No such thing as a free lunch? Not if you’re a union lobbyist in Illinois. As the Chicago Tribune reported: Two lobbyists with no prior teaching experience were allowed to count their years as union employees toward a state teacher pension once they served a single day of subbing in 2007…. Steven Preckwinkle, the political director for the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and fellow union lobbyist David Piccioli…took advantage of a small window opened by lawmakers…. [which allowed the two men] to get into the state teachers pension fund and …
Upon taking control of the U.S. House in January, Republicans implemented sweeping reforms to make the People’s House more transparent and accessible. Now they’ll have a chance to bolster their good-government credentials with the newly created Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Twelve lawmakers from the House and Senate will serve on the joint committee, according to language in the Budget Control Act. Its goal is to make recommendations to reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion. The Sunlight Foundation, an organization that advocates for greater government openness and transparency, earlier …
From a March 16, 2006, DCCC press release: Today, it became clear that Republicans will never support meaningful lobbying reform because playing by the rules simply does not compute. Jessica Simpson’s rejection of an invitation to an NRCC fundraiser because she thought it was wrong to lobby for her Operation Smile at a political fundraiser crystallizes their central resistance to reform. Republicans were befuddled at the fact that someone would not want to pay for access in order to lobby the president for their organization or interests… “It would be …
Politico, April 22nd 2010: New energy powers up lobbying – “Alternative energy used to be just a speed bump on K Street. In 1998, the entire sector spent only $2.4 million lobbying the federal government … In 2009, alternative energy spent $30 million on lobbying, 12 times its 1998 amount.” The Washington Post, May 3rd, 2010: More tech firms setting up offices in Washington area to get federal business – “In general, high-tech jobs in the region have been multiplying at a disproportionately high rate. … The number of software …
Data show 2009 was a record year for lobbying on energy issues. 1747 clients (firms and groups) hired lobbyists to work in the area of energy and nuclear power. This is a stunning 93 percent increase from 2006. This increase may be stunning, but it isn’t surprising. With literally trillions of dollars put into play by various cap-and-trade bills over the last three years, it would have been surprising if lobbying hadn’t grown by leaps and bounds. Though initially offered as legislation to fight global-warming, the justifications for cap and …
The cap and trade bill introduced by Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA) and passed in the is 1,427 pages and includes much more than a cap and trade system to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. We’ve been detailing these economically harmful provisions in our cap and trade calamities, but Kathleen Hartnett White at the Texas Public Policy Foundation provides a tremendous synopsis of the entire bill and asks many tough questions in her policy paper, A Federal Leviathan: The American Clean Energy and Security Act …
Under the Waxman-Markey cap and trade program, businesses that emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases must obtain allowance permits from the federal government for every ton of carbon emissions they produce. The government issues fewer allowance permits in each subsequent year to decrease overall emissions, so the permit price rises as the reduction in supply has to meet the same demands. During his campaign run, President Obama told Grist: “I believe that, depending on how it is designed, a carbon tax accomplishes much of the same thing that a …
Someone please answer that question. Let’s start with this: a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison finds that food and energy demand will outpace production to meet those needs over the next several years. The need for greater energy and food production and the jobs that could be created from seeking to meet that need is just the latest example of the opportunity costs associated with cap and trade. One might imagine that these increased energy demands would create a huge economic opening for American firms to fill a gap …
As a candidate, Barack Obama repeatedly pledged that no lobbyist would work in his White House. But does that policy apply to his auto companies? It’s a timely question, as General Motors, soon to be majority-owned by the U.S. government, announced this week that it planned to retain its in-house lobbying staff (although it is cancelling contracts with its outside lobbyists). GM issued a statement explaining the decision, stating that the company has “an obligation to stay engaged” on key issues. But stay engaged on whose behalf? While GM coyly …
Warning from Dr. Enno Harders, a lead official from German Emissions Trading Authority, who experienced troubled initiating a German cap and trade system: Early cap and trade [proposals] receive enormous lobby.” Businesses rightfully have an interest in ensuring that they protect their bottom lines. Many of them have calculated that some sort of carbon capping is inevitable and that their interests will therefore be best served by trying to influence how such a cap is implemented. And the best way to do that will be to position themselves as supporters …
