Obama Feigns Helplessness With Citizens United; In Reality, He Could Issue A Disclosure Executive Order Today
Last night, President Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina disappointed reform advocates by announcing that the president has decided to embrace the pro-Democratic Party super PAC, Priorities USA Action. The super PAC was founded by two former White House aides, Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney. The email from Messina, entitled “We Will Not Play By Two
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Bipartisan Bonanza: Both Dem And GOP Congressmen Spent Taxpayer Money On Beaches Near Their Homes
Today, the Washington Post — drawing on publicly available data as well as research by conservative author Peter Schweitzer — published an interactive map showing how 33 members of Congress “helped direct more than $300 million in earmarks to dozens of public projects for work in close proximity to commercial and residential real estate owned
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Backed by Big Food, Congressman Introduces Bill to Ban Govt. From Advertising Against Junk Foods
With widespread obesity, heart disease, lung cancer, and other ailments that can result from unhealthy diets continuing to be pressing problems in the United States, freshman Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) introduced a bill last week to shield food and beverage companies from any government advertising or publicity informing the public about the dangers of consuming
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Wall Street Consultants Complain: STOCK Act Transparency Proposal Will “Hurt Middle Class Americans”
In the Senate debate last week to amend the STOCK Act, a measure to prevent insider trading by lawmakers and some federal officials, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) successfully attached a smart proposal to the bill to require “political intelligence” firms to face disclosure requirements just as other lobbying firms are forced to disclose their clients. The
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Video: House GOP Huddle With Lobbyists To Plan 2012 Legislative Agenda, Rep. Walberg Refuses To Comment
On January 21st, the two year anniversary of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the entire House Republican caucus traveled to a hotel along the Baltimore waterfront for a retreat to plan their legislative agenda this year. The timing was coincidental, but interesting given the event’s hosts. The Congressional Institute, the ostensibly “educational” organization that
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Multimillionaire Lobbying Consultant Rick Berman Plays A Blue Collar Mechanic In Super Bowl Anti-Union Ad
This morning, Republic Report published a post revealing the backers of an anti-union ad that ran during the Super Bowl. We realized after publication that one of the actors playing a disgruntled union mechanic was actually Rick Berman, the consultant advising the anti-union lobbying campaign. A call to Berman and Company confirmed that Berman, who
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Anti-Occupy Wall Street Lobbyist Whines That Disclosure Laws Sound Like “Big Brother”
K Street has been reacting to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s amendment to the anti-insider trading STOCK Act passed in the Senate last week that would force D.C. influence peddlers who collect political intelligence and sell it to corporate clients to register under the lobbying disclosure law. National Journal’s Influence Alley reports that some lobbyists have
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Big Businesses Lobbying Group In Florida Has Received $300,000 In Taxpayer Subsidies
On Saturday, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Workforce Central Florida, a taxpayer-supported regional agency, provided $300,000 in grants to the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce since 2005. The latest grant, a $50,000 check from last year, has sparked outrage in the community, and criticism from both parties: State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, and
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