Selling out pays. Members of Congress who retire to become lobbyists get huge paydays. We looked at just a dozen federal lawmakers who went through the revolving door and found that they get, on average, 1,452% raises. That’s why we sent a letter to the 36 retiring Members of Congress to publicly disclose any negotiations
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  The story of Trayvon Martin is, first and foremost, a tragedy for his family, and our hearts go out to them.  It’s also about things that need to change, including how powerful interests use their superior resources to distort the processes of government — in this case a well-funded private group, fueled by donations
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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the most powerful corporate front group you’ve never heard of. The organization, funded mostly by large corporations, writes model legislation and then sends these bills to state legislators across the country. It has successfully passed scores of laws on various issues. ALEC has come under scrutiny lately for
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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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As we reported earlier this month, Waffle House executive and Georgia state senator Don Balfour is pushing a bill, SB469, that would prohibit picketing outside private residences, a law that would’ve put the Founding Fathers themselves in jail. The law is being pushed with the help of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Corporate America,
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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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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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It’s been widely reported today that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the shadowy corporate front group that unites state lawmakers with corporations to pass state laws favorable to corporate interests, helped pass the law that might allow Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, to escape prosecution. Florida’s “Stand Your Ground,” the law that might help
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