Free Republic

Starting next month, Mary Landrieu is going to have a lot more time on her hands. That can be a great thing if you’re really looking forward to finally catching up on the Grand Theft Auto online game series, but such pursuits don’t really do much to pay the bills. The soon to be former Senator probably won’t have to worry about that too much, though. She’s reportedly a very hot topic on K Street . Mary Landrieu may have lost her Senate seat, but the Louisiana Democrat is a hot commodity on K Street. Several headhunters, veteran lobbyists...

ObamaCare has become big business for an elite network of Washington lobbyists and consultants who helped shape the law from the inside. More than 30 former administration officials, lawmakers and congressional staffers who worked on the healthcare law have set up shop on K Street since 2010. ObamaCare has become big business for an elite network of Washington lobbyists and consultants who helped shape the law from the inside. More than 30 former administration officials, lawmakers and congressional staffers who worked on the healthcare law have set up shop on K Street since 2010.

With projections of a GOP win growing daily, nervousness in Senate committee offices has turned to panic as an army of Democratic staffers braces to be fired, replaced by a Republican majority and their aides. The spoils of political war? Estimates are that 300-600 Democratic committee and personal staff jobs would be on the chopping block if the Republicans pull off the expected victory. “There will be a mass exodus of Senate Democrat staff from committees,” said one insider. And Republicans will get to hire hundreds more aides. A loss on Tuesday that keeps the Democrats in charge of the...

Eleven lawmakers backed by liberal advocacy group J Street either voted against or refused to vote in favor of increased funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which has been a critical life-saver during Hamas’s latest assault on the Jewish state. Congress overwhelmingly approved an emergency increase in funding for Iron Dome this month by a vote of 395 to 8. Three of the eight who voted against the funding increase are J Street-backed lawmakers. Another eight abstained from the pro-Israel vote and also are financially supported by the group. J Street’s political action committee (PAC) has already donated...

Wonder of wonders: The Washington press corps woke up. Finally, mainstream journalists are onto Barack Obama's game. Their breaking-news shocker? Turns out all that "hope and change" stuff was just hot air. A new report from the D.C.-based press shows that -- gasp -- the White House is infested with Beltway lobbyists. Good morning, sleepyheads! According to Politico's analysis published on Monday, the "Obama administration has hired about 70 previously registered corporate, trade association and for-hire lobbyists. And many of these former lobbyists work at the highest levels of government." Wait, there's more. The "most transparent administration ever" is playing...

Pick a job, any job. Outgoing House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s career in Congress might be over, but he’s got plenty of suitors on Wall Street and in the National Republican Committee. Cantor was recently spotted at an exclusive Hamptons party, rubbing elbows with Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfien and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, according to Politico, and seemed to be pining for a finance job in New York. The seven-term congressman from Virginia lost his primary last month to Tea Party favorite Dave Brat. Cantor will step down from his leadership role at the end of July, but will...

If the “well-placed” source found by The Sydney Morning Herald is to be believed, it seems former President Bill Clinton went into Hulk mode on a Swiss hotel mirror after hearing Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup. The Morning Herald reports : “Bill Clinton looked anything but happy as he strode into the Savoy Baur en Ville hotel in Zurich in December 2010. The receptionists could tell he was irritated, but had no idea just how angry he was. After closing the door to his suite, he reached for an ornament on a table and threw it at a...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) -- About four years ago, the Google team trying to develop cars driven by computers - not people - concluded that sooner than later, the technology would be ready for the masses. There was one big problem: No state had even considered whether driverless cars should be legal. And yet this week, Google said it wants to give Californians access to a small fleet of prototypes it will make without a steering wheel or pedals. The plan is possible because, by this time next year, driverless cars will be legal in the tech giant's home state.

Surprising nobody, data from Maplight shows that the Republican and Democrat lawmakers opposing both Title II ISP reclassification and net neutrality rules receive 2.3 times more campaign contributions from the cable industry than average. Twenty-nine members of Congress own stock in Comcast, making Comcast the 25th most held stock among members of Congress. Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) owns more Comcast stock than any other member. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology has received more money from the cable industry than any other member of the House of Representatives: $109,250 over the last...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - New York state taxpayers are funding the retirement pensions for more than 100 private employees of groups that lobby Albany on behalf of local governments even though they are not public employees. The state is already paying for the retirement of 65 employees who counted one of the following nonprofits as their employers: New York State Conference of Mayors, New York State School Boards Association, New York State Association of Counties and the New York State Association of Towns. Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, and Assemblyman Sean Ryan, D-Buffalo, have introduced bills in each house this spring to...

They say Washington, D.C. is Hollywood for ugly people. And the biggest story splashed across the political tabloids is the now very ugly divorce of Tony and Heather Podesta, lobbyists extraordinaire. It’s not ugly in the way we’re used to. This is a decoupling carried out with a conscious air of respect and admiration, tarnished only by the soulless machinations of lawyers that we have come to expect wherever nontrivial sums are involved. No, it’s ugly because of the lifestyle being revealed around these rich and famous power-brokers. And no, it’s not just a matter of the “museum-quality art” they...

Calling the current $174,000 annual salary (not counting perks) an “injustice,” Representative James Moran (D-Virginia) vowed to “right this wrong.” “Congress is like the board of directors of the largest economic entity in the world,” Moran contended. “With a GDP of over $16 trillion we preside over the distribution of more wealth than any other board of directors. We deserve a bigger piece of this pie.” The Congressman suggested that “a salary of $2 million per year might be a good starting point. In total, that would only amount to around a billion per year share of our $16 trillion...

Obama's & His Dark Sayings; The Wrath of God On America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrp6wUkTGjY

Three high-level veterans of former governor Bob McDonnell's administration, two with South Hampton Roads ties, have newly registered as lobbyists for the pro-Medicaid expansion Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association. They are Janet Vestal Kelly, a past secretary of the commonwealth who attended Regent University, and her husband, Ryan; former U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake of Norfolk, who was McDonnell's public transit director; and Matt Cobb, a deputy health secretary under McDonnell.(snip) The hospitals are leading a push to expand Medicaid, a government subsidized health care program, to as many as 400,000 uninsured low-income, Virginians newly eligible under the federal Affordable Care...

Democrat nominee for the Governor's Mansion in the Lone Star State is finding herself at the receiving end of a new ethics violation complaint filed with the Texas government, as reported by Fox News on Jan. 30, 2014 via Watchdog.org on Jan. 29, 2014 State Senator and darling of the left since her recent pro-abortion filibuster in the Texas State Legislature, Wendy Davis has just been figuratively slapped with accusations that she failed to disclose income as well as ties to lobbyists as required by state law for those seeking elected office. The editor of the citizens rights/journalism activists group...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent more than $50 million on lobbying last year as it pushed for action on immigration reform. Typically the biggest K Street spender in Washington, the business group funneled about $52.7 million toward lobbying efforts in 2013, according to disclosure records. In the last quarter of the year, the group spent almost $16.5 million. Some of that money went toward lobbying on immigration reform, which is a top legislative priority for the business community. The Chamber played an instrumental role in getting a comprehensive immigration reform bill through the Senate last year by helping the...

Last year, while writing about the sleazy and self-serving behavior at the IRS, I came up with a Theorem that explains day-to-day behavior in Washington. It might not be as pithy as Mitchell’s Law, and it doesn’t contain an important policy prescription like Mitchell’s Golden Rule, but it could be the motto of the federal government. Simply stated, government is a racket that benefits the DC political elite by taking money from average people in America I realize this is an unhappy topic to be discussing during the Christmas season, but the American people need to realize that they are...

Retiring lawmakers are likely to find a tough job market next year on K Street. Several lawmakers — many of them veterans with centrist bonafides — plan to retire after the 2014 election, making them prime recruits for lobby firms, trade groups and corporate boards. While corporate headhunters see a future on K Street for many of the retiring lawmakers, they warn that sluggish lobbying revenues and gridlock on Capitol Hill are depressing demand. “With revenues down, it's not going to be as fruitful. It will slowly pick up but we are still in a slump when it comes to...

Politicians like to say they hate lobbyists. This is false. They love lobbyists and they love being lobbied. What politicians hate is being lobbied in public, in earshot of their constituents.Keeping disagreements and policy debates behind the closed doors of Capitol Hill and K Street animates Democrats' fight for campaign finance restrictions. But it also lies at the heart of the Republican leadership's war with Tea Party groups.Take Byron Dorgan, the former Democratic senator. In his 2006 book he complained of “legions of lobbyists” bringing “barrels of political donations.” Dorgan's wife, Kimberly, has since 1999 been a lobbyist for the...

Lobbyists are minting money from the surge in government regulations. Top K Street officials say their regulatory work has accelerated in recent years thanks to the sprawling rule-making from the healthcare and financial reform laws. “We’re in this situation now, where we have this strong executive branch [that is] taking full advantage of being able to do whatever they want,” said Rich Gold, a partner at Holland & Knight. While revenue from traditional lobbying work has flatlined, K Street firms say their regulatory practices are thriving. Several lobbyists said federal agencies are increasingly “where all the action is.” The increase...