Posts tagged Washington
Holding Politicians Accountable
Everyone has a lobbyist in Washington, via Bloomberg News:
George Washington had France to thank for helping defeat the British at Yorktown, effectively ending the Revolutionary War. Jefferson was dispatched to Paris as ambassador for the nascent American democracy, and returned with an appreciation for fine wine.
Now, as the 238th anniversary of American independence approaches, public records show France is drawing a line in that alliance, stepping up its fight to keep champagne knock-offs from the U.S. and other nations from tainting the international market for bubbly.
…
The French champagne industry has hired Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP — one of Washington’s top law firms — to lobby on its behalf, according to a disclosure form filed with the Senate and made public July 1.
Politico: Wall Street Hired Washington
“The financial industry has long been a draw for former political operatives seeking a bigger paycheck and New York lifestyle. But with the big banks now under constant assault from reformers, regulators and some members of Congress, the flow of top talent from Washington to Wall Street has become a small flood.”
Such is the way of Washington, home of the scheme and the fraud, where the unbreakable chain between money and governance weighs heavy and drags us ever deeper into a sinkhole of inaction and mediocrity.
We’re about to enter hand-to-hand combat. It will be this new, shiny airplane versus that new, shiny destroyer.
Via The Hill, the revolving door swings again:
“Barry Jackson, a long-time senior adviser to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), is heading to K Street.
"Jackson has agreed to join Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a strategic adviser, delivering a coup to one of the top-earning lobby firms in Washington.
"The blockbuster hire brings a premier Republican name in Washington politics to the firm. In Jackson, Brownstein Hyatt will have one of the Speaker’s longest-serving and most trusted aides, giving the firm access and insight into the House GOP majority that few can match.”
“Congress is gridlocked and lawmakers spent much of the summer away from the Capitol, but that hasn’t stopped the nation’s most influential companies and interest groups from spending more on lobbying.
"The 50 largest lobbying spenders together spent $176.1 million from July through September — an increase of about $16 million from the same time last year, a POLITICO analysis of new lobbying disclosures indicates.”
(Politico)
CBS News: Behind the closed doors of Washington lobbyists.
Members of Congress are widely regarded as the nation’s shakers and movers. But behind them, unseen, are a powerful force of lobbyists shaping everything from the national dialogue to the actual laws Americans will have to follow. Sharyl Attkisson gives us a rare and exclusive peek behind the sometimes shadowy lobbyists’ curtain in Washington, D.C.: