Eight members of Congress signed on to a January letter asking the heads of the Treasury and State Departments to take measures to intervene on behalf of a U.S.-owned company in the middle of a controversial dispute with Peru. Until now, Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., was the only known signatory of the letter sent to Secretaries Tim Geithner and Hlllary Clinton.
The missive, along with another from Rep. Spencer Bachus, came after the Renco Group, owned by billionaire mining magnate Ira Rennert, began a lobbying campaign spending more than $300,000 since November 2010 to influence Washington ...
Continue readingIn response to Renco lobbying, activists mount their own campaign
A coalition of environmental advocates has launched a letter writing campaign directed at government officials who intervened in a dispute between Renco Group and its Doe Run Peru subsidiary and the government of Peru. The campaign came after the Sunlight Foundation reported that Renco had hired eight former government officials in less than three months to lobby on its behalf.
Two members of Congress, House Financial Services chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., and Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., wrote letters to executive branch officials summarizing Renco Group's position in the dispute with Lima. The letters request that the U.S ...
Continue readingCurrent and former officials intervene on company’s behalf in battle with Peru
Battling the government of Peru over an inactive metal smelter in one of the most polluted places on earth, billionaire Ira Rennert’s Renco Group hired eight former government officials from five lobbying firms in a span of 82 days since November.
Renco signed up a former member of Congress, a former trade official, former congressional staffers and a campaign manager for a high-ranking Senate Republican to plead its case in Washington. In a little less than two months of lobbying, two of those firms have reported receiving $225,000 in fees while attempting to enlist Congress and the Obama ...
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: Are congressional leaders invested in the crisis?
Members of Congress continue to debate the bailout package that may well affect the bottom line of every taxpayer in the country, as well as those of big banks, brokerages, and other financial firms. While they hear from numerous experts, including distressed Wall Street titans, on the dangers facing their firms, what sort of exposure do members themselves have if those firms fail?
In their most recent financial disclosure forms, the chairmen and ranking members of the key House and Senate committees considering the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector disclosed investments in firms with interests in the outcome ...
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