CONGRESSMEN WHO BECAME LOBBYISTS AND CEOS

According to a 2013 Techdirt.com article, Retiring Senator Now Become Lobbyists…, “In 1974, 3% of retiring members of Congress became lobbyists.  Now 50% of senators and 42% of congressmen do… Congress… the system is completely broken.”

According to RepublicReport.org 2012 article entitled Analysis: when a Congressman becomes a Lobbyist, he gets a 1,452% Raise on Average, “out of the 44 lawmakers who left office in 2010 for a lobbying-related career, only 1 is at an organization that discloses his salary.”

According to Lobbyists.info ‘Every 10 minutes a lobbyist enters into a new relationship with a client … or has an existing relationship terminated.  …(with our $1099 Online Access and) Washington Representatives Directory… you’ll have a direct connection on 20,000 lobbyists… 10,000 clients… and 2,500 lobbying firms…’

According to Opensecrets.org of the 112th Congress (1/11 to 1/13) out of 97 former members, 33% became lobbyist and 33% lobbyist clients.  They have stated that from 1998 to 2010 lobby spending related to Finance, Insurance, Real Estate, Health, Energy and Transportation was more than $15 billion; defense and agribusiness lobbying during the period was about $ 1.2 billion each.

Statute: “Honest Leadership and Open Government Act 2007: Title I: Closing the Revolving door; Title II, Full Public Disclosure… Senators, within 2 years after that person leaves office… Representatives …within 1 year… knowingly makes, with the intent to influence, any communication… (towards) a Member… employee of …Congress… shall be punished… $ 5,000 (Also) Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995… amended (to every) 3 month period…”  The Following will include limited descriptions of the more notable positions and facts.

EXAMPLE of a D.C. LOBBY FIRM:

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld maybe the largest lobbyists Law Firm.  2012 election donated over $ 2.5 million, 2/3s to democrats.  Since 1990 Akin contributed over $ 20 million to federal candidates; and has hired many Congressmen after the left office.   In 1999 it had more than $ 13 million in lobbying revenue and its top clients include AT&T, Pohang Steel, PG&E (as in Erin Brockovich’s class action groundwater lawsuit $ 333 million), Volkswagen, Mobil Oil, Motion Picture Assn. of Amer (former Sen. Chris Dodd now chairman), Citizens Educational Foundation, and Samsung, etc.    According to Akingump.com ‘Former U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan serves as a senior policy consultant… advises clients across a broad spectrum of policy issues, including health care and financial services… she served on four Senate committees: Health, Education, Labor… Banking… Armed Services… (she is former) vice president… N. C. Nat. Bank… now part of Bank of America.’  The site adds, “…146 of its U.S. and U.K. lawyers were recognized by Super Lawyers in 2015… four partners …Super Lawyers Top List… Akin… international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in …US, Europe, EU, Asia and the Middle East… India.”

Government Contracts: And they add, “Akin Gump… government contracts lawyers handle the formation, administration and litigation phases of U.S. government contracts and subcontracts.  Our experience includes supply contracts (from simple commercial items to sophisticated weapons systems), service contracts (from monthly janitorial services to multiyear base operations contracts), research and development contracts (from limited application research to weapons development and strategic planning), construction contracts (from renovations to large structures and complex overseas projects), IT procurements (software, hardware and services, and telecommunications equipment and services), and grants, cooperative agreements and “other transactions.”

Our government contracts lawyers are familiar with all executive branch procuring agencies and are particularly experienced with the procurement policies, regulations and practices of the departments of Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, State, Veterans Affairs and Transportation, as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Agency for International Development and the General Services Administration.    We also aid clients in mergers and acquisitions of government contractors, including the conduct of due diligence and security clearance issues relating to foreign ownership, control and influence…. Our lawyers handle bid protests… audits by the Defense Contract Audit Agency… and other gov. agencies… congressional committees… and defend lawsuits filed under the FCA… by alleged whistleblowers and …judgments, settlements or allegations… anti-trust… etc.  our team comprises both Democrats and Republicans with extensive legislative and executive branch experience…”

(the website goes on to speak much on) “the Panama Papers: Managing Corporate Risk and Uncertainty… Mossack Fonseca has worked directly with 617 entities in the United States to establish offshore business entities… 2008… the last program involved 80 Swiss banks resolving their U.S. criminal tax exposure… paying more than $1.36 billion in penalties…”   Some of Akin Gump’s partners: Bernd Janzen, former Atty/Advisor to U.S. Gov.; former Senators L. Faircloth, K. Hagan, J. Sununu; former Representatives V. Fazio, T. Loeffier, B. Paxon, Cal Ripken; former advisor to Pres. Clinton Vernon Jordan; former members of almost every important Federal Commission, such as T. Brecher and Fed Energy Reg. Comm.; and according to Daily News source in 2008; the N.Y. Yankees used former Rep. Charles Rangel to lobby the IRS for tax changes to save the team $ 66 million; George Steinbrenner’s law team: Akin, Gump of course who have raised about $ 25,000 for one of his campaigns.  Randy Levine, former president of the N. Y. Yankees was a senior counselor with Akin Gump.

SO THIS WAS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW BOTH ELITISM AND THE REVOLVING DOOR WORKS.

According to the Sunlight Foundation, 2014 article K Street pays top dollar for revolving lobbyists, “In 2012, we estimate that the median active for-hire Washington lobbyist generated $179,667 in lobbying revenue. That’s slightly more than what a member of Congress earns ($174,000) — and has been slightly more since 2010, when the median revenue first eclipsed the member salary.

But clients appear to be willing to pay significantly more for “revolving door lobbyists” (those lobbyists with government experience) than they do for lobbyists without government experience.  For 2012, we estimate that lobbyists who list a government staff position somewhere in their lobbyist disclosure firms were associated with median revenue of $300,000. That’s almost three times the median revenue we estimate that lobbyists without government experience generated: $112,500.  …Between 1998 and 2012, 799 lobbyists working at Washington firms have been associated with $1 million or more in annual revenue at least once (in constant 2012 dollars). And between 1998 and 2010, the number of million-dollar firm lobbyists increased almost four-fold, from 71 to 277.”

 PARTIAL LIST of CONGRESS MEMBERS; not in order:

KEY: L – left office; F – Former; S – State; HoR – House of Rep.

112th U.S. Congress: Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2013; 113th: 1/13-1/15

1.    Chris Dodd; L: 1/1/2011; F: Senator; S: CT

Senate 1981-2011; Father was Senator from 1959 to 1971.

Chair of Sen. Banking Committee; Bilderberg attendee;

2015: Renews contract as Chairman of MPAA; made > $ 8 million 2012-2015

2013: Former Sen. Dodd applauds Supreme Court in ending Defense of Marriage Act.

2011: Became Chairman of the Motion Picture Assoc. of Amer.

2009: Dodd received a vacation home in Ireland from former partner Edward Drowne (convicted of insider trading, pardoned by Clinton) for $12,000.

2008: Proposed assistance for subprime mortgage lenders (Countrywide, etc.) at the time bailout estimate was $ 200 billion.  Treasury Sec. Hank Paulson said Government would have to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Dodd was top recipient of campaign funds from Fannie Mae and FredMac.

2003: Dodd on ‘Friends of Angelo’ VIP list; Angelo Mozilo CEO of Countrywide; Dodd refinanced his homes with Countrywide (Conde’ Nast reported his favorable loan and Sen. Budget Comm. Chairman Kent Conrad & Fannie Mae Head Jim Johnson)

 

2.  Richard ‘Dick’ Gephardt; L: 1/2003; F: HoR; S: MI

HoR 1977 to 2005; House Majority Leader; Chair Democratic Caucus

2007-2016 Gephardt Group received > $ 43 million for lobbying

Lobbied for (partial list): Google, PokerStar, Anheuser-Busch, Biovest (Pharm.), GE, Goldman Sachs, Teva Pharmaceutical, Bayer (Phar.), Ameren (Utilities), UnitedHealth

Father was a Teamster, and Richard was voted in by working class when he had a modest net worth; now he is a multi-millionaire and runs with the elite class.

2007-2009: He was on Board of Directors of Embarq Corp.

2007: Gephardt Gov. Affairs Group, by 2010 made $ 7 million with clients including Goldman Sachs, Boeing, Visa, Ameren Corp and Waste Management.

2003:  Joined multinational law firm and lobbying firm DLA Piper (in more than 30 countries; 2015 revenues over $ 2.5 billion – average profit per partner $ 1.5 million; over 4200 attorneys; Banking, Trade, Government Affairs, etc.)

 

3.  Robert ‘Bob’ Livingston; L:1/1999; F: HoR; S: LA

Chairperson of House Appropriations; House: 1977-1999.

According to Public Citizen, Congress Watch July 2005, Congressional Revolving Doors…, “Bob Livingston left Congress in 1999 amid allegations of extramarital affairs.  Within a week… the former chairman of the House Appropriations Comm. formed a lobbying shop named the Livingston Group… In its first year… $1.1 million even though that was during Livingston’s cooling-off period, however, does not restrict a former member from supervising or managing lobbyists… Six years later Livingston Group ranked as the 12th  largest non-law lobbying firm in Washington and had takin in almost $40 million from 1999 – 2004.  The L… Group represents the special interests of three foreign governments, Turkey, Morocco and the Cayman Islands… paid him $9 million coming from Turkey… In the spring of 2003, in the wake of U.S. hostility toward Turkey for its refusal to allow our troops to stage and operate from Turkish soil during the invasion of Iraq, a measure was introduced in Congress to delete a $1 billion supplemental appropriation for Turkey.  An examination of FARA records reveals that in the days prior to the supplemental vote, Livingston used his influence and connections to reach not only his former colleagues on Capitol Hill but also top executive-branch officials… and the foreign policy advisor to House Speaker Dennis Hastert and escorted the Turkish ambassador on a strategic trip to the Capitol… and his people contacted aides to Vice President Dick Cheney… his success in reaching key people became evident when a vote was taken on the amendment to kill the $1 billion… on April 3, 2003.  (The amendment) was defeated 315 to 110.  Turkey paid Livingston’s frim $ 1.8 million in 2003… (same occurred concerning a House resolution) that would have formally recognized the Armenian genocide that occurred between 1915 and 1923.  Over 1.5 million Armenians …slaughtered by the Ottoman Turks… FAFA records show that the Livingston Group kicked into high gear.  In two days of intense lobbying, the Livingston Group contacted… Speaker Hastert… Majority Leader Tom DeLay… Vice President Cheney’s office, the National Security Council, the State Department… Hastert, DeLay and Majority Whip Roy Blunt issued a statement expressing their displeasure with the Schiff amendment and said it would be killed in… committee.”

Public Citizen “analyzed political contributions made by Livingston, his wife and his two PACs.  Combined they contributed $ 503,449 to various candidates… 2000-2004 …also $316,000 by end of 2004…  (Somewhat forced for immorality) three days before Livingston resigned from Congress, on Feb. 25, 1999, he told reporters, ‘I just have to worry about the next paycheck’.”  Keep in mind Congressmen automatically also receive pensions upon leaving no matter how long they served.  Lastly, as to the ‘various candidates’ that the Livingston House of Cards contributed to, it was over 150 Congress members; including over $ 110,000 to himself.  Moreover, he received lobbying fees from over 200 counties, municipalities and corporations, including $320,000 from Chevron Texaco; $340,000 from the City of Baton Rouge; $240,000 – City of Mesa Arizona; $ 760,000 – BAE Systems; $420,000 – Chamber Greater N.O./City of New Orleans; $300,000 Collegiate Funding Services; $220,000 General Electric {see Requiem for the American Dream (2015) bits on GE}; $380,000 Goodyear Tire; $580,000 – International Ship Holding Corp.; $260,000 Tulane Uni.;  $1 million from JRL Enterprises; $1.7 million from Oracle; millions combined from medical institutions and universities and even a museum; and $280,000 from money raised for the purpose of Girls and Boys Town USA.

4.  Wilbert ‘Billy’ Tauzin II; L: 1/2005; F: HoR; S: LA

HoR 1980-2005; former Chairman Comm. overseeing Pharma./Drugs

2011: launched Tauzin Consultants, which according to their website ‘is principally a government relations… firm…’

2005-2010: President/CEO of PhRMA, pharmaceutical lobby group (regardless of law – these lawyers use loophole to ‘advise’ ‘others’ on how to lobby to their ‘interest’ until they pass restriction date)

2010: TheHill.com reported Tauzin hired by Resilient Networks Systems to lobby on the deployment of electronic medical records under the healthcare reform law.

2004: Tauzin endorsed Schneider’ 2000 edition of The Complete Guide to Offshore Money Havens, and spoke at a conference for Schneider, who pleaded guilty in 2004 to assisting hundreds of people to avoid taxes through offshore banks.  According to the N.Y. Times in 2004 Schneider clients incomes ranged from $100,000 to $40 million.

2003: He played a key role in the passage of Medicare Prescription Drug Act.

Wilbert earned $20 million lobbying for drug companies 2006-2010.

He made $11.6 million from PhRMA in 2010 alone – being the highest paid health law lobbyist according to Bloomberg.  He then was on the Board of Directors at Louisiana Healthcare Group.  At that time, according to The Hill,  he with the Obama administration  “struck a deal that limited pharmaceutical industry’s cost to $80 billion under the new law if the industry funded a supportive ad campaign.”

2015: Huffington Post tells how PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manuf. of Amer.) was among the top 3 ‘powerhouse spenders’ in lobby Congress, along with the National Assoc. of Broadcasters and the American Hospital Association; with the top groups spending $64 million to influence Congress and the White House that year.

1958: PhRMA has been around a long time helping Congress write Drug laws.  Current CEO (2016) is John Castellani; formerly Head of Business Roundtable (BRT) conservative lobby group for major U.S. Corporations (sounds innocent when you put conservative in the sentence).  ROUNDTABLE was founded in 1972 by Harper, head of ALCOA and Borch CEO of GE to control government regulation on their industries.  Nixon’s Sec. of Treasury, John Connally and Arthur Burns, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve advised them to set up the BRT lobbying organization.  Soon after Murphy of GM was the 2nd president, then Shapiro of DuPont, and Garvin of Exxon.  The Washington Post called the Group, ‘Obama’s closet ally in the business community.’

5. John H Sununu; L: 1/2011; F: HoR, Governor, WH Chief of Staff; S: NH

National Political Offices: 1973-1991, then Chair of Rep. Party of NH 09-11.   President of JHS Associates; Trinity Intern. Partners – financial.

Used over $600,000 worth of free military jet travel.

2014: lobbied for Delahunt Group; Client Healiance Pharmaceuticals  1992: became lobbyist for W.R. Grace & Co; ‘Advisor’

6.  John E. Sununu (son): L: 1/2009; F: HoR; S: NH

Board of Managers of ConvergEx Holdings of Bank of N.Y.Mellon

2010: John Sununu joined Akin Gump… Lobbying Law Firm (see above Example of a Lobbying Law Firm)

2008: Sununu was on Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP; part of subprime mortgage bailout… $ 700 billion reduced to about half a trillion.

7.  Olympia Snowe; L: 1/13; F: Senator; S: ME

Senior Fellow, Bipartisan Policy Center (D.C. Think-tank)

Co-chair Commission on Political Reform; HoR 1979-1995; First Lady of ME 89-95 (wife of Gov. McKernan); Senate: 1995-2013; Chair of Small Business Comm.  First woman in history to serve both houses of a state Leg. & Congress

Bipartisan Policy Center lobby’s Congress with as a Think-tank; it was founded in 2007 by former Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell.    It has numerous former members of Congress and Exec. Offices.

According to the Bipartisan Policy Center 2013 Annual Report, “Ideas, roundtables, and reports only go so far. The hard work of impacting the federal policy debate requires action on the ground. That’s why the Bipartisan Policy Center Advocacy Network (BPCAN) works directly with Congress and the administration—translating BPC projects into workable proposals and finding common ground between Democrats and Republicans…  Housing: Sen. Warner… introduced legislation …that’s mirrors BPCs recommendations… Each week BPCAN conducts an average of 10 Hill meetings… Health Care: Project leaders were invited to brief 20 senators on BPCs Health Care… recommendations… Iran: Senators Menendez… Kirk have incorporated BPC proposals… Debt Ceiling: BPC remains an influential voice… Governors’ Caucus… 2013: 522 meetings with Congressional Offices… 20 members who spoke at BPC sponsored events… 11 Congressional Committee Testimonies.”

8.  John Breaux; L: 1/2005; F: Senator; S: LA

2014: Joined Squire Patton Boggs (Largest Lobby Firm in the World)

Congress 1972-2005; left and formed Breaux-Lott Leadership Group.

Board of Directors for CSX Transportation

9.  Trent Lott; L:1/2007; F: Senator; S: MS

Former Senate Majority Leader, Chair Rules Comm.; Political office: 1973-2007

Senior Fellow at Biparitsan Policy Center

2014: Joined Squire Patton Boggs (Largest Lobby Firm in the World)

2012: Lott organized fundraiser for Mitt Romney for host Patton Boggs.

Lott resigned before law changed requiring 2 year waiting before lobbying.

Board of Directors for Airbus Group.

2007: Lott’s brother-in-law Scruggs indicted for bribing judge, rep. Lott vs. State Farm

Opensecrets.org has Patton Boggs before merger with a HALF BILLION DOLLARS in lobbying from 1998 to 2013.  Clients range from City of Baton Rouge to Citigroup; from GE to Goldman Sachs; and Haliburton to Mars Inc.

According to the Washington Post, July 2014, ‘Patton Boggs, which since 2003 had been the largest lobbying firm in the country… has fallen behind rival… Akin Gump… during the second quarter of 2014, Akin Gump earned $ 8.6 million in lobbying fees, while Patton Boggs earned $ 8.4 million… $ 17.8 year to date.’  However, now it is even larger after a 2014 merger and added two big former Senators to its House.

According to a May 2014 article from The Hill, ‘…the mega-merger… Squire Patton Boggs will consist of 1,223 lawyers from Squire and about 334 from Patton…’ According to squirepattonboggs.com, ‘our client base spans every type of business, both private and public, worldwide. We advise a diverse mix of clients, from Fortune 100 and FTSE 100 corporations to emerging companies and from individuals to local and national governments… We focus on issues that regularly impact the ADGS (Aerospace, Defense & Gov. Services) industry – from compliance with government contracts and export regulations, to management of government audits and investigations, to negotiation of supply chain agreements and conducting due diligence reviews… in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America… We regularly collaborate across practices including corporate, regulatory, government contracts, public policy, intellectual property, white collar defense, and litigation, among others.’

2008: Patton Boggs signed a $ 350,000 contract to represent India on issues before Congress.  2004: The firm represented the government of Kuwait to get Congressional passage of the US-Kuwait Free Trade Agreement; And with Cameroon to represent it before Congress and the World Bank and IMF.  2003: They worked with Corporate contractors in Iraq Reconstruction, dealing with billions of dollars in USAID, Army Corps of Engineers and other US and UN funded contracts.  2001: Metabolife paid Patton Boggs $ 1.8 million to assure Congress and its customers that their products were safe.  In 1998, Metabolife’ founder Michael Ellis lied about their safety record to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  2002: when Patton Boggs was promoting exploration for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with a video to a Congressional committee, Massachusetts Congressman E. Markey said, ‘The Interior Department should not be spreading oil company propaganda any more than the Department of Energy should be promoting Enron stock.’

Prisons and Lobbyists

2018: There are about 130 private prison firms with annual ‘sales revenue’ of $3.3 billion.  During the last decade, for profit prisons neared the top for lobbying not being talked about by the media.   GEO Group and CCA has given millions to candidates for favorable laws and support.  And CBC hired Vernon Jordan (former Nat. Urban League head and advisor to Pres. Clinton) to join their 900 attorneys in a lobbying position – they also of course are paid by prison firms to keep the status quo.