With a new face officially in the mix, eight Republican candidates will take the stage again next week to spar about the economy, jobs, budget deficit and more at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library in Simi Valley, Calif.
It will mark the first debate for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who joined the race in August just as former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty threw in the towel. Several of the latest polls now show Perry on the top of the pack, outshining Mitt Romney, who has led the group for several months.
Sunlight Live will cover the debate starting at ...
Continue readingSuper committee member Upton creates joint fundraising committee
Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., one of the members of the Joint Select Committee for Deficit Reduction, filed paperwork Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission to create a joint fundraising committee. Contributions collected by the committee will be split between Upton's campaign and leadership PAC.
The creation of a joint committee, the Upton Victory Committee, allows fundraising that benefits both Upton's political action committee, TRUST PAC (Team Republicans for Utilizing Sensible Tactics), which distributes thousands of dollars to Republican candidates, and his campaign, Upton for All of Us. FEC rules require that money given to the joint committee be ...
Continue readingDonors to super committee Senate Dems lobby for tax breaks, federal funding
Companies that earn billions from Pentagon contracts and lobby for billions more, universities that receive billions in research funding and financial firms that oppose new taxes and support old tax breaks for their industry figure in the top career donors to the three Senate Democrats on the super committee.
As we noted in our previous post on the three House Republicans on the super committee, the dozen members of the super committee--formally known as the Joint Select Committee on Debt Reduction--all have private interests backing them who are far more concerned with their own bottom lines than they are with ...
Continue readingShrinking of private practice may drive up health care costs: study
Over the last three years, more and more doctors have left private practice to work for hospitals. A new study has found that this trend might be contributing to the rising cost of health care, at least in the short term.
Hospital groups, which continue to be some of the biggest donors to members of Congress, wielded considerable influence during the debate over the Affordable Care Act, last year's health care reform law: during 2009 and 2010, hospital and nursing home groups spent over $216 million on lobbying, employing over 1,100 lobbyists in 2010 alone, according to the ...
Canadian government, oil interests keep close watch on oil pipeline verdict
Environmental protesters gathered Wednesday in front of the White House calling to stop the extension of a crude oil pipeline, from the midwest to the Gulf coast ahead of a State deparment environmental study due to come out today. And with pressure from the Obama administration to resolve the deadlock to either go ahead with the project or not by the end of the year, the Canadian government has stepped up their lobbying efforts.
Earlier Alberta Energy, a government entity, is expanding lobbying in the United States and has hired Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP for a maximum of $150 ...
Continue readingBig donors to super committee members have a stake in the outcome
Members of the Joint Committee on Debt Reduction--the better known as the super committee--bring a host of priorities, policy positions and potential political posturing to the table. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., labeled Standard & Poors' revision of the U.S. credit the "Tea Party downgrade," while Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, took to the floor of the House to argue against raising the debt ceiling. But beyond their public pronouncements are private interests--longtime supporters of each member of the super committee--who are far more concerned with their own bottom lines than they are with scoring political points.
Lobbying disclosures for large organizations ...
Continue readingFEC surrenders in Hybrid Super PAC case
The Federal Election Commission has settled a dispute with a political action committee that will allow it to both contribute to federal candidates like a traditional PAC and to take unlimited contributions from corporate, labor or individuals for use in making independent expenditures.
The consent degree ends a court case, Carey v. FEC, filed after the FEC blocked a 2010 plan by the National Defense PAC to set up a segregated bank account for making independent expendistures. National Defense PAC made modest contributions--just $1,490--to federal candidates that cycle, and had no donors who contributed more than $200. The ...
Continue readingVirginia quake shuts nuclear power plant
A 5.8 magnitude earthquate with an epicenter in Mineral, Va., some 84 miles from Washington, D.C., caused a nuclear power plant in Virginia to shut down, and caused "unusual event declarations" at nine other nuclear generating plants, CNN reports.
As we noted last March, when the meltdown at Japan's Fukushima reactor dominated the news, nuclear power plants in the United States live along fault lines. As we wrote then, "Using data from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Geological Survey, we generated the following map, which shows the location of the aforementioned reactors (there are ...
Continue readingA look back at Gaddafi’s lobbying as his regime falls
Libyan rebel forces now hold most of Tripoli. Gaddafi’s sons have been captured but the eccentric Libyan dictator remains elusive.
Gaddafi’s political craftsmanship carried him through 42 years. The reign of Gaddafi “Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution” was bolstered first by the fear of the international community, then its support, achieved by the Libyan dictator’s skillful pirouette from flouting international norms to making concessions to come back into the international fold. That he did so with the aid of Western lobbyists, intellectuals and former heads of state is less well known.
While the public recalls ...
Continue readingCompanies pay to honor Clyburn, other Super Committee members, at charity events
Lobbyists can not only attempt to influence members of the deficit-cutting super committee by donating to their campaign, but they also have another tool: giving to good causes that honor them.
Companies, advocacy groups and their lobbyists have spent at least $715,000 to honor and cover meetings costs for the 12 members of the super committee during the first half of the year, according to lobbying disclosures filed this month with the Senate Office of Public Records. In some cases, these payments were made in honor of many members of Congress—not only those on the Super Committee.
The ...
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