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.
VIDEO: Asked About a Lifetime Lobbying Ban for Members of Congress, Lawmakers Flee Republic Report
An interesting idea has emerged from lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum: why not ban members of Congress from becoming K Street lobbyists? In Canada, senior lawmakers and government officials face a five year lobbying ban. In America, the “cooling off” period is only one year for congressmen and two years for senators
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Exclusive: How The Koch Brothers Spent At Least $3.9 Million In Unreported Partisan Attack Efforts During The 2010 Election
Republic Report has obtained financial audits showing that the billionaire Koch brothers supported at least $3.9 million in unreported election-related activity in 2010. The documents, reported here for the first time, provide a window into an otherwise secret campaign infrastructure that will likely be reactivated this year. David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers of
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Second Congressman Explicitly Pledges Not To Become A Lobbyist
Earlier this week, Republic Report was the first to note that Tea Party Congressman Scott Rigell (R-VA) promised a crowdof constituents recently that he would not become a lobbyist after he retired, and that lawmakers should all take a pledge to impose a lifetime ban on influence peddling. “Lead by example,” Rigell exclaimed, to a
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VIDEO: Congressman Tim Holden Defends Vote To Deregulate Fracking
Congressman Tim Holden (D-PA) voted to deregulate the horizontal drilling industry, a process commonly known as “fracking,” by voting for the “Halliburton Loophole” placed by industry lobbyists. The law exempted the process from the Clean Water Act, allowing oil and natural gas companies to go about their business with little accountability. In many cases, local
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Senator Lieberman Honored By Ballroom Full Of Corporate Lobbyists Night Before Passing Watered Down Ethics Reform For Congress
Yesterday, Senator Joe Liberman’s (I-CT) STOCK Act passed the Senate. Though the legislation was originally designed to curtail insider trading in Congress, lawmakers stripped the bill down, removing provisions to add new powers for prosecutors, as well as a rule for Wall Street “political intelligence” firms to register as lobbyists. Strong improvements to the bill,
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VIDEO: Finance Industry Lobbyists Brag About Helping Corrupt Congressman Win Reelection, How Such Help Wins Access
It’s common knowledge that powerful industry groups gain a seat at the table when it comes to lawmaking — by using campaign contributions and other assistance to legislators running for office. It’s more rare, however, to see lobbyists brag about this process. Earlier this week, the lobbying group for the credit union industry — the
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VIDEO: Senator McCain Refers To Supreme Court As ‘Naive’ And ‘Ignorant’ For Unleashing Citizens United Decision
On Meet the Press last weekend, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) harshly rebuked Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that unleashed unlimited corporate spending in American elections. McCain was the original author of McCain-Feingold, the legislation partially voided by the decision which placed limits on how much candidates could raise and spend. Though he remained
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VIDEO: Republican Congressman Calls For Lifetime Ban On ‘Revolving Door’ Lobbying, Audience Cheers
Casual bribery goes on almost every day in the nation’s capital. One way special interests game the system is by heavily recruiting members of Congress to leave public service and instead serve powerful corporations as lobbyists. Congressman Scott Rigell (R-VA), a freshman lawmaker, talked about this issue at a town hall last week. Rigell received
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