Congress doesn’t spin records, they spin in revolving doors. And those doors are spinning faster than ever, according to a... View Article
Continue readingCurious Career of McCain Fundraiser
Last week, Talking Points Memo reported that one of John McCain's top fundraisers, Juan Carlos Benitez, has direct ties to Jack Abramoff, and now works with Cassidy & Associates, a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm. McCain's campaign listed Benitez as having raised between $50,000 to $100,000.
According to the lobbying forms filed with the Senate Office of Public Records Benitez is currently registered to lobby for the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization and lobbied on the Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2009 pushing for additional funding for Iraq. In 2008 he is also registered to ...
Continue readingLobbying Blowback
The food industry’s heavy lobbying over the past few years to reduce regulation and paperwork has turned into a “monkey’s... View Article
Continue readingK Street Stalls
While many major K Street firms are still increasing their profits, the total improvement of profits over last year was... View Article
Continue readingCheck the Bulletin Board for Lobbyist Info
GOOD Magazine has a knack for taking political stories or data and turning them into to clever images. In this... View Article
Continue readingLobbyists Funding Conventions
The Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) released figures today showing that the private donors to the two major party conventions have... View Article
Continue reading$1,000 to the Jerry Lewis Portrait Committee
LD-203 forms--on which lobbyists disclose their contributions to lawmakers' campaigns, to presidential libraries, and to nonprofits honoring members of Congress, is available online. The disclosure that prompted the headline of this post is here. Lots of other interesting stuff, but there are a little less than 3,917 records in the entire database, which makes me think that the data isn't yet complete. There are also all the usual issues with inaccurate federal data -- here's a a $200,000 contribution to Sen. Barbara Boxer's leadership PAC. That's a bit more than the $5,000 FEC limit ...
Continue readingParty Time at the Conventions
Today’s edition of The New York Times profiles Steven Farber, a very successful lobbyist, who helped secure the Democratic National... View Article
Continue readingPimping the Powers Behind the Thrones
In today’s edition, Roll Call profiles how members of Congress increasingly pimping their top aides as a way to raise... View Article
Continue readingHedging Their Bets
The Politico reports how the hedge fund industry, fearing an upcoming fight with Congress will put a dent into their... View Article
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