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 …
As a candidate, President Barack Obama promised to “Shine the Light on Washington Lobbying” by creating “a centralized Internet database of lobbying reports, ethics records, and campaign finance filings in a searchable, sortable and downloadable format.” That database will be completed any day, we’re sure, but President Obama has definitely already “shined a light” on how Washington really works. Consider Obama’s failed Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Daschle. As the New York Times reported this February, in the four years since he left the Senate, Daschle managed to …
The Washington Post reports: Speaking of doctors, former Democratic National Committee chairman and six-term Vermont governor Howard Dean is the latest star to join the government affairs practice of law and lobbying mega-firm McKenna Long & Aldridge. He’s not only a physician but also a “thought leader” on politics and policy, a man whose “network of relationships will benefit clients who are working in states and municipalities across the U.S.,” the firm announced last week. Ah, yes, we knew that 50-state strategy made sense. … Dean joins an impressive lobbying …
George Mason University Economics chair Donald Boudreaux blogs at Cafe Hayek: In his new book, [Thomas] Frank complains that during this time of alleged free-market ascendancy, the lobbying industry in Washington has blossomed and is inflicting great harm on Americans. I agree that the lobbying industry on the Potomac swamp continues to grow and that its consequences are generally pernicious. But how in the world can lobbying continue to grow if – as Frank incessantly asserts – markets are increasingly freer? Freer markets mean less powerful governments. And governments whose …
