NY Governor Andrew Cuomo celebrated his Moreland Commission’s report decrying the influence of money in politics–and his 56th birthday!–at two pricey fundraisers in the past two weeks. Some guests paid as much as $50,000 a pop to add to Cuomo’s $28 million campaign war chest. Thanks to the Buffalo News, we know the names of …
Tag: lobbyists
Oh, what a tangled web CCA weaves
Last week hundreds of people gathered in Arizona to protest record-high levels of deportations from the US this year. Activists shut down Operation Streamline by chaining themselves to buses carrying detainees and to the Eloy Detention Center entrance, where detainees are held. Operation Streamline is a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy that requires …
Shining a Light on the Shadow Bank Lobby
In 2008, economist Nouriel Roubini popularized the term “shadow banking system” to describe the non-bank financial institutions that eventually helped spur the collapse of the financial system: highly-leveraged hedge funds, investment banks, and the like. This shadow system fueled Wall Street profits for years before eventually necessitating massive bailouts of the financial sector. These days, …
Dodd’s Decision to Retire Likely Doomed Financial Reform Bill
When Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut) announced last January that he would not seek reelection, some media outlets declared that Dodd’s retirement would actually increase the chances that robust financial regulatory reform would be enacted (for example, see articles by The Washington Post and BusinessWeek). Such analyses demonstrate a near total ignorance of the processes of …
Former Eshoo, Barton staffers at center of Genentech scandal
The New York Times revealed today that over 40 members of Congress read statements on the floor that parrotted talking points prepared for them by lobbyists for pharmaceutical giant Genentech. As sundin notes, the story is a must-read and perhaps “all too believable,” given the way Washington works. But the Times misses a key piece …
Rep. Grijalva: Everything in Baucus bill “had to be approved by the industry”
This morning Democracy Now! interviewed Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which is vowing to withhold support from any health care reform bill lacking a strong public option. Amy Goodman asked Grijalva about the significance of the revolving spinning door between the industry and Senator Baucus’ staff, citing research first published …
Analyst challenge ends, 450 staffers-turned-lobbyists identified
Friday ended our first ever analyst challenge, and we here at LittleSis couldn’t be happier with the results. In just a few weeks, our analysts identified 450 former congressional-staffers-turned-healthcare-lobbyists! And we certainly could not have hit that number without the work of our contest winners: @ddwriter, @Priscilla and @Reed.Young. These three analysts went above and …
Chief health aide to Baucus is former Wellpoint executive
Senator Max Baucus’s chief health adviser, Elizabeth Fowler, has been called the “chief operating officer” of the healthcare reform process by Politico — the staffer who sets legislative deadlines, coordinates with the White House on policy, and is understood to speak for Baucus on health policy issues. Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein has called her …
Welcoming the Huffington Post Investigative Fund’s citizen journalists
As the health care fight intensifies, a wide range of research and journalism initiatives are taking a closer look at the special interests seeking to influence upcoming legislation. One of the more innovative efforts is the Health Care Investigative Unit, a project of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund. We’re pleased to announce that starting this …