Free Republic

AS Sen. Max Baucus tries to squeeze a health-care bill out of the Senate Finance Committee, and as Sens. Barbara Boxer and John Kerry race to meet their latest deadline to introduce a bill to reduce carbon dioxide, some Democrats wonder whether their congressional leaders and the president who has deferred to them have sought only limited changes rather than more fundamental reform on both health insurance and carbon emissions. On health care, the House committees and Baucus and Christopher Dodd in the Senate health committee, decided to build a makeshift addition to the health-insurance system that grew out of...

This was supposed to be the cleanest congress and the most transparent administration in history. The Democrats promised that. By now you may have realized this is an empty promise. This whole cap and tax plan being pushed by the President and written by Congressman Waxman is being ghost written by lobbyists. That promise that then President-Elect Obama made at the beginning of his administration that their would be no lobbyist influence on his presidency was just a "Media Moment. But the use of lobbyists in preparing the cap and tax plan goes right at the heart of government "corruption"...

In the vernacular preferred by most men I know, Obamacare could be called the "Screw-You" plan. Just about every special interest in this Country will make out like bandits, while you and I will be...well yes, I hate to say it, but here goes: we taxpayers will be royally screwed. We pay; they play. The special interests that elected this president are conducting multi-million dollar ad campaigns to seal the deal on Obamacare. Every one of them has had a very cushy seat at the power table where the bill was written, not on C-SPAN as candidate Obama promised, but...

MONEY from pharmaceutical firms and health-care companies is evil and corrupting -- except when key members of Team Obama are pocketing it. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs derides grassroots opponents of socialized health care as industry-funded lackeys with questionable motives and conflicts of interest. But what about the corporate shills at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.? Two weeks ago, the White House embraced $150 million in drug-industry ads supporting ObamaCare. This week, Bloomberg News reported that White House senior adviser and chief campaign strategist David Axelrod's former public-relations firm, AKPD Message and Media, has raked in some $24 million in ad contracts...

During his radio broadcast today,President Barack Obama went after his favorite target today, he bashed those "special interests" that profit from the U.S. health-care system are spreading misinformation about plans to overhaul medical insurance practices. He said those special interests were “ridiculous rumors,” (thank God he didn't say stupid). “Every time we come close to passing health-insurance reform, the special interests with a stake in the status quo use their influence and political allies to scare and mislead the American people.Those who would stand in the way of reform will say almost anything to scare you about the cost of...

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs passed a resolution by voice vote last week apologizing "on behalf of American people" to all Indian tribes for the mistreatment and violence by American citizens. Senate Joint Resolution 14, sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), states that its purpose is “to acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the Federal Government regarding Indian Tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States.” In Section 1A, No. 4 of the resolution states that the apology is on behalf of U.S. citizens for harm they...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM • THE BLOG Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 5:35 pm Update on Recovery Act Lobbying Rules: New Limits on Special Interest Influence Another update from Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform, in the spirit of transparency as always: I am writing with an update on the President’s March 20, 2009 Memorandum on Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds. Section 3 of the Memorandum required all oral communications between federally registered lobbyists and government officials concerning Recovery Act policy to be disclosed on the...

Newspapers are fixated upon $160 million in bonuses given to American International Group (AIG) executives. And it’s nice to know where the millions are going (note: the bonuses could have been cancelled had the federal government let the company go bankrupt, as officials should have). But where are the trillions in TARP, TALC and Federal Reserve Bank bailout funds going? The man in charge of administering the bailouts is Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who served as a staff member of the New York City-based Council on Foreign Relations before being hired in 2003 to head the New York City branch...

The first of an occasional series exploring the varied ways in which California lobbyists and their employers press the levers of power. Special interests spent a record $553 million lobbying California state government in the past two years. For them, it was money well spent. Makers of chemical fire- retardants poured in more than $9 million to kill a ban on fire-proofing chemicals in furniture that consumer groups say cause cancer. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians used $4.39 million to muscle through a gambling deal to let the tribe add thousands of lucrative new slot machines to its casino....

Last year, while then-candidate Barack Obama was still going on and on about how he would have nothing - absolutely nothing - to do with special interest groups, the National Education Association Representative Assembly was adopting 12 new exciting resolutions. While then-candidate Barack Obama was assuring American voters that he wouldn't as much as spit on a special interest group, even if it were on fire, the NEA shocked the world by endorsing Barack Obama for President. Of course, in Obamacratic terms, the NEA isn't really a special interest group to begin with - the same way earmarks aren't really...

California labor unions, business associations and other interest groups spent more than $558 million – about $764,000 a day – to influence California government during the 2007-08 legislative session, according to state records analyzed by Capitol Weekly. Leading the way was the Service Employees International Union which spent $10.9 million over the two-year period. The Western States Petroleum Association, which represents oil and gas companies, spent $10.5 million over the same biennial span. Rounding out the list of top five spenders was the California Teachers Association ($7.9 million), the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum ($6.5 million), and the California Hospital...

From the Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman, Milton’s son. Special interest politics is a simple game. A hundred people sit in a circle, each with his pocket full of pennies. A politician walks around the outside of the circle, taking a penny from each person. No one minds; who cares about a penny? When he has gotten all the way around the circle, the politician throws fifty cents down in front of one person, who is overjoyed at the unexpected windfall. The process is repeated, ending with a different person. After a hundred rounds everyone is a hundred cents...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- Developers, labor unions, corporations, Indian tribes and other interest groups are using "an orgy of independent expenditures" to skirt the campaign contribution limits voters adopted more than seven years ago, the state's chief elections watchdog said Thursday. "The people of California have repeatedly voted to limit direct contributions to candidates for state office — most recently (through) Proposition 34 in November of 2000," said Ross Johnson, the chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission. "It was their desire and expectation that fewer special interest dollars find their way into campaigns. But thanks to an orgy of...

More money is flowing into California's legislative campaigns than ever, despite contribution limits that voters approved eight years ago in an attempt to quash the influence of well-heeled special interests in state elections, according to an analysis by The Chronicle. Big-ticket donations have moved from candidate-run funds, where individual contributions are capped at $3,600 per election, into independent campaigns run by powerful groups to elect or defeat candidates. Special interests also use loopholes to funnel money to legislators by donating to funds that fall outside the law's limits, including legal defense funds, ballot measure committees or lawmakers' favorite charities. As...

DES MOINES — Spurred by a recent Supreme Court decision, independent political groups are using their financial muscle and organizational clout as never before to influence the presidential race, pumping money and troops into early nominating states on behalf of their favored candidates. Iowans have been bombarded over the last few days with radio spots supporting John Edwards that were paid for by a group affiliated with locals of the Service Employees International Union, which just kicked in $800,000 — on top of $760,000 already spent. Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, rolled across Iowa on Monday in a...

·11250 Waples Mill Road ·   Fairfax, Virginia 22030    ·800-392-8683   Who`s Bankrolling The Enemy   The anti-hunting capital of the world is located at 2100 L St., NW in Washington, D.C. There, under the shadow of the Capitol Dome, is the national headquarters of The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), a multinational conglomerate with 10 regional offices in the U.S. Standing in front of this edifice filled with people working tirelessly to turn sportsmen into criminals, I began to wonder who funds all this madness. There can`t be that many anti-pet ownership, anti-milk, anti-hunting, left-of-reality, ferret farm-vandalizing, fur-coat-loathing, omnivore-bashing,...

From almost any angle, Republicans are facing a Democratic financial tsunami in 2008.   In the first six months of this year, Democratic federal candidates and the party's three national committees raised $381 million compared with the $291 million their counterparts collected. That amounts to a $90 million advantage and means that 57 percent of the total raised by all political candidates and committees has gone to the Democrats.  And that's the good news for Republicans.  When the cash on hand is added up for presidential, House and Senate candidates, as well as the party committees, the picture is even...

Gov. Rick Perry’s veto this week of an eminent domain bill designed to protect landowners left a lot of Texans scratching their heads, and you can lump us in with those feeling dumbfounded. Perry — who was among those making political hay when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that cities can seize homes under eminent domain for use by private developers and made the issue an emergency item in a special session that same year — had a chance to back his tough talk and posturing on property rights with action. But when push came to powerful shove...

The most diverse nation on earth needs no reminder of just how ethnically diverse it is. What bears reminding, is the need for all ethnically diverse comers to assimilate into American culture and society. Assimilation is our strength - from many, one. If your homeland was worth celebrating, it would still be your homeland. The reason you came to America was to join in the benefits of the uniquely American culture, where it matters not at all where you came from, but instead, only where you are going. In doing so, you left behind a culture and society much less...

Why our CEOs are warming to Kyoto. (Editor's note: We reintroduce today the Potomac Watch column from Washington. It will appear on Fridays and be written by Kimberley Strassel, a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board. She joined the Journal in 1994 and has worked as a reporter in Europe and as an editor and editorial writer in New York.) Washington this week officially welcomed the newest industry on the hunt for financial and regulatory favors. Big CarbonCap may have the same dollar-sign agenda as Big Oil or Big Pharma, but don't expect Nancy Pelosi to admit to...

WASHINGTON - Democrats taking control of Congress next month say they will try to ban for the remainder of fiscal 2007 the special-interest "pork" projects that got Republicans in so much trouble with voters in the November elections. "We will place a moratorium on all earmarks until a reformed process is put in place," the incoming Democratic chairmen of the Senate and House appropriations panels, Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record) of West Virginia and Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record) of Wisconsin, said late on Monday. The recent proliferation of billions of dollars worth of special-interest projects...

Gov. Schwarzenegger today insisted that he has kept a 2003 campaign promise not to be beholden to special interests, saying he is above the pay-to-play politics of his predecessor. In an interview with the Chronicle editorial board this morning, Schwarzenegger said he has never pledged to shun money from special interest groups, but rather promised that donors could not buy favors from his office with donations. "I never said I would not accept money, that special interests are no good and would not be part of the mix," he said. "I said we have to stop the money from going...

Hunkins gains in fundraising Challenger Ray Hunkins outraised Gov. Dave Freudenthal in August, but the governor retains the bigger war chest. By Kevin Wingert rep3@wyomingnews.com CHEYENNE - In the month of August, the Republican gubernatorial challenger raised $17,000 more than the Democrat incumbent in the same period. "We were very pleased from the support we got from individuals in Wyoming in the month of August," Republican Ray Hunkins said. "We're running a grassroots campaign, and the grassroots are responding." During this latest and next-to-last filing of campaign receipts prior to the Nov. 7 general election, Hunkins raised $77,872.67 to Gov....

Attorney General Tom Reilly is seeking a special grand jury to grill more than a dozen key witnesses in the Big Dig manslaughter probe, moving swiftly after documents revealed widespread knowledge of ceiling problems in the tunnel where Milena Del Valle was killed, a law enforcment source said. The grand jury, expected to be convened Oct. 3, will hear evidence for six months as investigators seek criminal indictments against officials involved in construction of the I-90 Seaport Connector Tunnel. Several key officials have already retained lawyers, the source said. “Nothing we have seen to date takes us off the path...

The most visible male homosexual lobbyist in the Massachusetts State House has been arrested for soliciting oral sex from college students at the University of Massachusetts, according to newspaper reports. William Conley works for the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus and has been the point man for coordinating legislative support for funding homosexual programs (including the new "Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth") in the public schools, as well as same-sex "marriage", repeal of the sodomy laws, and other homosexual-related legislation.Conley has been a member of the "Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth", and has now become a...

CHICAGO - If you're a cell phone-using, goose liver-eating, cigarette-smoking, fast food-loving person, Chicago might not be your kind of town. In this city that once winked at Prohibition, members of the City Council are trying to crack down on things they deem unhealthy, immoral or just plain annoying. A proposal that would restrict fast-food chains from cooking with artery-clogging trans fat oils got a public airing last week, and in the past year alone aldermen have banned smoking in nearly all public places and the use of cell phones while driving. In April, Chicago became the first U.S. city...

by Mark Finkelstein July 11, 2006 - 06:52 Q. When are special interest contributions not special interest contributions? A. When they're made to a Democratic candidate. And the Associated Press is reporting on the matter. No political race in my little upstate New York neck of the woods has attracted national attention in a long time - until this year. The retirement of liberal Republican Sherwood Boehlert meant an open seat in New York's 24th Congressional District. The Republicans have held the seat for many years, and continue to hold a registration edge. But in the current political climate, the...

D.C. Council members have long distributed to family and friends special license plates that have accrued more than $20,000 in city parking fines, which the plate owners likely will not have to pay. Since the early 1970s, council members and the mayor have bestowed the license plates -- which feature low numbers -- as political prizes. The 13 council members have exempted themselves from parking restrictions and fines since 2001. When lawmakers leave office, the plates they have distributed are supposed to be returned to the city to be reassigned to new officials. However, the tickets owed on those plates...

NEW YORK (March 23) - Invoking Biblical themes, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton joined immigration advocates Wednesday to vow and block legislation seeking to criminalize undocumented immigrants

The future of Social Security is indeed going to be a burden on future generations, but what about the national debt? Maybe it's time to start vetoing spending bills full of unnecessary earmarks. See the cartoon: http://cartoons.blog.com

Fate is indeed fickle. Who would have guessed that in this year's Oscar voting, Brokeback Mountain, a fine, risky movie about a gay love affair, would surge ahead of Capote, a movie about a gay journalist, only to be edged out for the Best Picture Oscar by a fine, risky movie about racism? Is this a sign of our times, or what? If conservatives needed any evidence that liberal impulses have taken over the Motion Picture Academy, this is it. Right? But, alas, in some folks' minds, every silver lining has its cloud. Instead of celebrating, many fans of Brokeback...

Let the campaigning begin! No, not the Oscars. That race is almost over. The next big campaign is Election 2006. And who in D.C. is enjoying the entertainment biz's largesse this election year? According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group, it's -- no surprise -- Hillary Clinton, who has taken in $213,645 so far from movie, TV and music industry sources. Second place is closely contested by two Teds: Ted Stevens, Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee ($100,500), and Ted Kennedy, of the Democratic family dynasty ($94,600). Clinton has been a Hollywood favorite almost from...

For several elections, Democrats have been hurt by the widespread perception that the party consists of a confederation of interest groups to which Democratic leadership is slavishly beholden. You know the knock: Democrats are forever meeting with special interests like the Irish-Jewish Home for the Short or Transvestite Taxidermists Against the Metric System and then caving to the groups' non-negotiable demands.

SACRAMENTO - California's capital is packed with more than 1,000 lobbyists, but when people want to make something happen in Sacramento, they often turn instead to Bob White, a genial Republican maestro who helped elect Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. White has an advantage lobbyists don't. While registered influence peddlers must reveal whom they work for, White calls himself a strategist who doesn't directly push for changes in state policy. That legal distinction allows White to conceal who his corporate clients are, even though he and members of his consulting firm, California Strategies, go to bat for them by exploiting a loophole...

SACRAMENTO — Election-weary California voters have yet to weigh in on November's special election ballot measures. But special interests have already launched dozens of initiative efforts aimed at next year's election. About two dozen ballot measure bids are listed with the secretary of state's office to be circulated for signatures to qualify for the June ballot or are awaiting approval to circulate. Initiative efforts are under way on topics ranging from restricting political contributions by corporations and creating a new state police force to patrol the Mexican border to expanding preschool. And even more initiatives are likely to follow. While...

It's too bad there's now a firewall in place on the computer system used by the Senate Judiciary Committee's Democratic staff. We'd love to take a peek at the internal memos reacting to Tuesday's Washington Post story headlined "Roberts Unlikely to Face Big Fight; Many Democrats See Battle as Futile." If the staff memos that were leaked on President Bush's appeals-court nominees in 2003 are any guide, Democrats once again are taking dictation from liberal interest groups-- this time on how to oppose Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. We expect Tuesday's e-chatter went along the lines of: "Ralph Neas called..."...

Why is it that Southern California residents continually get ripped off when it comes to the distribution of federal funds, but their congressmen the people charged with distributing those funds continually get re-elected? It's all about money. Southland lawmakers have some of the biggest campaign war chests in the country, thanks to countless special interests all too happy to purchase their favor. Of seven Golden State lawmakers going into the campaign season with more than $1 million as of June 30, six are from Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties. Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora, has the third-largest congressional...

SAN FRANCISCO, March 6 - Arnold Schwarzenegger scoffs at the suggestion that he could be bought by political donors, like the Wall Street financiers, corporate executives and entertainers who will pay thousands of dollars on Monday to have dinner with him at the "21" Club in Manhattan. "I don't need any money; I have plenty," Mr. Schwarzenegger, the millionaire governor of California, said in a recent interview when asked about his approach to fund-raising. "This is why it is easier for me to take this money. I don't even know who is giving me the money in the first place,...

ACTION ALERT!  With Thanks to the Sacramento County Republican Party Donna Schalansky, Chairman Karen Atteberry, Executive Director  SUPPORT FOR THE GOVERNOR!  The Governor needs our help! Governor Schwarzenegger's opponents around the country are mobilizing against him because foes of pension reform and legislative redistricting know if he prevails in California, other states will follow. The Democratic National Committee and others who oppose his agenda are already gearing up for what Schwarzenegger has called "a great battle." "Given how important California is both economically and politically to both parties and the nation, you can expect we will continue to monitor these developments very...

Stung by several of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget initiatives, an army of advocacy groups and unions have begun to mobilize for what they warn will be an outright assault on his plans. They are some of the very groups that the Republican governor quieted early in budget talks last year through a series of behind-the-scenes deals. But this year, educators and public employee unions are outraged by his proposals that target teachers, the poor and rank-and-file state workers. With memberships reaching into the hundreds of thousands, the unions specialize in organizing, fund raising and marshaling volunteers. They say they will...

In the early 20th Century, corrupt railroad barons controlled the Sacramento statehouse, and even wrote the laws. Voters got so sick of it they ushered in reforms, including the ballot initiative and recall process. Now another bunch is spending huge sums, maneuvering legislators into office, and secretly ghost-writing the laws —just like the railroad barons. And just like the railroad barons, this crowd is out entirely for itself. The taxpayers and California can go blow. If you guessed I'm talking about big labor unions — particularly unions that represent state workers — you must be a serious political junkie. Because...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after campaigning as a reformer who would cast special interests out of the Capitol, smashed every fund-raising record in his first year in office with a $26.6 million haul that doubled the amount raised by former Gov. Gray Davis in his first year. The vast majority of the money came from special interests deeply vested in the outcome of legislative and regulatory decisions in Sacramento, including financial companies, auto dealers and manufacturers and health care concerns. In some cases, the governor, who took office a year ago today, has taken positions that benefited his contributors....

LOS ANGELES - Top aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have skirted state regulations by accepting gifts such as sporting event tickets provided by companies, business groups and other special interests, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. California law allows officials to accept up to $340 in gifts in a year from any one special interest, but state officials have sidestepped the cap in several instances, according to a Times review of lobbying reports published on the newspaper's Web site. Five of Schwarznegger's senior aides and their families each accepted more than $340 in tickets to a Sacramento Kings basketball game...

Candidates decry outsider tentacles in senate race By MARSHA SHULER mshuler@theadvocate.com Capitol news bureau Two of the top contenders in the U.S. Senate race spent Friday arguing about which one of them was having strings pulled by national interests. Democrat U.S. Rep. Chris John continued to paint Republican U.S. Rep. David Vitter as the puppet of Republican leadership to the detriment of the state's interests. Meanwhile, Vitter said John is the puppet, not he. He noted that John's campaign is financed largely by out-of-state interests. The puppet spat came a day after John and Vitter took off the gloves during...

At this writing, there is reason to fear the U.S. Congress will capitulate before the election to the demands of a high-powered and politically connected "special interest" group. Interestingly, if Congress does so in this case, there is likely to be none of the populist demagoguery that usually accompanies legislators' complying with such parochial demands (for example, that heard recently when an array of election-eve tax breaks were given to "Chinese ceiling fan importers" and other corporate types). To the contrary, in this case, there will probably be public condemnation only if Congress does the right thing, namely by declining...

Lawyers & Lobbyists: $985,915 Lawyers/Law Firms $852,332 Mintz, Levin et al $65,050 Hale & Dorr $24,450 Peabody & Brown $19,350 Foley, Hoag & Eliot $17,500 Milberg, Weiss et al $13,750 Goodwin, Proctor & Hoar $9,100 Provost & Umphrey $8,300 Goulston & Stoors $8,250 Choate Hall & Stewart $8,150 Donahue & Donahue $8,000 Palmer & Dodge $7,650 Cooley, Manion et al $7,000 Ropes & Gray $6,600 Chimicles, Jacobsen & Tikellis $6,384 Sullivan & Liapakis $6,250 Sugarman & Sugarman $6,000 Sullivan & Worcester $5,950 Verner, Liipfert et al $5,750 Robins, Kaplan et al $5,050 Corboy, Demetrio & Clifford $5,000 Marks, Murase &...

A year to the day after voters swept him into office and upended California's power structure, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hinted Thursday that he would soon place broad political reform at the center of his agenda and work to "make sure that the politicians cannot be bought by special interests." The brief remarks by Schwarzenegger, which came at a San Jose campaign event to oppose November ballot initiatives on Indian gaming, suddenly revived the populist themes he used to unseat Gov. Gray Davis. But the comments also come as public interest groups and political opponents say Schwarzenegger embodies the very ills...

He ran as a bipartisan outsider, but critics see a captive of business. SACRAMENTO – Californians were about to get a three-day "cooling off" period to return a used car when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger weighed in. In the waning hours of this year's legislative session, Schwarzenegger's aides told Senate Leader John Burton that the governor would veto a so-called "Car Buyer's Bill of Rights" unless lawmakers dropped the portion letting buyers return a car in three days, Burton said. Auto dealers - among the governor's biggest backers - opposed the provision.n the waning hours of this year's legislative session, Schwarzenegger's...

DNC "WAR ROOM" SPOKESMAN JAY CARSON: "‘John Kerry has been withdrawing money from the special interest bank for his entire career and now – because it’s the popular thing to do – he wants us to believe that he’s going to close the account and go after the people that have funded his political career,’ said Jay Carson ..." (Jim VandeHei, “Kerry Leads In Lobby Money,” The Washington Post , 1/31/04)LEARN MORE ABOUT KERRY/EDWARDS' SHIFTING POSITIONS AT WWW.KERRYONIRAQ.COM

It's party time for trade associations, companies and interest groups at the GOP convention in New York, and each is trying to outdo the next in gimmicks to lure movers and shakers. The dozens of special-interest parties include a trapshooting tournament and "Wild West" bash sponsored by the American Gas Association, a Travis Tritt concert courtesy of General Motors, ice cream socials with Mastercard and Verizon and an NFL Hall of Fame breakfast. "It's the place to be seen and to see people," said James Albertine, a Washington lobbyist and immediate past president of the American League of Lobbyists attending...