Quantcast
Feeds: Email, RSS & Twitter

Get Our Videos By Email

 

8,300 Unique Visitors In The Past Day

 

Powered by Squarespace

 

Most Recent Comments
Cartoons & Photos
SEARCH
« COLOR ME SHOCKED -- 1,295 Prisoners Claimed the First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit | Main | Jack Abramoff, From Prison to a Pizzeria Job »
Thursday
Jun242010

276 former government officials hired to lobby as Congress looks to rewrite telecom law

New story from Paul Blumenthal of the Sunlight Foundation.

---

As leaders in Congress announced a series of hearings this June to tackle huge telecommunications issues with a focus on the Internet, the top phone and cable organizations that control the majority of the access to the Internet have hired 276 former government officials to lobby both the Congress and the executive branch.

According to data obtained from lobbyist disclosure forms and the Center for Responsive Politics, seventy-two percent of the lobbyists hired by AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the US Telecom Association have previous government experience. These organizations combined to spend $20.6 million lobbying the federal government in the first quarter of 2010.

Eighteen of the 276 revolving door lobbyists are former members of Congress. These include the powerful former senators John Breaux and Trent Lott. The Breaux Lott Leadership Group reported spending $150,000 lobbying on behalf of AT&T in the first quarter of 2010.

Both Breaux and Lott served in the leadership of their respective parties while in the Senate with Lott serving as Majority Leader. Lott also served on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, the committee with jurisdiction over the telecommunications industry.

The eighteen former lawmakers include a heavy representation from the House Committee on Energy & Commerce, the House committee with telecommunications jurisdication. In 2010, the organizations hired former Energy & Commerce Committee members Jim Davis (AT&T), Jack Fields (Verizon), Ron Klink (Comcast), Chip Pickering (Comcast and National Cable and Television Association) and Al  Wynn (US Telecom Association).

The organizations are also hiring former lawmakers with previous clout in both the House and the Senate. Former Sen. Don Nickles, hired to lobby for Comcast, was the Republican Majority Whip from 1996 to 2001. Comcast also hired the former House Majority Whip William H. Gray.

Aside from Breaux and Lott, AT&T has hired two other lawmakers with strong resumes, former House Republican Conference Chair J.C. Watts and longtime California Democrat Vic Fazio.

The top telecom organizations are also hiring a number of lobbyists who previously worked on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation or the House Committee on Energy & Commerce. Fourteen lobbyists used to work on the House committee and thirteen previously worked at the Senate committee. In addition, the six organizations employ 26 former staffers of current members of the House committee and 22 former staffers of current members of the Senate committee.

---

Continue reading at the Sunlight Blog  >>

 

 

 

PrintView Printer Friendly Version

EmailEmail Article to Friend

Reader Comments (4)

Senators selected to work to combine the House and Senate financial regulation bills in a conference committee are some of the top recipients of campaign contributions from the finance, insurance and real estate sector (FIRE). In total, these twelve senators have received over $57 million from the FIRE sector over the course of their careers, according to data obtained from Center for Responsive Politics.

http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2010/05/27/senators-appointed-to-conference-committee-connected-to-financial-industry/
Jun 25, 2010 at 2:21 AM | Registered CommenterDailyBail
Pelosi Paying $18K a Month for New San Francisco Office

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_146/news/47263-1.html?type=aggregate_friendly
Jun 25, 2010 at 2:21 AM | Registered CommenterDailyBail
Dubya Style Progress...

A military source close to Gen. David Petraeus told Fox News that one of the first things the general will do when he takes over in Afghanistan is to modify the rules of engagement to make it easier for U.S. troops to engage in combat with the enemy, though a Petraeus spokesman pushed back on the claim.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/25/petraeus-modify-afghanistan-rules-engagement-source-says/
Jun 25, 2010 at 3:56 PM | Unregistered CommenterZarathustra
call it what you will...i would call it a return to normal engagement...nothing to do with bush...i understand mcchrystal's goal with his kinder, gentler war policy...but i don't hink the soldiers like it...and i don't think it will work...but i'm a civvy...never fought a battle...so i tend to keep my mouth shut...
Jun 28, 2010 at 2:58 AM | Registered CommenterDailyBail

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.