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"...White House Lawyer for “ethics and government regulation,” Norman Eisen, had this to say, "We think it is no accident that we have had one of the most scandal-free starts of any administration in modern history.” ...Eisen said there have been only three waivers in some 2000 posts filled...Mr. Eisen, check your math, sir. Lobbyists working for the Obama Administration include…Bill Lynn, William Corr, Mark Patterson, Jocelyn Frye, Cecilia Munoz, Naomi Walker and Patrick Gaspard... Assistant Secretary of State Richard Verma was a lobbyist (team Obama decided he didn’t need a waiver because…well, because they decided he didn’t need one),.....

Today, I offer evidence suggesting Ben Barnes, lobbyist for the plaintiff in a lawsuit that could cost San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron $27 billion, has been reading this blog. It takes a while to explain, but I think you’ll find it offers worthwhile and relevant information about the Chevron lawsuit now being tried in a thoroughly-corrupt Ecuadoran legal system.

The independence of American charities has steadily eroded in recent years as more philanthropic institutions have come to see their mission as one of partnership or collaboration with the government. That’s a nice way of saying, “seeking government dough.” Now, in the throes of a severe economic crisis and budget cutbacks at state and local levels, many charities are in a panic about reduced levels of funding. Anyone with eyes to see could have seen this coming.A recent report in The Chronicle of Philanthropy spoke of a California budget crisis where “charities there are braced for steep cuts to social...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the first time yesterday suggested she may be backing off her support of the public option.

Assemblyman Michael Duvall (R) Orange County is caught on a hot mic speaking about spanking and more; talks about relationship with woman 19 yrs younger than the married father; runs from reporter than avoids him.

Durbin on town hall chaos: ‘This is clearly being orchestrated’ Posted: August 9th, 2009 11:04 AM ET From CNN Political Producer Rebecca Sinderbrand WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Senate’s second-ranking Democrat slammed recent town hall protests Sunday as organized disruptions of the democratic process. “We have these screaming groups on either side. That isn't helpful. Let's be honest about this. Town meetings are not bean bag, I've had hundreds of them and sometimes folks get upset. And that's part of America, part of our process,” he told CNN’s John King on “State of the Union.” “But this is clearly being orchestrated...

The all-time champion in HMO money is Barack Obama. Democrats have pulled in twice as much from the insurance industry this cycle as have the Republicans. And the top recipient of HMO money this cycle is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Washington Post Publisher and Chief Executive Officer Katharine Weymouth said today she was cancelling plans for an exclusive "salon" at her home where, for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few": Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee began work on a bill encompassing President Barack Obama's top legislative priority. It marked the first time since President Bill Clinton's ill-starred attempt in the early 1990s that Congress was tackling such a broad overhaul. But the more important Senate Finance Committee announced it would delay action, as senators sought to retool their proposals to slash the cost by more than one-third, from an intial $1.6 trillion over 10 years, to less than $1 trillion. Of the five major panels working on health care, Finance has the best odds of coming up...

The U.S. Federal Reserve is on track to hire a veteran lobbyist to help manage its relations with Congress at a time of heightened attention to its role in national affairs, a source familiar with the situation said on Friday. The Fed plans to hire Linda Robertson, who previously worked for now-defunct energy company Enron, as well as the Clinton administration. She is currently head of government, community and public relations at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the hiring process was not complete. The Fed believes it will be...

Presidential candidate Obama said: “I am in this race to tell the lobbyist in Washington that there days of setting the agenda are over. They have not funded my campaign, and they will not work in my Whitehouse. That’s why they won’t drown out your voices anymore when I am president of the United States of America.” TDC asks, Americans, is Obama only telling you what you want to hear while listening to and taking marching orders from someone else?

The top 25 US originators of subprime mortgages – the risky assets that sparked the global financial crisis – spent almost $370m in Washington over the past decade on lobbying and campaign donations as they tried to ward off tighter regulation of their industry, an investigation has shown... Most of the top 25 originators, most of which are now bankrupt, were either owned or heavily financed by the nation’s largest banks, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan and Bank of America. Together, they originated $1,000bn in subprime mortgages in 2005-07 – almost three-quarters of the total... The banks, which...

Plenty of folks have noted that the Justice Department has been the landing place for a number of RIAA lawyers. Some have suggested not to get too worked up about this, given that the Obama administration's ethics rules supposedly forbade those lawyers from being involved in issues related to their former work. However, it looks like the limit on these guys is actually quite narrow and for a very short period of time. We'd already noted that the highest ranking former RIAA lawyer, Thomas Perrelli, in his Senate confirmation hearings, said he hoped to use his position to increase intellectual...

Goldman Sachs' new top lobbyist was recently the top staffer to Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., on the House Financial Services Committee chaired by Frank. Michael Paese, a registered lobbyist for the Securities Industries and Financial Markets Association since he left Frank's committee in September, will join Goldman as director of government affairs, a role held last year by former Tom Daschle intimate, Mark Patterson, now the chief of staff at the Treasury Department. This is not Paese's first swing through the Wall Street-Congress revolving door: he previously worked at JP Morgan and Mercantile Bankshares, and in between served as senior...

WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement officials who raided the lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti’s PMA Group appear to be examining the firm’s relationship with Representative Peter J. Visclosky, a low-profile lawmaker with big influence over federal spending, people familiar with the matter said this week. One person with knowledge of the investigation into the PMA Group said prosecutors had asked specific questions about Mr. Visclosky and his staff. Two people close to Mr. Visclosky, an Indiana Democrat, said he was taking steps to prepare for legal scrutiny, including retaining lawyers to review his compliance with campaign finance laws. All spoke on condition...

President Barack Obama may be uneasy with lobbyists, but lobbyists are easily finding business during the first months of his new presidency. The Sunlight Foundation reported that lobbying firms and special interest groups filed nearly 1,700 new registration forms in the first quarter of 2009. (That’s likely about 400 more new registrations than during the same period last year, though reporting isn’t yet complete.) Lobbyists reported to the Senate Office of Public Records, and took on clients from Microsoft to MillerCoors less than two years after Obama told crowds on the campaign trail that lobbyists “think they own this government,...

Earmarks went to Mass. clients WASHINGTON - US Representative Michael E. Capuano, Democrat of Somerville, received more than $60,000 in campaign contributions from donors associated with a high-powered lobbying firm at the center of an FBI investigation, and inserted earmarks for three of the firm's Massachusetts clients into recent defense spending bills. Representative Capuano's earmarks to the firm's clients totaled $4.4 million for defense-related projects. EARMARK TOTALS The firm, the PMA Group, is reportedly under federal scrutiny for using straw donors to funnel illegal campaign contributions to dozens of lawmakers. In an interview with the Globe, Capuano said that he...

Virtually every member of Congress- including Orange County’s six House members and California’s two senators – have shared in $40 million that an embattled Washington lobbying firm and its clients have contributed to lawmakers since 1998. And the biggest O.C. winner in this sweepstakes is Rep. Loretta Sanchez. The firm is the PMA Group, which is the latest Beltway lobbying firm to reportedly be under investigation by the FBI for violating campaign finance laws. The firm’s bread and butter are getting federal earmarks for its clients. According to a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign cash watchdog,...

President Obama has issued waivers allowing two appointees who were formally registered lobbyists to work for his administration. The waivers ensure the two appointees can work for the administration under his executive order on ethics, which was intended to reform the revolving door between K Street and the government. The waivers were provided for Jocelyn Frye, director of policy and projects in the Office of the First Lady, and Cecilia Munoz, director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office of the president. The two waivers were announced on the White House blog Tuesday evening, which said the exceptions were granted...

President's Nominee for Trade Rep, a Lobbyist in 2008, to Take Advantage of Loophole in Anti-Lobbyist Regs On first blush, Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas and President Obama's nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, could seem as though he has an enormous impediment standing in his way to the Cabinet: President Obama's high standards against lobbyists in his Cabinet. As recently as last year, Kirk was a lobbyist for investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., and President Obama has said no one can work in his administration on issues they lobbied on in the previous two years.