In the Senate debate last week to amend the STOCK Act, a measure to prevent insider trading by lawmakers and some federal officials, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) successfully attached a smart proposal to the bill to require “political intelligence” firms to face disclosure requirements just as other lobbying firms are forced to disclose their clients. The
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On January 21st, the two year anniversary of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the entire House Republican caucus traveled to a hotel along the Baltimore waterfront for a retreat to plan their legislative agenda this year. The timing was coincidental, but interesting given the event’s hosts. The Congressional Institute, the ostensibly “educational” organization that
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This morning, Republic Report published a post revealing the backers of an anti-union ad that ran during the Super Bowl. We realized after publication that one of the actors playing a disgruntled union mechanic was actually Rick Berman, the consultant advising the anti-union lobbying campaign. A call to Berman and Company confirmed that Berman, who
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K Street has been reacting to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s amendment to the anti-insider trading STOCK Act passed in the Senate last week that would force D.C. influence peddlers who collect political intelligence and sell it to corporate clients to register under the lobbying disclosure law. National Journal’s Influence Alley reports that some lobbyists have
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On Saturday, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Workforce Central Florida, a taxpayer-supported regional agency, provided $300,000 in grants to the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce since 2005. The latest grant, a $50,000 check from last year, has sparked outrage in the community, and criticism from both parties: State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, and
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Prior to joining the Obama administration as the director of the White House National Economic Council, Larry Summers faced a barrage of criticism after it was exposed that he received hundreds of thousands of dollars from major banks for a series of speeches he gave in in 2008. Despite this conflict of interest, the administration expressed full confidence in
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During the Super Bowl yesterday, the Center for Union Facts ran an ad in support for Senator Orrin Hatch’s “Employee Rights Act,” a bill that would make it much harder for workers to join unions, and easier for union-busting campaigns to decertify currently organized work places. The Center for Union Facts is one of two
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We know from a front-page New York Times story that Mitt Romney thinks the world of for-profit colleges, especially one school whose executives have contributed money to the Romney campaign and Super PAC. But a key for-profit college trade group, APSCU, probably just ensured it will also enjoy warm relations in the event of a
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