Transparency is a conservative value — at least it used to be. In the past, conservative Republicans voted time and again for greater public oversight in the public process. But in recent years, because of pressure from corporate lobbyists, reformers in the GOP have transformed into supporters of dark money slush funds. For instance, when
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John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police associations in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this
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This post is the second in a series. Yesterday, Republic Report’s Suzanne Merkelson reported on how members of Congress travel to Israel largely on AIPAC’s dime, thus viewing the Israel-Palestine conflict from a one-sided perspective. Few members have visited the area on behalf of J Street, a pro-two state solution organization that brings politicians in
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Last month, a cache of internal fundraising documents revealed that the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based think tank, operated essentially as a pay-to-play front for polluters. The Heartland Institute has played a major role over the years in shaping the debate over climate change, aggressively arguing that greenhouse gases do no contribute to the warming of
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**Republic Report’s Zaid Jilani has organized a protest on March 13th outside of the Koch Industries lobbying office in Washington, D.C. to oppose the hostile takeover of the Cato Institute. See this Facebook page for details.** The petrochemical billionaires David and Charles Koch are attempting a hostile takeover of the Cato Institute, one of the
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Earlier this week, an oil and gas company lobbying group began airing radio ads featuring a recorded message from Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO). During the ad, Hickenlooper says that there has never been a recorded incident of groundwater contamination associated with fracking or drilling in his state. This record and the state’s existing fracking regulations,
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Every week, Republic Report calls attention to the “Sell Out Of The Week,” a feature that highlights politicians and public officials who have sold out their values and become corrupted. Our first week was President Obama for his super PAC reversal, followed by Democratic operative Joe Trippi for working for the regime in Bahrain, and
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Last month, we broke the story about military industry money pouring into the campaign coffers of Patricia McKeon, the wife of Buck McKeon (R-CA), the powerful congressman who serves as chairman of the Armed Services Committee. The McKeons have largely ducked questions about this unusual arrangement. The congressman even fled from Republic Report’s Zaid Jilani
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