Timothy P. Carney

Dan Coats, lobbyist for fat cats, plots Senate return

Former Sen. Dan Coats wants to pass through the revolving door again, leaving his plush job at a K Street lobbying firm to challenge two-term Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., for the Senate seat Coats held for a decade before he cashed out....

Continued...

 

Government Motors adds another lobbyist

When bailed-out automaker General Motors went bankrupt, the company laid off most of its K Street lobbyists. When it came out of bankruptcy, although the majority owner was still the taxpayer, Government Motors lobbied back up, hiring top-shelf revolving-door veterans. This week, GM discloses that it has hired -- on your dime -- another lobbyist, Lee Godown at Public Strategies, Inc. Godown reports he will lobby on "issues relating to restructuring; funding for technology, science and energy initiatives; taxation relating to employee benefits, alternative minimum tax and alternative simplified credit; and border trade, competitiveness and market access." Godown was chief of staff to Rep....

Continued...

 

K Street Super Bowl: NFL hires new lobbyist

In the week heading into the Super Bowl, the NFL hired a powerful K Street firm to lobby on labor issues and "Antitrust issues related to a pending SupremeCourt case on licensing NFL trademarks" according to a lobbying registration filed Thursday. Capitol Hill Strategies is now the NFL's fifth lobbying firm, joining a small army that includes Patton Boggs, The Glover Park Group, and Covington and Burling. Last year, the NFL spent $14.3 million on lobbying....

Continued...

 

Tobacco regulations unfolding in Philip Morris' favor

As President Obama and a credulous media continue to portray the administration's economy-wide push for more regulation as a frontal attack on industry giants, the current wrangling over tobacco regulation shows how the opposite is true: Heightened government regulation tends to put big business in the driver's seat, at the expense of the little guys. When Obama last June signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, he declared, "Today, despite decades of lobbying and advertising by the tobacco industry, we've passed a law to help protect the next generation of Americans." Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., cheered that Washington "has finally said 'no' to Big Tobacco." Sen....

Continued...

 

Republican lobbyist Dan Coats challenging Sen. Evan Bayh in Indiana

If Republicans wanted to help Democrats set a populist tone for the 2010 elections, they could hardly have done better than running former Sen. Dan Coats for Senate in Indiana. As a lobbyist at the K Street firm King & Spalding, Coats has represented titans of finance and pharma. Coats helped the Medicines Company push a bill crafted only for the Medicines Company (MDCO) that would save the company a billion dollars by keeping generic versions of MDCO's heart drug off the market for years. Coats has done the bidding of financier Julian Robertson, pushing for climate change regulations to restrict U.S. energy use -- while Robertson is invested in nuclear energy and Chinese...

Continued...

 

Another Obama administration official cashes out to K Street

Obama has made a big deal about not hiring lobbyists, and so we've made a big deal about shooting down his overblown rhetoric on this score (for instance, here's our spreadsheet of more than 40 ex-lobbyists in the administration). But the real problem, when it comes to potential impropriety and undue influence, is when government officials cash out to industry or K Street -- there's the risk that they were serving their future employers in their government job, and there's the unfair access it gives their private employer and clients. Today, I learned of another Obama administration official to cash out to K Street: Grant Leslie of the Agriculture Department is now at Glover Park Group,...

Continued...

 

Tester's Banking Committee staffer cashes out to K Street

If Barack Obama signs a Wall Street "reform" this year, it will be one that Goldman Sachs and other leading financial institutions approve of. That's the way Washington works. One reason: many of the Wall Street lobbyists are former staffers for Democratic and Republican lawmakers -- and the current staffers want to join their pals on K Street or Wall Street. At Clusterstock today, John Carney* has an on the ground report from the revolving door -- a leaked "it was a pleasure working with you" email from Sen. Jon Tester's (D-Mont.) banking and tax staffer, Jason Rosenberg ("Senior Economic Policy Advisor" was his official title): Friends and Colleagues, As some of you may know, I will...

Continued...

 

Obama's lobbyists-in-waiting

Last night, we published a list of more than 40 ex-lobbyists now working in the Obama administration -- the most comprehensive such list ever compiled. There are more lobbyists Obama has chosen for administration posts, but who haven't yet been confirmed by the Senate, including one, Jeffrey Lane, nominated this week. Below are two that I know of. >> Isi Siddiqui, nominated as the top agricultural official at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, has had his nomination held up. He was a top lobbyist for CropLife America, a Beltway lobby for the pesticide/herbicide industry. >>Jeffrey Lane was nominated this week as an assistant secretary of Energy. At the lobbying...

Continued...

 

Obama makes a mockery of his own lobbyist ban

More than 40 former lobbyists work in senior positions in the Obama administration, including three Cabinet secretaries and the CIA director. Yet in his State of the Union address, Obama claimed, "We've excluded lobbyists from policymaking...

Continued...

 

Former lobbyists in senior Obama administration positions

Although Barack Obama promised lobbyists would not serve in his White House, and issued executive orders restricting former lobbyists, more than 40 ex-lobbyists now populate top jobs in the Obama administration, including three Cabinet secretaries, the Director of Central Intelligence, and many senior White House officials. Below is our working list of ex-lobbyists in the Obama...

Continued...

 

Barack Obama and the Audacity of Populism

Jesse Walker of Reason has an excellent op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal that (1) masterfully shreds Obama's populist pretensions, (2) gives a good, brief history of American populism, and (3) discusses the role of today's Tea Parties and Glenn Becks. Print it out and read it on your Metro ride home today, but here's my favorite paragraph: To cast this man as a populist, you needn't merely imagine an alternate America where a William Jennings Bryan, the explosive orator who ran unsuccessfully three times for the White House in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, has actually captured the presidency. You need to imagine a Bryan who went to Harvard and taught at an elite law...

Continued...

 

Why was health 'reform' so cheap for the drug makers to buy?

Ezra Klein, one of the top-ten bloggers/reporters on the health-care debate last year, makes an interesting point over at the Washington Post about the $648 million on lobbying that health-care companies spent last year: That's an absurdly low number given the sums involved. In 2018, for instance, the health-care bill is projected to spend about $175 billion. Here's how that compares to the money spent shaping the bill in 2009. It's about one-third of 1 percent of the bill's projected spending in 2018. And the bill will spend even more than $175 billion in 2019. The year after that, it will spend even more. The year after that? Even more. And so on into the future. Klein suggests a...

Continued...

 

The conservative problem with tax credits

Every year, it seems, Congress adds a handful of new tax credits. Most new tax credits are about modifying economic behavior: buy new doors, get a tax credit; take in hurricane victims, get a tax credit; build new windmills, get a tax credit. Some tax credits are more broad: the child tax credit, this year's "Making Work Pay" tax credit, the Earned-Income Tax Credit. Most of these credits are reduced for the upper-middle class and eliminated for the wealthy. Obama proposed a handful of new tax credits in his State of the Union address last week. For conservatives, there are arguments against tax credits: they make the tax burden more progressive, they distort the economy by picking...

Continued...

 

A promising lobbying regulation from Obama

President Obama has called for new regulations on lobbyists. To date, Obama's lobbying rules have ranged from nearly meaningless (his loophole-filled "ban" on lobbyists in policy-making jobs), to enlightening (some of the disclosure rules), to probably unconstitutional (bans on lobbyist contact with administration officials). My friend Robert Schlesinger at U.S. News called a lobbyist friend about Obama's proposals to limit lobbyist contributions to campaigns, and got this response: I would love it if they capped campaign donations from lobbyists b/c I'm tired of all the fundraising calls and really don't want to give my money to federal campaigns. But the most promising regulation...

Continued...

 

Special interests dominate Obama's State of the Union

President Obama, in his State of the Union address, again pledged to "end the outsized influence of lobbyists," but by dangling out new subsidies and targeted tax credits, the president showed once more why K Street will continue to grow in size and clout in the era of Change. Obama's speech was emblematic of his overall economic mind-set: Government should be the rudder that steers industry. For instance, he called for more funding to build high-speed rail. Why rail? Rail is only one way to travel or to ship things. A likely clue: lobbying. Lorenzo Simonelli, chief executive officer of GE Transportation, said in May, "We are ready to partner with the federal government and Amtrak...

Continued...

 

Obama's SOTU talk on special interests -- and his record

At the bottom of this post, I've pasted a State of the Union excerpt released by the White House, regarding lobbyists, special interests, and government ethics. Here, let me fact-check some of his claims, many of which could easily spur a Joe Wilson-type outburst from people more familiar with the facts: "To close that credibility gap we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly" Obama's call to "do our work openly" would represent a change of procedure in many ways. We didn't know about a July deal on health-care reform between White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and top drug lobbyist...

Continued...

 

Pre-emptive fact check on Obama's State of the Union

The speed of Internet publishing allows for real-time fact checking of political debates and speeches, but for tonight's State of the Union, let me take it one step further: A Pre-Emptive Fact Check on Obama. The following are the misleading statements about special interests that, based on other recent claims from him, I expect Obama to make during tonight's address, followed by facts that rebut them. We stopped the revolving door between government and corporate lobbying. Obama trotted this one out last Saturday, and it wasn't true then. The revolving door is still spinning. At least one political hire (he was also a regional bigwig on Obama's campaign) has left the Obama...

Continued...

 

Obama talk on lobbyists belies a more complex relationship

In his State of the Union speech, President Obama referred to last week's Supreme Court decision striking down restrictions on corporate political advertisements, saying, "I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests." The comment jibes with Obama's populist tone, but it clashes with his actual fundraising numbers. Obama, for instance, raised $14.8 million from Wall Street (the "Securities and Investment" industry as the Center for Responsive Politics defines it) -- more than any politician in history. Obama's $995,000 from employees and executives at investment bank giant Goldman Sachs is the most a politician has raised from a single...

Continued...

 

How Democrats (or the NY Times, at least) are like delusional Red Sox fans

The liberal reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling on political communications in Citizens United v FEC has been a target-rich environment for media critics and people who actually follow special-interest influence money. The New York Times unhinged editorial on the ruling may be may favorite moment of liberal hallucination on this issue. Here's the money quote: Now a similar conservative majority has distorted the political system to ensure that Republican candidates will be at an enormous advantage in future elections. The editorial offers zero evidence that Republicans would be benefitted by increased corporate spending. The assumption, Big Business = Republican = Bad, is so...

Continued...

 

Lobbying records shattered in 2009

President Obama says he's acted to curb the influence of lobbyists. I disagree with that claim, as I've written in today's column. Regardless of his intentions and the effectiveness of his executive orders and rules, this much, I think is evident: Obama's aggressive plans to expand the federal role in energy, health-care, finance, and more has been good news for lobbyists. It's simple economics: make government more important, and you make government affairs more important. Some evidence of an Obama lobbying boom are the records that were shattered in 2009 (fourth quarter lobbying reports just came in last week). Largest Quarterly Expenditure: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $71.9...

Continued...

 

The audacity of Barack Obama's populist posturing

How will last week's Supreme Court decision liberating corporate and nonprofit political activity affect the 2010 and 2012 elections? Primarily by making it easier for President Obama to pose as a populist when he's out campaigning. In his weekly address last Saturday, Obama condemned the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC as a "huge victory [for] the special interests and their lobbyists" that would be "devastating to the public interest." But the facts indicate that Obama's statement was either hollow political rhetoric or downright deception. First, the apocalyptic talk is ungrounded. The decision, striking down Congress' restrictions on political communications by...

Continued...

 

Does Red Sox President Larry Lucchino regret his $2,000 to Martha Coakley

Reviewing the late donations to Martha Coakley's campaign -- the checks that came in as she collapsed -- I note the same drug company PACs and Washington lobbyists, but I also note that Larry Lucchino, president and part owner of the Red Sox, cut a $2,000 check to Coakley's campaign on January 13. She probably would have benefited more if he had given her a lesson in recent Sox history -- namely, that Curt Schilling is not a Yankees fan. Also, Sox chairman Tom Werner gave Coakley $2,000 on January 14. Her Schilling diss was on the 15th. Some other late Coakley donors: - Barbra Streisand, $1,000 - Eli Lilly PAC, $5.000 - Ambassador Susan Rice, $1,000 - Blue...

Continued...

 

Taxpayer-owned General Motors spent $1.48 million on lobbying in fourth quarter

General Motors, owned mostly by the U.S. taxpayer, spent $1.48 million on lobbying in last year's fourth quarter, a recent lobbying report shows. The failed automaker lobbied for highway funding, climate-change legislation, corporate tax credits, "R&D Funding for Cellulosic Ethanol and Renewable Fuels, Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, Advanced Batteries," and many other issues. The $1.48 million includes the company's in-house lobbying shop, as well as $155,000 spent on four different K Street firms. Here are the outside lobbying firms funded by your tax dollars Firm Amount Specific lobbying issues GrayLoeffler $30,000 "Issues related to automobile manufacturing and...

Continued...

 

GE, Exxon, wear lobbying crowns for 2009

General Electric spent more money than any other company on lobbying in last year's fourth quarter. GE spent $6.84 million in October, November, and December, or $114,000 every day Congress was in session. Second place for the quarter, and first place for the year, goes to Exxon Mobil. Here are the top companies in lobbying expenditures for 2009: Company Amount 1 Exxon Mobil $27,430,000 2 General Electric $26,609,000 3 Pfizer $21,930,000 4 Chevron $20,815,000 5 Blue Cross/Blue...

Continued...

 

How Goldman Sachs could profit from Obama's Wall Street regulations

The headlines today and yesterday must please President Obama and the DNC: AP: "Obama Steps up Campaign Against Wall Street" Forbes: "Obama's Showdown with Wall Street" The Hill: "Obama Announces Crackdown on Big Banks, Says he's Ready for a Fight" This, indeed, was the heart of Obama's rhetoric, and it will be the heart of the Democrats' message going into 2010. But, is it the reality? In my column today on "Goldman Sachs populists" I point out how thoroughly the big banks favor Democrats and Obama specifically. Who, really, stands to lose from new financial regulations, and who stands to benefit? Let's start with Goldman Sachs, the largest investment bank in the country, and the...

Continued...

 

NYTimes notes 'reform' would profit the insurers

Since February, I've been writing that health-care reform was a boondoggle that would benefit drugmakers and health insurance companies, while President Obama, the DNC, and much of the media have portrayed the battle as being the "reformers" against industry. Today, a New York Times news story weighs in, basically on my side.: Congress was potentially delivering as many as 30 million new customers to the insurance market — many of whom would be able to afford coverage because the government would subsidize the cost of premiums. “That’s real revenue, even for Wall Street,” he said.... the insurers say they know they cannot fix many of the problems in the health...

Continued...

 

Beware the Goldman Sachs populist

"If these folks want a fight," President Obama said Thursday, tossing a rhetorical barb at Wall Street, "it's a fight I'm ready to have." But what if they don't want a fight? To begin with the substance of his proposed regulations: Right now, all we have is a vague first draft. We know they will be fleshed out, rewritten, amended, tweaked, ping-ponged, and massaged. All along, we know Wall Street lobbyists will be at the table. The Wall Street "fat cats," as Obama calls them, probably aren't really looking for a fight as much as a seat at the table -- and the numbers suggest they've earned that seat. For his presidential campaign in which Wall Street regulation was a mantra, Obama's...

Continued...

 

Obama and the Miracle on K Street: Some 2009 numbers

Barack Obama came to office pledging to curb special-interest pleading and the power of lobbyists. I've spent the last year arguing that Obama is good for lobbyists because by reaching government's arm into every corner of the economy, he has made lobbying a necessity. Under Big Government, a good political connection is the most valuable asset a company can have. A Roll Call analysis confirms that well-connected lobbyists are in higher demand this year: 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...

Continued...

 

How the court's campaign finance ruling hurts Wall Street favorite Chuck Schumer

Politico provided my favorite reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling today that Congress shall, in fact, make no law abridging the freedom of speech, even when it's called "reform": Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) "This activist and far reaching decision is even worse than we had feared. This opens the floodgates and allows special interest money to overflow our elections and undermine our democracy. The bottom line is, the Supreme Court has just predetermined the winners of next November’s election. It won’t be the Republican or the Democrats and it won't be the American people; it will be Corporate America." This is entertaining -- and enlightening -- in the context of some...

Continued...

 

SEC whacks Warren Buffett-owned insurer for $97 million in AIG-related case

The nation's largest reinsurance company, General Re, was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly creating "sham" reinsurance agreements with AIG, the failed insurance giant, back in 2000, the SEC announced today. General Re, according to the SEC, agreed in a settlement to pay more than $97 million to AIG shareholders, the Post Office, and others as part of the settlement. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns General Re. Buffett was an economic advisor and fundraiser for Barack Obama. This might explain why he was so cranky on TV this morning....

Continued...