News aggregator

Army of Lobbyists Raking in Massive Sums, Second-Quarter Lobbying Reports Reveal

Open Secrets - 5 hours 24 min ago
More than 11,100 corporations, trade associations, unions and other groups hired 10,500 lobbyists during the second quarter, the Center for Responsive Politics has found -- outnumbering members of Congress roughly 20 to 1. Overall, special interest groups spent more than $852 million on lobbying between April and June. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php
Categories: Further Reading

Top Recipients of Wyly Brothers' Campaign Cash Aren't Talking

Open Secrets - Fri, 07/30/2010 - 15:53
Few politicos receiving significant cash from the Wyly brothers were interested in talking about it Friday. Andrew Kreighbaum http://www.opensecrets.org/news
Categories: Further Reading

Tea Party Caucus Members Bankrolled by Health Professionals, Retirees, Oil Interests

Open Secrets - Fri, 07/30/2010 - 12:43
A Center for Responsive Politics analysis shows that the biggest contributors to the 49 members of the newly-established congressional Tea Party caucus - it so far includes only Republican -- are health professionals, retired individuals, the real estate industry and oil and gas interests. Furthermore, donations from health professionals, oil and gas interests and Republican and conservative groups are, on average, higher for Tea Party caucus members than for members of the House of Representatives in general and even their fellow House Republicans. Andrew Kreighbaum http://www.opensecrets.org/news
Categories: Further Reading

Ex-Soldier, Gay Rights Activist Dan Choi Subdued With Political Donations Despite Flashy Lobbying Antics

Open Secrets - Fri, 07/30/2010 - 08:55
The nation's highest-profile advocate against the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is using a full arsenal of tactics in his bid to lobby it to death. Yet despite all the attention and flashy antics, Army Lt. Dan Choi has been coy about utilizing a traditional tool of Washington influence: campaign contributions. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php
Categories: Further Reading

Few Seats in the 'People's House' for Rangel Hearing, Cantor the PAC Man and more in Capital Eye Opener: July 30

Open Secrets - Fri, 07/30/2010 - 08:00
Twenty-term Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) faces a world of political hurt now that the Democrat-controlled House ethics committee hit its own political kin with 13 ethics charges. Dave Levinthal http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#levinthal
Categories: Further Reading

Wyly Brothers, Top Republican Bankrollers, Accused of Massive Fraud

Open Secrets - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 16:17
Charles Wyly Jr. and Samuel Wyly, Texas businessmen and brothers who are among the most generous campaign donors to Republican political candidates and causes, were today hit with a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing them of fraud worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Dave Levinthal http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#levinthal
Categories: Further Reading

BOUTRIS WITTFOGEL - SLOPPY SCIENCE AT THE WATER BOARD

Lloyd G Carter Blog - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 10:27
I’m wondering what happened to pride in workmanship in the water world. Why is there so much sloppy work? I understand there are numerous beneficiaries of deficient work, but why are the standards so low amongst the professionals and their managers who produce and review this junk?  Why are the professionals not more demanding of themselves?  Why do we continue to see crap like this? or this? Why is it that any fat document with a pretty cover page and an impressive table of contents passes for excellence?   Does the water board really need an 80 page ‘roadmap’ to enforce the law and protect groundwater? Did anyone anywhere ever learn anything from one of those consultant-wallet-stuffing ‘anti-degradation analyses’?? Is anyone taking a critical look at the substance of this stuff? Where are the scientific peer reviews, where is the scientific debate? Where are the professional licensing agencies? When the water board simply ignores the Clean Water Act, state law, its own policy, and the California Constitution (as alleged by some) to make it easier for someone to pollute, are there any repercussions to anyone? Does a staff person get reprimanded, is a manager demoted, does a flock of geologists swoop in and peck the eyes out of an incompetent geologist for shoddy work?    In other trades there would be professional consequences. Bad welds doom the welder; poor timing on setting the corn crop seals the farmer’s fate, screw up as a lawyer and you become a “cheap lawyer,” and well we all know what we get with cheap lawyer. But in the water world appalling deficient work appears to go unchecked, maybe even rewarded.    There are excellent professionals lurking in the water world. We saw that last week with the release of the draft Delta Flow Criteria. Some speculated the report was the product of some sort of political coup, while others seemed to think the report is the result of ghastly naiveté.    Maybe parts of both are true, but what I really think we saw was what it looks like when professionals do their job according to the highest professional standards -- a genuine shock to the water world.  READ MORE »
Categories: Further Reading

Legislative Battles Drive Second-Quarter Lobbying Spending by Major Corporations, Special Interests

Open Secrets - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 10:15
While some organizations dramatically reduced their investments in federal lobbying during this year's second quarter, others paid out more in fees to lobbyists than during any other quarter since President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of reports filed with the U.S. Senate and U.S. House last week. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php
Categories: Further Reading

DNC Unveils New Campaign Strategy, Club for Growth Brings the Heat and More in Capital Eye Opener: July 29

Open Secrets - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 07:57
Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics. Spencer MacColl http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php#maccoll
Categories: Further Reading

Center for Responsive Politics Lauds Improved Disclosure of Transportation Earmarks

Open Secrets - Thu, 07/29/2010 - 06:58
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee this morning unveiled a searchable and sortable -- and some day, we hope, downloadable -- database of earmarks approved by the committee. Communications http://www.opensecrets.org/news
Categories: Further Reading

Ex-Regulators Lobby on New Finance Rules, Immigrant Rights Groups Shift Focus and More in Capital Eye Opener: July 28

Open Secrets - Wed, 07/28/2010 - 08:15
Ex-Regulators to Lobby on New Finance Rules: Hundreds of ex-financial regulators are gearing up to lobby the regulatory agencies that will create hundreds of new rules for the nation's bank on behalf of corporate clients, the New York Times reports. Summer Lollie http://www.opensecrets.org/news
Categories: Further Reading

Zeke Grader- State report's recipe for a restored delta: More Water

Lloyd G Carter Blog - Tue, 07/27/2010 - 23:24

Experience has taught me to live by the old Russian proverb, "Hope for the best but expect the worst." This is a particularly sound strategy for politics, where ideal outcomes are seldom realized. Sometimes, though, I'm pleasantly surprised -- something good emerges from unexpected quarters. That's the case with a recent science-based report from the staff of the State Water Board that identifies the real culprit in the collapse of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta: excessive exports of fresh water.

For decades, California's water barons - mainly corporate agriculture operators in the western San Joaquin Valley - have called the shots in the state capitol, and the water has flowed to them in lavish amounts.

Farmers from other regions, urban residents, California salmon and the people who depend on salmon for their livelihoods have all suffered from this grossly inequitable distribution. Most pointedly, the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta - in conjunction with San Francisco Bay, the biggest and richest estuary on the west coast of the Americas - is teetering on collapse because of fresh water diversions to "Westside" agribusiness bigwigs.

So the Water Board's report was deeply appreciated (indeed it was somewhat unexpected given two earlier flow recommendations made by the board during the past two decades were suppressed at the behest of Westside growers). It provides some hope for our devastated Bay-Delta estuary, struggling Delta farmers, our beleaguered salmon and the impoverished fishing communities along the North Coast.

For years, Big Ag has tried to obfuscate the issue with pie charts and graphs that "show" the Delta's collapse is pegged to invasive species, urban run-off, leaky sewage pipes - everything except water exports. The State Water Board's report rebuts this duplicitous drivel clearly and simply: Delta restoration will require 75 percent of the water that typically flows down the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River watersheds. This will mean reducing water exports by half.

Big Ag already is squawking, deeming the report a "theoretical exercise" that has no bearing in the real world. Such strictures, they claim, would devastate family farms. To that I say -- well, horse manure.

Most "farms" of the western San Joaquin are massive agribusiness complexes that churn out megatons of federally-subsidized crops with subsidized water. Years ago, a friend of mine observed that "the welfare queens have nothing on the cotton kings" when it comes to swilling at the public trough. It was true then, and it's true now. Water use in the western San Joaquin Valley is extravagant - to a large degree, unregulated. Improving water use efficiency and employing better crop strategies would allow agribusiness to accommodate itself to the new and necessary reality.

On the other hand, there are family farms in the Delta - small holdings passed from generation to generation. They have been decimated by the relentless exporting of their water to the imperious barons of the Southland. And the same is true for our salmon fishermen. They have been ruined by years of fishing closures. And these closures, it must be noted, were driven by low salmon numbers caused by - you guessed it - water diversions. North Coast communities that were prosperous with family-wage fishing jobs a decade ago now struggle to hold on to even minimum-wage jobs - all so the water barons can continue to pump cash into their already engorged coffers.

Finally, we need to scotch the Big Lie that Big Ag and their minions are spreading about the likely impacts of the Water Board report. They're already saying California cities will face apocalyptic water shortages if flows to the south state are reduced. I have to admire their gall even while I despise their reflexive mendacity. California's cities account for only 20 percent of the state's water use. Moreover, our cities have led the way in improving water use efficiency and developing sustainable sources for water, including wastewater recycling, desalinization plants - even cisterns. California's agribusiness colossus, on the other hand, accounts for 80 percent of state water use and has done relatively little to improve use efficiency, instead expending its energy and funds on relentless lobbying in Sacramento and Washington.

Where do we go from here? The Water Board has stepped up and done the right thing, and we must back them up. One thing we can do is return the Kern Water Bank to public ownership. This massive water bank was developed with public funds. But after an abstruse sweetheart deal, it ended up in the hands of Beverly Hills billionaire and Central Valley corporate farmer Stuart Resnick. With the Kern Water Bank reclaimed as a public asset, we will have made a big step toward the fair and responsible management of state water.

We should also demand that the state's junior water rights holders - including giant Westside farming entities such as the Westlands Water District - take their rightful place in line for water. By legal precedent, they should be the first to endure cuts in water deliveries. Taxpayers subsidize water deliveries to Westlands. Meanwhile, their biggest crop - tomatoes - is a glut on the market. Seventy-five percent of their second-biggest crop - almonds - is shipped overseas and the biggest chunk goes to China. I would like to note parenthetically that there is no surplus of wild salmon. It is in high demand in domestic markets, selling for around $20 a pound.

Adding injury to insult, the irrigation of Westland's selenium-rich lands has led to the contamination of state waterways. Selenium is a dire threat to wildlife and fisheries, and Westlands is the primary engine for its dissemination in Delta waters. It's bad enough that Westlands is making obscene profits at taxpayer expense - but it's an outrage that we're paying them to poison us.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/zgrader/index#ixzz0uxJ2FAyP
 

   READ MORE »

Categories: Further Reading

Republicans Thwart New Campaign Finance Disclosure Rules As DISCLOSE Act Fails Procedural Vote in Senate

Open Secrets - Tue, 07/27/2010 - 17:30
Senate Republicans today blocked legislation calling for new disclosure rules for campaign advertisements. A unified Democratic caucus generated 57 "yes" votes -- three shy of the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster and allow the legislation, known as the DISCLOSE Act, to advance to an up-or-down vote. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php
Categories: Further Reading

Professional Lobbyists Help Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts Ring in Centennials

Open Secrets - Tue, 07/27/2010 - 11:45
A Scout's motto is "be prepared" -- and in Washington, D.C., scouting organizations stay prepared with the help of hired lobbyists. Last year, the Girl Scouts reported $199,000 in lobbying expenses, including fees to a firm run by a former member of Congress, while the Boy Scouts paid out $180,000 to a firm that also represents a tobacco company and a foreign government. Michael Beckel http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php
Categories: Further Reading

Obama Presses DISCLOSE Act, K Street's Bundlers and More in Capital Eye Opener: July 27

Open Secrets - Tue, 07/27/2010 - 07:15
President Barack Obama Monday took to the bully pulpit to urge passage of the DISCLOSE Act -- and to criticize Senate Republicans for their staunch opposition to the measure that's aimed at improving campaign finance transparency. Evan Mackinder http://www.opensecrets.org/about/staff.php
Categories: Further Reading

Drought’s real victims: It was fishermen, not farmers, who suffered most

Lloyd G Carter Blog - Mon, 07/26/2010 - 11:25

ANOTHER VIEW


Chico News & Review-7/22/10
Editorial

Think back a year or so, to last summer, when San Joaquin Valley farmers were predicting economic disaster because of reduced water allotments. That’s when Fox News blowhard Sean Hannity descended on Fresno County’s west side to accuse federal officials and environmentalists of turning the region into a modern dust bowl to protect “a two-inch fish,” the Delta smelt.

In his zeal to condemn environmentalists and federal officials and make wealthy westside corporate agribusinesses happy, Hannity conveniently ignored the impact Delta pumping schedules had on the recreational and commercial fishing industries in Northern California. So much water had been pulled from the Delta to send southward that the salmon fishery collapsed, and the salmon harvest was essentially wiped out, putting thousands of fishermen out of business.

Yes, the drought hurt the valley. Westside towns like Mendota and Huron that are populated mostly by farm workers were hit especially hard. And Fresno County farm revenues were indeed down last year but by only 4.5 percent, according to the county’s annual crop report, issued in mid-June. The county produced $5.4 billion in receipts, exceeding $5 billion for the third year in a row.

This year there’s been more water, and life has gotten better in the San Joaquin Valley. The real problem in 2009 was the drought, not environmentalists or federal officials, as Hannity so grandiosely charged. And the real long-term victims were not the westside growers, or even their employees, who today are back at work, but rather the fishermen along the coast, who must contend with depleted fisheries for years to come because of the ability of the powerful ag industry to divert water southward.#

http://www.newsreview.com/chico/content?oid=1458596
   READ MORE »

Categories: Further Reading

Watchdog Patrick Porgans Letter to the SWRCB

Lloyd G Carter Blog - Mon, 07/26/2010 - 11:22

Patrick Porgans is one of the top watchdogs, if not the top watchdog, of the State Water Resources Control Board and has been a thorn in the side of that inept agency for at least 25 years.  He has a certain “style” in his approach to the Board and you have to know him to appreciate his sense of humor.  He does not tolerate fools gladly.  When he describes himself as a servant of God he means that all of his efforts to get the water board to do its job usually go unpaid.  His latest broadside at the Board is a doozy.  To read it, CLICK here: http://lloydgcarter.com/files_lgc/Porgans letter to SWRCB.doc.docx  READ MORE »

Categories: Further Reading

OpenSecrets Blog's PolitiQuizz: Who Do Lawyers Love?

Open Secrets - Mon, 07/26/2010 - 11:08
Whether it is because the Congressman is a party leader that can make things happen, or he sits on a committee directly related to the legislation affecting the industry or his votes are usually friendly to the industry's concerns, some industries love some Congressmen more than others--and they show their affection through campaign contributions. Summer Lollie http://www.opensecrets.org/news
Categories: Further Reading

Agriculture Committee Pans Regulation, Progressives Launch Lobbying Arm and More in Capital Eye Opener: July 26

Open Secrets - Mon, 07/26/2010 - 07:06
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has earned millions advising the largest companies in D.C., but insists he provides analysis and not access. But POLITICO reports that some unlikely allies are calling for individuals like Daschle to be registered as lobbyists. Andrew Kreighbaum http://www.opensecrets.org/news
Categories: Further Reading

With 20,000 Facebook Fans, OpenSecrets.org Celebrates Social Networking's Power to Help Track Money in Politics

Open Secrets - Sun, 07/25/2010 - 19:24
Today, we welcome our 20,000th Facebook friend with a special video message. Communications http://www.opensecrets.org/news
Categories: Further Reading

To manage site Login