Senator Mitch McConnell Agrees That “Corporations Are People, Too”
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Republican leader in the Senate, is one of the most dedicated opponents of campaign finance reform. Going beyond many of his colleagues on the right, McConnell opposes even the disclosure of many types of campaign spending and funding. McConnell spent much of his day Friday giving speeches on Fox News
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Unions Paid At Least $162,000 In 2011 To PR Firm That Helped Wal-Mart Spy On Workers
Last week, Republic Report was the first news outlet to report that Mercury Public Affairs, a powerful public relations and lobbying firm, sent a staffer posing as a “journalist” to spy on warehouse workers on behalf of its client Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart and Mercury acknowledged their relationship but claimed that the staffer, Stephanie Harnett, was working
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Democrat Congressman Mike Ross Announces Post-Retirement Lobby Job; Did It Affect His Legislative Record?
Last year, Arkansas Representative Mike Ross was the Democratic co-sponsor of an amendment to delay the US Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing the Cross-State Air Pollution rule, which would curb the amount of soot and other dangerous chemicals released by industry. Regulators estimate that the rule could prevent 520 premature deaths in Arkansas every year, particularly because the
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Are Corporations Senior Citizens? 60 Plus, Shadowy Front Group, Seems To Think So
If you live in Florida, Ohio, Montana, or Missouri, you’ve probably seen attack ads from the 60 Plus Association, a group that touts itself a “non-partisan seniors’ advocacy group” and the “conservative alternative to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).” Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) alone has faced $2.3 million in ads all financed by
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National Governors Association Takes Money From Education Profiteers, Sides With Predatory Schools
The for-profit college industry contains many schools that regularly scam students and taxpayers. Large for-profits like Kaplan, DeVry, Bridgepoint, and the University of Phoenix spend big lobbying the federal government and providing campaign contributions, and in return the government shovels about $32 billion a year into the for-profit college industry via student loans and grants. These schools
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John McCain: Is Romney’s Super PAC Funded With “Foreign Money”?
Maverick, indeed. Despite being a prominent Mitt Romney surrogate, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized one of the Republican presidential contender’s super PAC sugar daddies and questioned whether the millions of dollars Adelson is spending on the election is considered “foreign money.” Yesterday, he told PBS’s News Hour: “Much of Mr. Adelson’s casino profits that go
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When Lobbying Firms Are Caught Using Dirty Tricks And Lies, They Always Throw Their Own Employees Under The Bus
Yesterday, Republic Report’s Zaid Jilani was the first to report that Wal-Mart’s public relations and lobbying firm in Los Angeles, Mercury Public Affairs, was caught sending an employee to an event posing as a student reporter. The Mercury staffer, Stephanie Harnett, told warehouse workers protesting Wal-Mart’s labor practices that she was “Zoe Mitchell,” a USC student. She
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New Disclosures Show Health Insurance Companies Plowed Over $107 Million Into Electing Speaker Boehner’s Anti-Health Reform Congress
Yesterday, Chris Frates of National Journal broke the story that health insurance companies secretly funneled over $100 million into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for advertising. The Chamber, during the period in which the money was accepted, orchestrated one of the largest electioneering outside money efforts in American history to help weaken health reform and
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