Housing prices and consumer confidence are up but several business groups that have been in town this week have been delivering a distinctly gloomy view of the economy. While the groups have blue-chip reputations in the business world, what's less apparent is their track record of political giving -- one that raises some questions about the forecasts they are presenting six weeks before Election Day.
First out of the blocks: the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business. The two groups teamed up at a Tuesday press conference to release a survey conducted by Public Opinion ...
Outside groups spending millions on state level elections, ballot initiatives
A six year battle between the state of Michigan and a local billionaire will come to a head this November, when voters decide whether to build the first public bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada. The ballot initiative will be voted on despite an agreement Michigan Gov. Richard Snyder, a Republican, reached with the Canadian government earlier this year which, Snyder says, can't be overturned by the referendum.
The billionaire, Manuel Maroun, has spent at least $2.19 million bankrolling a nonprofit organization, The People Should Decide, via his company DIBC Holdings. Over the past two years, the ...
Four years after Lehman Brothers collapse, financial industry still works its political will
Like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that touched off World War I, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the largest underwriter of bonds backed by subprime loans when it declared bankruptcy on Sept. 15, 2008, was an event whose repercussions extended far beyond its executives, investors and creditors. It touched off a financial crisis that's affected employment and earnings of the middle class.
The bankruptcy of the 158-year-old Lehman Brothers wasn't the first sign of trouble in the economy, or in the mortgage backed securities market--the bad investments that brought the firm down. More than a year earlier ...
Continue readingResolution of Chicago teacher strike would be relief for Obama
If striking Chicago teachers agree to the new contract framework hammered out with school board officials, perhaps no one will be happier than President Barack Obama, who calls the windy city home.
The increasingly polarized issue of public education threatened to split the Democratic party from one if its biggest bases of support, potentially hurting Obama's campaign. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has been a key Obama fundraiser and was Obama's former White House chief of staff, took a hard line against the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), receiving unsolicited praise for his stance from Republican Vice Presidential Candidate ...
Continue readingTexas-sized lobbyist bundler shuns Democrats’ super PACs
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Democratic super PACs and other outside political groups will be deprived of the party's most generous 2010 bankroller this election: Donor and bundler extraordinaire Ben Barnes is repudiating the outfits that don't provide full financial disclosure.
Since the 2008 election, the 74-year-old Texan has been the lobbyist who, along with his family, has given the most to Democrats -- more than $900,000 in donations to candidates and committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has been in Charlotte all week for the Democratic convention with a few aides and was spotted busting a ...
Continue readingCorporate funded nonprofit works at nexus of politics and entertainment
A corporate-funded nonprofit organization that operates out of a Washington, DC lobbying firm's offices and describes itself as working in the "nexus between the entertainment community and Washington" will be helping to host a "high-profile evening event" on Tuesday at the Democratic convention in Charlotte.
The Artists and Athletes Alliance is one of the cosponsors of an "In the Know VIP session" organized by The Hill, a newspaper that covers Congress. The session will feature political gossip columnist Judy Kurtz.
Artists and Athletes specializes in bringing athletes and entertainers together with politicians, government executives and the media. Founded in ...
Continue readingDid AT&T rent out sprawling eatery to influence lawmakers all week?
TAMPA -- When Tampa Bay Online reported a few weeks back that a lobbyist rented out a sprawling, upscale restaurant for the whole week of the Republican National Convention, they provided a host of details about the restaurant, the big tabs that the GOP high rollers would run up there from early breakfasts to late hour sessions, even the fact that the lobbyist had run the same kind of insiders dining club at the last three Republican conventions. But they were unable to find out the lobbyist's name, or who he worked for.
That mystery has yet to be solved ...
Continue readingHeadlining the RNC Convention: Fundraisers, Lobbyists and Shadowy Nonprofits
Once upon a time, the national Democratic and Republican political conventions were all about writing political platforms and nominating a presidential ticket. Once upon a time, convention planners relied heavily on public financing.
Now, with the main business already settled before the first gavel goes down, conventions are all about partying and access, and the bulk of the show is underwritten by corporate and other private money.
Next week's Republican gathering in Tampa features more than 150 events of various kinds – policy talks to late night bashes to campaign fundraisers -- according to event schedules and other invitations we have ...
House freshmen: Military industrial complex finds an ally in tea party idol Allen West
In the past, conservative firebrand Allen West has spearheaded efforts to cut wasteful military spending. But in the current budget battle, the Florida congressman is taking a strong stand against the so-called "sequestration" that would trigger automatic defense cuts.
Continue readingFrom cigars to coins to repealing health care reform: GOP frosh pursue mostly expected legislation
They rode into office on a wave of disgust with Washington insiders whom the public perceived as catering to special interests. Yet among the roughly two dozen bills that congressional freshmen have rallied to support is one that would benefit an icon of political cronyism.
The Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2011, introduced by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., would prevent the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from regulating the stogies smoked by the likes of disgraced former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and featured as a draw at many a political fundraiser. Fully three-quarters of the ...
Continue reading
59063
