Tag: lobbying

 The Story:  Two professors at Brigham Young University have studied recent lobbying expenditures and have found that in the first quarter of 2020, thirty healthcare...

The previously undisclosed move was driven by Justice Department officials in Washington, and reflects an eagerness within the department to prosecute violations of lobbying laws after the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, focused on foreign influence in his investigations. The unit falls within the Justice Department’s national security division, which investigated Skadden Arps’s Ukraine work and must approve any charges against Mr. Craig. Mr. Craig and the other Skadden Arps lawyers who worked on the account did not register as foreign agents under FARA, despite inquiries from the Justice Department at the time about whether they should have. The department initially concluded in 2013 that Skadden Arps was obligated to register, but it reversed itself the following year after Mr. Craig made the case that the law did not apply to his work on behalf of Ukraine. The special counsel had subpoenaed or requested documents from Skadden Arps and two lobbying firms recruited by Mr. Manafort’s team to help build support for Mr. Yanukovych’s government, and Mr. Mueller’s investigators had interviewed people who worked with all three firms, including Mr. Craig. But last year, Mr. Mueller’s team referred the matters related to the three firms to federal prosecutors in Manhattan for potential prosecution as FARA violations. The settlement accused Mr. Craig of working with Mr. Manafort to hide the funding from the Ukrainian oligarch for Skadden Arps’s work, and of making “false and misleading” statements to other partners at the firm and the Justice Department about his interactions with a reporter for The New York Times related to the Tymoshenko report. Those representations led the Justice Department’s FARA unit to conclude in January 2014 that Skadden Arps was not required to disclose the work under FARA, according to the settlement. In announcing the settlement, John C. Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, said Skadden Arps’s failure to register under FARA “hid from the public that its report was part of a Ukrainian foreign influence campaign,” depriving Americans of the ability “to consider the identity of the speaker as they evaluate the substance of the speech.” Neither the settlement nor Mr. Demers named either Mr. Craig or The Times and its reporter, David E. Sanger, but their identities are clear from the context. In the summer of 2017, Adam Hickey, an official in the National Security Division, told lawmakers that FARA was designed to make foreign influence campaigns transparent, “not to discourage that conduct itself.” His description of FARA focused largely on transparency through voluntary registration and ongoing records keeping.

One of the pulsing nerves of the state Capitol building is tucked away on the ground floor between a legislative locker room and men’s restroom. Its occupants work at a large roundtable, microphones still attached from the days when it was a committee hearing room. They fit in well at the capitol: business attire, cell phones in hand and a subtle expression of stress, cynicism and amusement. They’re a jovial bunch, seated around their makeshift workspace. There is obvious camaraderie between them, which could be a result of a general public distrust of their profession. The Secretary of State’s office does not keep track of how many registered lobbyists there are because they say it changes too quickly, but according to those in the lobbyists’ room, there are roughly 20 who are there every day. At a news conference last month, Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, said he had concerns about legislation that aims to limit influencers of the political process, such as lobbyists. The legislation comes as a result of last year’s ballot Measure 1, which amended the state constitution to set more guidelines about legislative ethics. Wardner cited wording in Measure 1 which "could be construed" to mean that if a citizen who comes to the Capitol to testify on behalf of themselves spends more than $201 in the process, that person would be classified as a lobbyist, creating more hoops to jump through. "Even the biggest industries here in the state — (agriculture) and oil, gas — we're really here for education, to help people understand what it means to pass this bill," Meske said.

The disclosure that Donald Trump’s legal fixer Michael Cohen was quietly paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to advise corporations highlights the inability of US laws to prevent secretive “shadow lobbying”, analysts said. Sign up for the Guardian's US daily email Read more As Cohen said he provided consultancy services rather than lobbying, which involves directly advocating for a client to government officials, he was not required under US law to register as a lobbyist and disclose the payments in public filings. No allegation has been made relating to Cohen’s consultancy work. Professor James Thurber of American University, who has researched lobbying for decades, said it was too easy for influential people in Washington to make money around the legislative process without informing the public, in what is loosely termed shadow lobbying. But the company has confirmed it also paid Cohen’s company Essential Consultants for “insights into understanding the new administration” beginning in early 2017, when Trump was inaugurated. Trump’s administration was last year considering whether to allow an $85bn merger of AT&T and Time Warner. Paul Miller, president of the National Institute For Lobbying & Ethics, a lobbying trade group, said of this decline in numbers last year: “The simple reality is people are reclassifying what they do as not direct lobbying and thus they are no longer covered by the Lobbying Disclosure Act.” Two other companies that paid Cohen have in recent years decided against paying registered lobbyists to advocate for them in Washington. According to public filings, Columbus Nova has not done so since paying McGuireWoods $16,000 in 2010 to lobby on business regulations. Avenatti’s document said KAI, which is competing for a Pentagon contract, paid Cohen $150,000 in November last year. KAI has not used a registered lobbyist in Washington since paying American Defense International $20,000 in February 2002, according to congressional filings.

The fossil-fuels lobbyist tied to a bargain-priced Capitol Hill condo that was leased by Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt is taking early retirement as a result of the scandal. EPA inspector general to investigate Scott Pruitt's security detail on trips Read more Pruitt remains in his job, with the expressed backing of Donald Trump, despite a chorus of Democrats and a growing list of Republicans calling for Pruitt to be fired amid a string of ethics issues, including questions about his use of first class air travel and such pricey security precautions as a $43,000 anti-eavesdropping phone booth for his office. The lobbyist, J Steven Hart, sent an email to friends and colleagues on Friday, announcing that he is leaving Williams and Jensen, the powerhouse Washington lobbying firm where he was chairman. Hart, 64, said he had been planning to retire in November but intense scrutiny resulting from the unusual rental arrangement with Pruitt had led him to expedite his departure. “I want to thank so many of you who have taken the time to send me and Vicki notes and flowers as we learned a new and personal meaning of ‘Fake News’ and ‘Real Friends’.” he wrote. “They say if you need a friend in Washington, get a dog. We now know that adage is not always accurate.” Pruitt has described Hart as a friend and insisted that he paid a market rate for the condo. Comparable properties nearby are publicly listed at more than double what he paid. Campaign finance records show the lobbyist hosted a 2014 fundraiser for Pruitt’s state re-election effort where more than three dozen OGE executives cut checks, even though he was running without a Democratic opponent. The EPA press office did not respond to a request for comment.

The Story: The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, has leased a Washington D.C. condo, at a rate lower than market, owned by...

Congress weakened the DEA's ability to go after drug distributors at the height of the opioid epidemic. #Tucker

President Trump is picking Andrew Wheeler, a former lobbyist and senior Republican congressional staffer, to be the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) deputy administrator. The White House announced the nomination Thursday afternoon. Wheeler works at Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting, where his clients have included coal mining giant Murray Energy Corp. and uranium miner Energy Fuels Resources Inc. He was previously registered with Congress as a lobbyist, but removed his registration in August. “Andrew will bring extraordinary credentials to EPA that will greatly assist the Agency as we work to implement our agenda,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement. Before that, he worked at the EPA’s toxics office. Pruitt is currently the only Senate-confirmed official at the EPA. Five other officials have been nominated and gone through hearings, but the full Senate has not voted on any of them. “I am pleased that President Trump has nominated Andrew Wheeler to serve as deputy administrator at the EPA.