February 20, 2012

Pat Robertson: We Need To Put The Bankers Who Lied To Americans And Caused The Financial Crisis In Jail

 Today, televangelist and long time right-wing icon Pat Robertson addressed the banking crisis on his television show, The 700 Club. Referencing how Iceland dealt with its own economic crisis — it jailed many of the bankers who broke laws and deceived the nation’s people — Robertson praised the European nation and said that we need
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February 17, 2012

ABRAMOFF: Deploying the Grassroots Army to Battle Laws You Don’t Like

Capitol building

I believe President Obama’s proposed tax hikes — including the massive “bank tax” — are a prescription for economic calamity. But I do understand that the “tax the rich” frenzy finds resonance with many Americans. Throughout history, banks — and bankers, in particular — have been identified with the worst elements of societal greed. They
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February 17, 2012

Texas GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Calls for Tougher Lobbying Laws

Republic Report’s Zaid Jilani contributed reporting to this piece. At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), last week, Republic Report caught up with Glenn Addison, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Texas. We talked to him about the problem of the revolving door between Capitol Hill and lobby shops and how it impacts
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February 15, 2012

VIDEO: Bahraini Government Flack Dodges Question About Paying U.S. Lobbyists To Smear Protesters

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the start of the pro-democracy protest movement in the Kingdom of Bahrain. As demonstrators took to the streets to speak out against the government, police attacked protesters and detained a number of people, including American citizens Huwaida Arraf and Radhika Sainath. After media pressure forced their release, both Americans were
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February 14, 2012

Big Bank Lobby Threatens To ‘Employ The Grassroots’ If Bank Tax Gains Any Traction In Congress

President Obama unveiled his Fiscal Year 2013 budget proposal this week. While it is not expected to be passed into law, it is being used as a statement of Obama’s fiscal and political principles going into the election year. Included in Obama’s proposal this year is a special tax on financial firms with more than
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February 14, 2012

Casino Lobbyist Says Alabama State Senator Wanted $100,000 For His Vote

A major re-trial is underway in the state of Alabama, as federal prosecutors are probing bribes made to several Alabama legislators over their positions on electronic bingo casinos. Country Crossing lobbyist Jennifer Pouncy recently pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in 2010 and is now testifying against a number of state senators in an attempt to get
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February 8, 2012

Outback Steakhouse Is Pushing Florida To Lower Its Minimum Wage For Servers To $2.13

The Huffington Post’s Dave Jamieson reports on the case of a powerful lobby pushing to actually lower the minimum wage for a group of workers in Florida. The state senate’s tourism and commerce committee has written a bill, SPB 7210, that would allow restaurants to pay servers as low as $2.13 rather than the current
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February 7, 2012

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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