantor and John Boehner. Flickr photo by TalkMediaNews.

If you read one thing today  . . .

Roll Call’s Matthew Murray would like to introduce you to the men and women behind the man — the K Street crew that likes to refer to itself as “Boehner-land.” This is the group of lobbyists who are in tight with the presumptive Speaker of the House John Boehner. Most of the denziens of Boehner-land are former members of Boehner’s legislative staff.

A prodigious fundraiser, Boehner has long nurtured his relationships on K Street, where the Ohio Republican’s pro-business, small-government platform was a natural fit with large corporations and small-business groups alike . . .

Republican sources interviewed for this story also described his K Street inner circle as chummy, with conversations more about politics than policy and a healthy dash of good-natured ribbing.

“It’s loyalty. It’s friendship. It’s alumni,” a Republican source said. “He can count on us.”

Overheard:

Apparently, any chance we had at catching our breaths after these midterms elections was just wishful thinking. As the WashPo points out, there’s a whole lot of political jockeying taking place with everyone positioning themselves for 2012.

“Right now, you have empirical and anecdotal evidence that President Obama is vulnerable. What you’ve seen over the last two years is a dismantling of the coalition he used to get elected in 2008,” said GOP strategist Kevin Madden, who is an adviser to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a probable 2012 contender.

Posted in: Campaign Finance, Congress, Midmorning Refill0 comments

© Copyright . All Rights Reserved.