$50,000 per year.
Chicken feed by Washington D.C. standards.
Or it is the equal of... 
20 poverty speeches by John 'Pretty Boy' Edwards.
Run, Fred, Run!
Posted on 06/26/2007 11:04:12 AM PDT by Politicalmom
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Fred Thompson, a likely Republican presidential candidate, on Tuesday defended his work as a Washington lobbyist, telling The Associated Press that lobbying is an important part of life because "government's got their hands in everything."
The actor and former U.S. senator from Tennessee added, "Nobody yet has pointed out any of my clients that didn't deserve representation."
Thompson, who likes to cast himself as a political outsider, earned more than $1 million lobbying the federal government for more than 20 years. He lobbied for a savings-and-loan deregulation bill that helped hasten the industry's collapse and a failed nuclear energy project that cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars.
In a brief interview with the AP, Thompson said he expects to hear criticism about his lobbying activities as he moves closer to declaring his candidacy. Opponents emphasized his lobbying work during his Senate races in 1994 and 1996.
"They'll talk about it — probably with the same results," he said.
More than 200 supporters gathered earlier Tuesday at the Nashville airport to greet Thompson. He told the crowd he's "testing the waters" about a run, "but the waters feel pretty warm to me."
Thompson was scheduled to attend a fundraiser in Nashville later in the day.
Thompson declined to give a specific date for an official announcement about a presidential run.
"I have a general time in mind," he said. "You're either running or not running. I think the steps we're taking are pretty obvious."
Your own link quotes a comment supposedly made on the subject 60 years ago. The practice has been around for a long time. And while I've acknowleged there is always potential for abuse... (how did I just know your article was about Abramoff?) I steadfastly maintain that most lobbyists including Fred Thompson, and their clients, are not shysters trying to overpower the world.
Perhaps you'd be interested to read the comment of another Freeper who has personal experience with lobbying and the integrity of lobbyists.
See THIS LINK and here is the main content.
I've known many, many lobbyists over the years and consider a good number of them to be very close friends. In my dealings with them I have found the vast majority actually do believe in the position their client has. Those that are just in it for the money don't seem to last very long, because their arguements are never sincere and can be seen through.
There are some out there that are truly sinister, but just like every other profession, the few bad apples do in the entire bunch.
I did it for 20 years and never took on a paid or pro-bono client with an issue I could not personally stand with.
Courtesy ping Gabz.
Look, if you or a loved one is a lobbyist I’m sorry; but, lobbying is simply bribing politicians and pushing legislation that the voters don’t want. The amnesty bill is a perfect example. Only the rich can influence Congress now days. Lobbyists are the paid muscle.
No, I'm not a lobbyist. But in my experience I have seen that they can be helpful to businesses and industries trying to avoid unfair government intervention or even hostile manipulation by other special interests like environmental whackos.
So while your comment may be true in certain instances, there are many more situations where that simply isn't the case. But I don't think I'll get you to see that....
Well, we’ll see how Mexico handles “lobbying” once it annexes the southwest after the amnesty bill is forced through by successful lobbyists against the will of the people.
Oh my. And this has to do with Fred Thompson....how?
I know, I know.....he did some lobbying at one point in his career. That must make him somehow responsible, despite congressional efforts that go back decades.
Did you ever consider that anti-immigration/amnesty efforts might be employing lobbyists? And if so, in your mind would their efforts also be equally nefarious?
I’m not certain we have anything constructive to gain by continuing to post on this. But thanks for the dialogue.
Or it is the equal of... 20 poverty speeches by John 'Pretty Boy' Edwards.
Run, Fred, Run!
You obviously know nothing about what lobbying is or isn't.
Any time you contact one of your elected representatives, at whatever level of government, you are actually lobbying. Do you actually wish to discourage constituents form contacting their elected representatives?
prairiebreeze (who I have pinged to this out of courtesy) brings up an excellent point. There are lobbyists out there fighting AGAINST the amnesty travesty are they bribing legislators and pushing legislation voters don't want?
Only the rich can influence Congress now days
You haven't been paying attention, have you? This would have been a done deal a week or more ago if that were true, and it is still not a done deal.
Lobbyists are the paid muscle.
As I said above, you don't know anything about lobbying or lobbyists. In over 20 years I never once compromised my principals for any client, and I am comfortable stating that is true for the vast majority of the lobbyists I have known over the years.
More “good” things from lobbyists:
NEA: 30 Years of Lobbying Democrats
Over these past three decades, the NEA has carpet-bombed the political landscape with money. In just the one-year period from September 2004 through August 2005, the NEA spent $25 million on political activities and lobbying, and another $65.5 million on contributions, gifts and grants.
From 1990 through 2002, the NEA was the nation’s second biggest political giver. (Unions comprised six of the 10 top political contributors.)
The NEA’s political support goes almost exclusively to the Democratic Party. Between 1990 and 2002, 95% of NEA candidate and party donations went to Democrats. After the 1976 Carter endorsement, they’ve been strong backers of every subsequent Democratic presidential nominee. As University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato once observed, “It’s fair to say that the Democrats would be nowhere without them.”
What have the NEA’s tens of millions of dollars bought? The first prize was the 1980 establishment of the Department of Education itself. In subsequent years, there have been repeated hikes in education spending at the federal, state and local levels.
(snip)
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=11785
Feeble.
This is the guy you think is going to outhustle Pelosi and Reid? Geez.
Gingrich: Abramoff Scandal Threatens ‘Contract’ Legacy
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
January 05, 2006
(excerpts)
Gingrich told reporters that the more he has “heard about the Abramoff scandal, the angrier I’ve gotten.” The former speaker said he found particularly “troubling” the amounts of money being spent on Washington lobbyists, including more than $80 million by a Native American group.
Instead, “the Abramoff scandal has to be seen as part of a much larger and deeper problem,” Gingrich asserted, before quoting Lord Acton’s famous phrase: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
“This is a profound problem, not just a surface-level scandal,” Gingrich said. As an example of the unfair advantage wealthy incumbents have in the electoral process, Gingrich referred to New Jersey Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine. “One person spent $100 million to first buy a Senate seat and then buy a governorship while voting for the McCain-Feingold bill to limit every middle-class citizen to $2,500 in an election,” Gingrich said.
“There’s something inherently wrong with that,” Gingrich charged.
Gingrich also criticized lawmakers for “pouring millions of dollars into tax-exempt 527s” and using contributions from foreign governments and other entities to “build a wall of money to protect themselves from America,” which he noted is “a bipartisan phenomenon.
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=%5CPolitics%5Carchive%5C200601%5CPOL20060105a.html
No problem, you hate lobbyists.............just fine.
I suggest you participate in no campaigns for anything and do not ever contact your elected representatives at any government level for any reason, because if you do, you are lobbying and since that is such an evil thing in your book you would never dream of doing such, would you?
Sorry, sweetie, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Give me a list of your issues and your positions on them, I guarantee I can find out the names of all the lobbyists working on your side of those issues.
Ex-congressman begins prison sentence
Updated: 3:07 p.m. MT March 4, 2006
SAN DIEGO - Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham began his first day in prison after being sentenced to eight years and four months for taking $2.4 million in homes, yachts and other bribes in a corruption scheme unmatched in the annals of Congress.
(snip)
Cunningham pleaded guilty Nov. 28 to charges of tax evasion and a conspiracy involving four others. Defense contractor Mitchell Wade pleaded guilty last month to plying Cunningham with more than $1 million in gifts over four years. The remaining three coconspirators have been identified as Brent Wilkes, a San Diego defense contractor; New York businessman Thomas Kontogiannis; and John T. Michael, Kontogiannis’ nephew.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11655893/
Gabz, FOFL over your tag line, LOL!
So you’re going to hang your hat on the Free Enterprise Education Institute where Steven Milloy, a libertarian from the Cato Institute, gets his funding from ExxonMobil?
You can do that if you want, and you can support open borders like the Cato Institute does, too. I’m sure ExxonMobil only wants what’s best for your family, LOL.
Oh please, you are becoming desperately disingenuous with comments like that.
The link points out what I’ve been saying all along that not every lobbying effort is sinister or designed to bring down the country, in fact quite the contrary.
That you can’t or won’t acknowlege that speaks either to your limited ability to grasp concepts, your need to continue to cling to your position despite any and all challenges, or your attempt to smear Fred’s career in order to try further another candidate, without coming out and actually stating what candidate you do or would support.
And with that, I’ve exhausted my patience with you. Bandwidth is a resource too, you know.
Your blindness in regard to what lobbyists actually do is actually quite comical.
Are you aware that just by posting on the internet you are actually helping to pay a lobbyist? By paying your bills to your ISP you are affording them to lobby against restrictions on our internet access.....you best cancel your subscription, can’t taint yourself with the funding of evil lobbyists, can you? And while you are at it, ditch all of your utilities, your mortgage, bank accounts, credit cards, all means of transportation other than your feet, and of course your job.
Every penny you earn and every penny you spend is in part thanks to the lobbying efforts of someone, or goes to pay for those efforts.
Unlike you, I actually do know what I’m talking about when it comes to lobbying and lobbyists. Come back and talk to me when you have acquired 20+ years of experience on a daily basis with lobbyists. By then you might possibly know what you are talking about.
We are too harsh on lobbyists.
I mean often, they are the ONLY people who actually read the bills our Congresscritters vote on.
Lobbyist talk.
Listen to yourself. Senator Kennedy and you must make waitress sandwiches together!
If it wasn't for the stupid voters, the world would be perfect and the multi-nationals could save our souls.
I may be harsh, but I’ve earned the right to be, I’ve been a lobbyist for over 20 years.
And you’re right, it is quite often that the lobbyists ARE the only ones who actually read the bills.......on any governmental level.
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