Sunlight Foundation

Former government officials hired to lobby as Congress looks to rewrite telecom law

As leaders in Congress announced a series of hearings this June to tackle huge telecommunications issues with a focus on the Internet, the top phone and cable organizations that control the majority of the access to the Internet have hired 276 former government officials to lobby both the Congress and the executive branch.

According to data obtained from lobbyist disclosure forms and the Center for Responsive Politics, seventy-two percent of the lobbyists hired by AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the US Telecom Association have previous government experience. These organizations combined to spend $20.6 million lobbying the federal government in the first quarter of 2010.

Eighteen of the 276 revolving door lobbyists are former members of Congress. These include the powerful former senators John Breaux and Trent Lott. The Breaux Lott Leadership Group reported spending $150,000 lobbying on behalf of AT&T in the first quarter of 2010.

Both Breaux and Lott served in the leadership of their respective parties while in the Senate with Lott serving as Majority Leader. Lott also served on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, the committee with jurisdiction over the telecommunications industry.

The eighteen former lawmakers include a heavy representation from the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, the House committee with telecommunications jurisdication. In 2010, the organizations hired former Energy & Commerce Committee members Jim Davis (AT&T), Jack Fields (Verizon), Ron Klink (Comcast), Chip Pickering (Comcast and National Cable and Television Association) and Al  Wynn (US Telecom Association).

The organizations are also hiring former lawmakers with previous clout in both the House and the Senate. Former Sen. Don Nickles, hired to lobby for Comcast, was the Republican Majority Whip from 1996 to 2001. Comcast also hired the former House Majority Whip William H. Gray.

Aside from Breaux and Lott, AT&T has hired two other lawmakers with strong resumes, former House Republican Conference Chair J.C. Watts and longtime California Democrat Vic Fazio.

The top telecom organizations are also hiring a number of lobbyists who previously worked on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation or the House Committee on Energy & Commerce. Fourteen lobbyists used to work on the House committee and thirteen previously worked at the Senate committee. In addition, the six organizations employ 26 former staffers of current members of the House committee and 22 former staffers of current members of the Senate committee.

These staffers include the former chief of staff, Lane Bailey, and deputy chief of staff, Patrick Robertson, to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation. Robertson lobbies for Comcast and Bailey lobbies for the National Cable and Television Association.

The former counsel to Sen. John Kerry, the number two Democrat on the committee, Barry LaSala, is registered to lobby for Verizon.

Comcast and Time Warner Cable lead the way in hiring former government officials as lobbyists. Ninety percent of lobbyists hired by Time Warner Cable previously worked in government. Two Time Warner lobbyists served as congressmen and two others served as staffers to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation.

In first quarter lobbyists disclosure filings for 2010, eighty-eight percent of all lobbyists hired by Comcast had previous experience in government. While this percentage is slightly lower than Time Warner's, Comcast hired more than twice as many lobbyists with former government experience as Time Warner did—82 to 38. This includes five former members of Congress and four Energy & Commerce Committee staffers. Comcast, as it seeks government approval of its purchase of NBC Universal, has also hired six former officials from the Department of Justice.

Broadband regulation has been a major issue over the past few years as many Democrats, including President Obama, have called for the institution of net neutrality rules to govern broadband transmission. Net neutrality regulations would prevent broadband service providers from blocking or slowing transmission to certain sites, services and users.

In April, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was rebuffed by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after trying to stop Comcast from slowing broadband access to users using the BitTorrent file-sharing service. The court ruled that the FCC did not have sufficient regulatory authority to require Comcast to provide equal access to all sites and services online.

In the wake of the court's decision, four committee and subcommittee chairmen announced a series of meetings with industry players to discuss a rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The meetings will focus on the changes in telecommunications brought on by the revolution in Internet technologies over the past fifteen years. Much of that time is expected to be spent on the regulation of broadband routes.

A group of 74 Democratic lawmakers recently sent a letter to FCC Commissioner Julius Genachowski asking that the FCC not institute net neutrality rules without specific instruction from Congress. The 74 Democrats were comprised of a mix of Blue Dog Democrats, New Dems and members of both the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC).

At least, six of the letter signatorees—Reps. Joe Baca, Allen Boyd, Corrine Brown, Baron Hill, Eddie Bernice Johnson and Ciro Rodriquez—have former staffers lobbying for the top telecom organizations.

You Spin Me Right Round

Congress doesn't spin records, they spin in revolving doors. And those doors are spinning faster than ever, according to a study from Public Citizen. The Politico reports on the study, which shows that between 1998 and 2004 a whopping 43 percent of retired lawmakers became lobbyists:

A study done in the post-Watergate era estimated that only 3 percent to 10 percent of retiring members of Congress became lobbyists.

But, from 1998 to 2004, 283 retired lawmakers became lobbyists — a whopping 43 percent of all retiring members, according to a study done by Public Citizen, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

In 2005, eight members joined lobbing firms, although only four ultimately registered to advocate on Capitol Hill. A year later, another nine members followed.

With another seat-cleansing November election apparently in the making, the lobbyist ranks are likely to swell again later this year.

While reforms passed in the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act were meant to stop the flow of lawmakers and staffers down the block to K Street, the cases of Al Wynn, Dennis Hastert, Trent Lott, and Richard Baker all show that the desire to cash in on connections on the Hill is not abating.

Unlike the video below, the revolving door in Washington doesn't appear to be ready to break anytime soon:

It's Not What's Illegal That's the Problem

Now this is sweet. Trent Lott, former U.S. senator and Senate Majority Leader and now lobbyist, is using his $1.3 million campaign war chest left over from when he retired from the Senate to make political donations to Members of Congress that vote and take other actions that directly impact the interests of his clients. As the report says, the practice is legal (amazingly so), and he's not the first retiring member to give former colleagues left over campaign funds. It all fits my view of the mix of money and politics: it's not what's illegal that's the real problem.

Lott retired from the Senate in December and then joined former Sen. John Breaux (D -La.) to launch The Breaux-Lott Leadership Group, a Washington lobbying operation. The Associated Press quotes Craig Holman at Public Citizen and a spokesperson from the Center for Responsive Politics as saying Lott's stockpile, $1.1 million at the end of March, is the largest they can remember, and is drawing scrutiny of the Mississippi Republican. The clients he has signed on to promote, the proposed Delta-Northwest airline merger and Northrop Grumman's $35 billion contract to build tanker jets for the Air Force, are drawing attention too.

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Trent Lott: I'm Not Under Investigation

Last week, the Wall Street Journal wrote an exclusive article (I blogged about it here) detailing that a federal investigation into Mississippi lawyer Richard "Dickie" Scruggs' bribery of local judges had expanded to include former Senator and revolving door operator Trent Lott. The Sun Herald reports today that Lott denies being under investigation and that he has simply been interviewed as a potential witness:

"I may be called as a witness," Lott said, "but I've been assured that I'm not under investigation, and rightly so because nothing was done to justify that."

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Lobbyist Trent Lott Under Federal Investigation

After the President signed his name to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, members of Congress had until January 1st to vacacte their seats if they wanted to trade the black suit and American flag lapel of Capitol Hill for the black suit and American flag lapel of K Street. The ethics reform bill extended the "cooling off" period for lawmakers-turned-lobbyists from one year to two years, which would leave retired members of Congress with 2 years to find something to do - write your memoirs or teach a class at the university that got so many earmarks they named a building after you - before they can make the big bucks on K Street. When Sen. Trent Lott announced his sudden retirement before the "cooling off" extension took effect it was clear that he wasn't looking to settle down at the Trent Lott Leadership Institute at Ole Miss. No, Lott was getting out early to work with his old bipartisan pal John Breaux on K Street.

There were, however, rumors that avoiding the "cooling off" extension was not the exact reason for Lott's early exit from his long congressional career. The Wall Street Journal puts those rumors to rest by publishing details of a federal investigation into Lott's possible role in a case involving the bribing of Mississippi judges by his half-brother Richard "Dickie" Scruggs:

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Lobbying Reform Claims Longtime Lawmaker

During debate on the recently enacted lobbying and ethics reforms (see S. 1 for details) one of the most contentious points was the imposition of a two-year lobbying ban on former lawmakers and staff. Many observers declared that this extension of the "cooling off" period would cause some lawmakers and staff to depart before the new law came into effect and now there is evidence that some politicians aren't willing to wait to cash out. Sen. Trent Lott, a long time member of Congress, announced his surprise retirement today declaring that he would resign by year's end. CNN reported:

A senior Republican source close to Lott said one reason for the decision is the new lobbying restrictions on former lawmakers.

A law kicks in on January 1 that forbids lawmakers from lobbying for two years after leaving office. Those who leave by the end of 2007 are covered by the previous law, which demands a wait of only one year.

Lott was a constant critic during the lobbying reform debate, particularly offended by the banning of most gifts, including meals, to lawmakers. He complained that members would be forced to eat at McDonald's if such a rule would be implemented. It's unfortunate that members of Congress need to leave public service to make big bucks in the influence game, but that seems to be the nature of things when you can make ten times as much money by spinning out the door to K Street.

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More Electronic Filing

Glenn Reynolds notes that both Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are holding up legislation that would make the Senate have to electronically file their campaign finance reports. This process would save the Federal Election Commission about $250,000 and countless hours of work per election cycle, not to mention the numerous other benefits to campaign finance watchers. Now here's the crazy thing: both Trent Lott and Mitch McConnell already use electronic software to fill out FEC forms. In fact, it is highly likely that they are among the 95% of Senators who use the FEC's own or recommended software.

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GOP In-Fighting Over Earmark Reforms:

The Associated Press is reporting that the House Republicans have not been able to come to an agreement on the earmark reform provisions in the lobbying and ethics "reform" bill (if you want to know why I use quotations marks go here). In one corner is Appropriations Chair Jerry Lewis (R-CA) who is peeved that the earmark reform only targets earmarks originating out of his committee. Lewis declared that a reform that "does not touch on the 'Bridge to Nowhere' is not really reform." In the other corner is Mike Pence (R-IN), the spokesman for the most conservative Republicans. He said to CongressDailyPM that Lewis' argument against limiting earmark reform to the Appropriations Committee alone "feels to many of us like an effort to defeat earmark reform." Caught in the middle is Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) who is "confident" the bill will be "on the floor tomorrow" despite Republicans having "some work to do on earmark reform".

In the Senate Tom Coburn (R-OK) is planning to offer amendments to the emergency spending bill directly targeting spending that he wants to cut, including the Gulf Coast railroad sought by Trent Lott, Thad Cochran, and Haley Barbour. (CongressDailyPM)

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Against Pork Before They Were For It:

Ed Fuelner writing in the Chicago Sun-Times reminds us that Senators Trent Lott (R-MS) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) were against pork before they were for it:

Back in 1993, Lott and Cochran helped defeat President Bill Clinton's ill-advised "stimulus" package, a $16.3 billion pork-barrel measure (ironically, almost the same amount that's been wastefully added to the current spending bill). "And where are we going to get the money?" Cochran asked Congress then. "We are going to increase the deficit, which requires the government to borrow more money and to pay more interest. That is not economically healthy, that is economically dangerous."
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