About: Lee Fang
Bio: Lee Fang is a reporter for The Intercept. He has a longstanding interest in how public policy is influenced by organized interest groups and money. He was the first to uncover and detail the role of the billionaire Koch brothers in financing the Tea Party movement. His interviews and research on the Koch brothers have been featured on HBO’s “The Newsroom,” the documentaries “Merchants of Doubt” and “Citizen Koch,” as well as in multiple media outlets. He was an investigative blogger for ThinkProgress (2009-2011) and then a fellow at the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute and contributing writer for The Nation. In 2012, he co-founded RepublicReport.org, a blog to cover political corruption that syndicates content with TheNation.com, Salon, National Memo, BillMoyers.com, TruthOut, and other media outlets. His work has been published by VICE, The Baffler, The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Progressive, NPR, In These Times, and The Huffington Post. His first book, “The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right,” published by The New Press, explores how the conservative right rebuilt the Republican Party and its political clout in the aftermath of President Obama’s 2008 election victory. He is based in San Francisco.
BlackRock Made $2.2 Billion Last Year, Then Lobbied And Won A Multimillion Tax Break From New York
The Times Union of Albany has a lobbying story about BlackRock, the investment management firm headquartered in New York. Despite earning a tidy $2.2 billion in profit last year, New York lawmakers enacted a change in the tax code that is saving the firm between $5-10 million in taxes. Lobbying records from by New York
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The Real Hilary Rosen Scandal: Does Her Firm Sell Access To The White House To Powerful Corporations?
Hilary Rosen, a Democratic lobbyist and pundit for CNN, found herself caught up in 24-hour news cycle controversy after she made some inflammatory comments about Ann Romney’s work as stay-at-home mom. Rosen has apologized for her off-the-cuff comments. But the entire story may set off a greater, more substantive inquiry about the nature of Rosen’s
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Phony Firewall Between Romney And His Super PAC Mocked By Former Employer, “The Colbert-Stewart Wall Is Higher & Stronger”
“Thanks to Citizens United, my money can talk for me!” Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert has probably done more to expose and explain America’s ridiculous post-Citizens United campaign finance laws than anyone else in the media. Last year, he erected his own Super PAC, called “Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow,” using it to shamelessly beg
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CISPA, aka SOPA 2.0, Pushed Forward By For-Profit Spying Lobby
A cyber security bill moving swiftly through Congress would give government intelligence agencies broad powers to work with private companies to share information about Internet users. While some critics are beginning to organize online against the legislation, defense contractors, many already working with the National Security Agency on related data-mining projects, are lobbying to press
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Lobbying Group For Big Business Boasts Of 100 Meetings A Year With Congress — How Much Access Do You Have?
Multinational corporations have many options for influencing legislation in their favor, one of which is the Business Roundtable, a trade association with over a $24 million dollar advocacy budget. The Roundtable helps member companies like J.P. Morgan, Wal-Mart, and WellPoint ensure that Washington is making policy that benefits their bottom line. The group is gearing
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Bowing To K Street, Obama Gives Up On Requiring Government Contractors To Disclose Campaign Contributions
President Obama could take action right now to help clean up our election system. Last month, we published a list of different steps Obama could take immediately, including issuing executive orders and using the S.E.C. to require publicly traded companies to disclose political spending for investors. But as The Hill’s Mike Lillis reports, the administration
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A Major Oil Speculator Is Bankrolling The Latest Karl Rove Attack Ad Accusing Obama Of Raising Prices At The Pump
The latest anti-Obama ad, which blames Obama for rising gas prices, is being financed in part by a hedge fund manager whose firm has engaged in the type of reckless oil speculation that is causing pain at the pump. Karl Rove’s attack ad network just launched the first major ad campaign of the campaign season
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GRAPH: Romney’s Unlimited Wall Street Money Pushed Santorum Out Of The Race
Today, Rick Santorum suspended his campaign for the presidency. As USA Today notes, the former senator dropped his bid only two weeks before the Pennsylvania primary, where polls indicated he would lose his home state to Mitt Romney. What happened? Simply put, Santorum could not withstand the wall of Wall Street money raised by Romney.
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