What Am I Reading Today?

by

Real Times Investigations’ Luke Roziak uses the Foreign Lobbying Influence Tracker to expose an Israeli spy with “one of the richest contracts to lobby for a foreign client.” Anything that involves $6.5 million and bizarre land deals in Zimbabwe is worth reading.

The Washington Post profiled super-lobbyist Heather Podesta a couple of days ago. A big focus in the story is the jet-setting life a top lobbyist must lead to get to the big fundraising parties. Dancing with the Ways & Means Chair one night (“Doesn’t get any better than that … A kiss from the chairman.”) and tasting wines at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s vineyard a few days later. This is “the Summer of the Lobbyist.”

Tim O’Reilly asks, “What does Gov 2.0 mean to you?”

Even though we haven’t discussed the disclosure of detainee abuse photos or memos, I found this post by Marc Ambinder illuminating as to how a commitment to transparency can have unintended consequences.