Free Republic

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....