Corporate Cash Shifting toward Democrats
In a development that is supposedly good news for the Democratic Party, corporate interests have decided the party’s candidates may soon have enough proximity to power to justify a raise in rates. The Wall Street Journal reports a number of corporate groups have upped giving to Dems by something like 10 percent of their total largesse for this round of elections.
What’s more, high-powered lobbying firms — until recently exclusive GOP redoubts — are now signing up Democrats to help fight their clients’ battles:
The Federalist Group is a corporate lobbying shop founded by Republicans soon after the party took over Congress in 1994. In its first eight years, the firm only hired Republicans, including former aides to onetime House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, and President Bush.
Four lobbyists recently hired by the firm, beginning earlier this year, are Democrats, including a former House member from Louisiana and a health-care aide to liberal icon Edward Kennedy, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts.
(WSJ)
In other muck. . .
Appropriators Facing Sea Change?
What with the Duke Cunningham scandal and the recent spate of stories about Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), the earmark has gotten all sorts of bad press lately. Which is why it’s about time for a rebranding:
âWe donât call them that anymore,â noted Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), the former Appropriations chairman who, after serving the full six years allowed under GOP-imposed term limits, now runs the subcommittee on Defense. The new terminology, according to Young, is a âproject initiated by a Member.â
(Roll Call)
Pardon Talk for Libby Begins
Newsday reports that there are whispers that Patrick Fitzgerald will never get to take his case against Scooter Libby to trial:
By demanding sensitive, sometimes embarrassing materials, some say, Libby appears to be goading the White House into issuing a pardon. Libby’s spokeswoman did not respond to questions about a pardon.
One attorney familiar with the Plame case said Bush might find that it is in his interest to pardon Libby sooner rather than later.
A pardon before the trial could could cut off the disclosures and spare Vice President Dick Cheney from testifying as Fitzgerald’s witness about Libby, his former chief of staff.
But the timing of a pardon, the attorney suggested, likely would depend on the outcome of the midterm elections.
If Republicans retain control of Congress, Bush could act swiftly. But if Democrats win control of the House or Senate, Bush might wait, and use Libby’s trial as an excuse not to cooperate with any congressional investigations into the leak.”
McCain’s Abramoff Report, 100 Percent Lawmaker-Free, Due This Week
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee is expected to issue its report on Abramoff’s many misdeeds this week. But don’t expect McCain’s panel to name any lawmakers it suspects of wrongdoing. (Arizona Republic)
Rove Discloses $2,073 Hunting Rifle Gift
“Katharine Armstrong, the owner of the South Texas ranch where Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a hunting companion, chipped in on the gift of a gun for presidential aide Karl Rove last year. Specifically, a Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon II, a handsome 20-gauge hunting rifle worth $2,073 that she and 10 other friends gave the senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President Bush, according to financial disclosure forms released Friday for top White House aides….Rove’s disclosure revealed he is worth between $1.8 million and $6.9 million, mostly in stock and bond funds, a rental house in Ingram, Texas, and a Florida beach house.” (AP)
DeLay’s Name on Ballot Prompts Texas Showdown
“In the aftermath of Tom DeLay’s resignation from Congress, Republicans and Democrats are fighting in court over whether his name will remain on the ballot in November in his Texas district.” (WaPo)
How Hastert Benefited from Sale
The Chicago Tribune has a nice follow-up on House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-IL) sweet real estate deal. (Chi Trib)
Data Mining Still Needs a Clue to Be Effective
Details of the NSA’s activities remain unclear, but data mining experts say they are puzzled about how the information might be used. . . . [T]o discern suspicious call patterns from lists of dialed numbers, they will have to dig past the raw data into callers’ identities, and, in the vast majority of cases, will find they have simply tapped into networks of law-abiding people involved in daily routines. This approach, several experts said, raises privacy questions even as it wastes time.
(WashPost)
Inland Empire Pays Firm for D.C. Clout with Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
“Over the last few years, at least 19 Inland Empire cities, schools, hospitals and government institutions have paid fees totaling several million dollars to a single lobbying firm â in large part to help them get federal money from a congressman whose door was already open to them. Why local officials are hiring a single firm to help them deal with such an approachable congressman is not entirely clear.” (LAT)
Earmarker in Chief
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page weighs in on the trouble that Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is in. Their verdict: “the Lewis episode underscores the link between Member-steered earmarks and the opportunity for corruption.” (WSJ)
Contributor Who Flew Huckabee on Private Jet Spreads $ Around
Arkansas businessman Ted Suhl, who, as the Arkansas Times blog first reported, flies Gov. Mike Huckabee around on his private jet, gives generously to both parties. (Ark Times Blog)
Association with Lewis Unlikely to Thwart Representative Calvert’s Bid for House Appropriations Seat
“As Riverside Republican Ken Calvert seeks a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, he finds himself on the periphery of investigations into his benefactor Rep. Jerry Lewis, an influential lobbying firm, and disgraced former Rep. Randy Cunningham.” (Daily Bulletin)
Former Antiterror Officials Find Industry Pays Better
“Dozens of members of the Bush administration’s domestic security team, assembled after the 2001 terrorist attacks, are now collecting bigger paychecks in different roles: working on behalf of companies that sell domestic security products, many directly to the federal agencies the officials once helped run.” (NYT)
Lobby Firm Disbands Because of Investigation
“The Washington lobbying firm enmeshed in a federal investigation of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, is breaking up because of publicity surrounding the probe.” (WaPo)
Jefferson’s Committee Seat May Remain Vacant
“Rep. William Jeffersonâs (La.) expulsion from the Ways and Means Committee by force of a privileged resolution on Friday opened up a choice committee slot, and more than a few ambitious Democrats are already salivating over it. But those seeking the seat may be left hanging for some time. Sources say Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), who led the drive for Jeffersonâs removal, is in no rush to fill the seat. In fact, sources say, itâs entirely possible she will wait until the next Congress, when Democrats â if they win a majority â could find themselves with seven new Ways and Means seats. ” (Roll Call)
House, Senate Ethics Bills Not Tough Enough, Reform Advocates Say
” The House of Representatives and the Senate passed lobbying reform bills as promised. The Senate’s is slightly tougher than the House version, but neither has the brass knuckles that lawmakers said were needed back in January after Jack Abramoff, once a high-flying lobbyist with close ties to the Republican leadership, pleaded guilty to influence-peddling. A committee of House and Senate members will take up both bills to find a compromise, but reform advocates aren’t optimistic that tough new rules will emerge. ”
See the key provisions in the ethics bills here. (KR)
Details, Details
“No matter how often Washington politicians and regulators are criticized for being in bed with lobbyists, rarely are they photographed actually doing it. Consequently, the photo of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin standing on a rumpled bed in shirt sleeves in a room at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, as an XM Satellite Radio executive sits on the bed and plays cards with a lobbyist, seems all the more exceptional. The photo is featured in the June/July edition of Details magazine.” (Wash Wire)
The Abramoff-DeLay-Mariana Islands Connection
NPR reports on Jack Abramoff’s history with Tom DeLay and the Northern Mariana Islands. (NPR)
Project M, a technology involving magnetic levitation, was conceived as a way to keep submarine machinery quieter, was later marketed as a way to keep Navy SEALs safer in their boats and, in the end, was examined as a possible way to protect Marines from roadside bombs. All the applications have one thing in common: The Pentagon hasn’t wanted them.
(WashPost)
