270 Search Results Found For: "coal"

You’d think that if there’s anyone who should be for curtailing the influence of lobbyists and other ethics reforms, its the chair of the ethics committee in the legislature, right? In Georgia, you’d be wrong. A trans-partisan coalition of tea partiers and progressives have been pushing for a cap of $100 on gifts that lawmakers
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GOP lawmakers huddled with fossil fuel industry lobbyists on Monday to lay the “groundwork for the party’s official energy platform at August’s national convention.” The Hill quotes Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) as explaining, “Everyone just kind of threw in a pitch. There were a lot of different people up there.” By everyone in this “small group discussion,” he meant
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Last week, the oil and gas lobby group the American Petroleum Institute (API) held a red carpet film screening at the Warner Theatre in Washington. Such fancy film events are held regularly in DC, but few come with as sexy a title as this one: the “hydraulic fracturing event of the summer.” Attendees, presumably there for the
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Corruption comes in many forms. Sometimes special interests attempt to buy influence through disclosed campaign donations, but too often, influence is purchased through unorthodox giveaways to our politicians, from discounted mortgages, to free yachts, and promises of future jobs. And in some cases, special interests gain a foothold by exploiting a lawmaker’s childhood fantasies. Senator Pat Leahy
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We’ve been continually reporting on the tea party-progressive movement in Georgia to demand a lobbyist gift cap so that lobbyists can no longer give any gifts to lawmakers that cost more than $100 (Georgia is today one of three states where lobbyists can give unlimited gifts to legislators). At least 130 sitting state lawmakers or
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The New York Times recently ran a very important story showing that opponents of health reform, mostly industry-funded groups, overwhelmed the airwaves with negative advertising against the law. The reported numbers, $235 million against health reform versus $69 for it, only show part of the picture, since the Times decided to quantify only the money spent
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Late last month, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed banning soda sales larger than sixteen ounces in the city’s restaurants, movie theaters, and street carts. This proposed ban has been highly controversial, and deserves a healthy debate (no pun intended). But as with any other issue in modern American politics, big corporations and their
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The everyday corruption of our government by Big Money has real consequences for Americans, many of whom are struggling to feed their families. Take the farm bill that Congress spent time working on this week. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced an amendment to restore $4.5 billion in funding for the food stamp program, which assists
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