Posted on 06/26/2007 11:04:12 AM PDT by Politicalmom
No, young lady, you listen to yourself. You are so off base here it is comical. Yet your naivete is scary as you are apparently old enough to vote considering how long you have been a member here.
I suggest you reread my posts on this thread. You have absolutely no concept of the work done by lobbyists, your only knowlege is information pushed by the lamestream media. When you are interested in openning your closed mind on the subject, let me know, I will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
As to your assinine Kennedy reference, let's just say you should hope my husband doesn't happen upon it when he logs on later.
Better include that in your list too Gabz, I'm certain there is an evil podiatrical lobby out there somewhere.
:^P
Sorry to bring you onto a thread that yielded attacks, but I think most people are interested to read your insights based on your experiences in the lobbying field.
I sure many people will and they will clearly understand the self-image of a lobbyist and just what a lobbyist thinks of the voters. Very educational.
ROFL.............one of the very first clients I had was the Delaware Podiatric Association. I kid you not.
You poor delusional child.
Your disparagement of what I did for more than 20 years means no nevermind to me, as I am one of the first to fault those who break the rules. I do the same with the news media because I started out as a political reporter.
Enjoy making yourself look foolish, I sure am enjoying your folly.
Welcome to the Machine
July/August 2003
When presidents pick someone to fill a job in the government, it’s typically a very public affair. The White House circulates press releases and background materials. Congress holds a hearing, where some members will pepper the nominee with questions and others will shower him or her with praise. If the person in question is controversial or up for an important position, they’ll rate a profile or two in the papers. But there’s one confirmation hearing you won’t hear much about. It’s convened every Tuesday morning by Rick Santorum, the junior senator from Pennsylvania, in the privacy of a Capitol Hill conference room, for a handpicked group of two dozen or so Republican lobbyists. Occasionally, one or two other senators or a representative from the White House will attend. Democrats are not invited, and neither is the press.
The chief purpose of these gatherings is to discuss jobs—specifically, the top one or two positions at the biggest and most important industry trade associations and corporate offices centered around Washington’s K Street, a canyon of nondescript office buildings a few blocks north of the White House that is to influence-peddling what Wall Street is to finance. In the past, those people were about as likely to be Democrats as Republicans, a practice that ensured K Street firms would have clout no matter which party was in power. But beginning with the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994, and accelerating in 2001, when George W. Bush became president, the GOP has made a determined effort to undermine the bipartisan complexion of K Street.
And Santorum’s Tuesday meetings are a crucial part of that effort. Every week, the lobbyists present pass around a list of the jobs available and discuss whom to support. Santorum’s responsibility is to make sure each one is filled by a loyal Republican—a senator’s chief of staff, for instance, or a top White House aide, or another lobbyist whose reliability has been demonstrated. After Santorum settles on a candidate, the lobbyists present make sure it is known whom the Republican leadership favors. “The underlying theme was [to] place Republicans in key positions on K Street. Everybody taking part was a Republican and understood that that was the purpose of what we were doing,” says Rod Chandler, a retired congressman and lobbyist who has participated in the Santorum meetings. “It’s been a very successful effort.”
(snip)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0307.confessore.html
You are no longer amusing, you have become boring.
Maybe you can pressure Congress to pass another law to protect you from disagreement.
I KNEW IT!
:^D
Maybe you can spend a bit of time to learn about that which you are disparaging.......you have no clue.
BTW, 98% of my lobbying, when I was being paid, was on the state level.
Don’t forget that every time you call or write an elected official or support the campaign of a candidate, you have joined the ranks of the evil lobbyists.
It gets better, my FRiend,,,,,chiropractors, optomotrists, and funeral directors........
What’s in It for Me?
When it broke early in 1991, the scandal resulting from the government sting known as AzScam exposed the sewer of corruption and blind ambition that is Arizona politics. What’s in It for Me? is the astonishing, often hilarious inside story of what AzScam revealed and how it worked, chronicled by the remarkable man who made it work.
Working with the Phoenix District Attorney’s office, JOSEPH STEDINO set up Operation “Desert Sting.” Stedino, a gruffly suave ex-Mafia crony and Las Vegas talk show host, became Tony Vincent, a flashy, freespending Mafia capo looking to ensure the passage of a bill to legalize gambling in Arizona. As word of Vincent’s willingness to buy votes spread among Arizona politicians, they eagerly lined up to have him grease their palms. Some he bought for as little as $600. Others, like Representative Don Kenney, the conservative Mormon chairman of the Arizona House Judiciary Committee, exacted over $50,000 in bribes. Over seventeen months, Vincent doled out a total of more than $300,000 in bribes, while police and prosecutors recorded it all on tape, ensuring that this sting would be one of the most successful ever. Ultimately, twenty legislators, lobbyists, and political insiders would be indicted as a result of Desert Sting.
What’s in It for Me? offers a panoramic view of every conceivable type of political chicanery. In these pages we witness:
legislators jockeying for the seats that will give them the most revealing views of their female colleagues
a lobbyist requesting that Vincent rub out a competing lobbyist
a former sheriff offering his services as a hit man
lobbyists peddling “studies” whose results are tailored to clients’ specifications by members of the Arizona State University faculty and countless more examples of how politics in Arizona — and the rest of this country — really works.
(snip)
http://www.darymatera.com/init.html
Just remember to never call or write any of your elected officials, if you forget and make contact with them you become ne of the evil lobbyists.
Have you contacted one of your elected officials lately? I hope not, because then you are an evil lobbyist looking out for a special interest. You would never dare cast yourself in such a light, now would you?
Congress Finds Ways to Avoid Lobbyist Limits
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
New York Times
February 10, 2007
The 110th Congress opened with the passage of new rules intended to curb the influence of lobbyists by prohibiting them from treating lawmakers to meals, trips, stadium box seats or the discounted use of private jets.
But it did not take long for lawmakers to find ways to keep having lobbyist-financed fun.
In just the last two months, lawmakers invited lobbyists to help pay for a catalog of outings: lavish birthday parties in a lawmaker’s honor ($1,000 a lobbyist), martinis and margaritas at Washington restaurants (at least $1,000), a California wine-tasting tour (all donors welcome), hunting and fishing trips (typically $5,000), weekend golf tournaments ($2,500 and up), a Presidents’ Day weekend at Disney World ($5,000), parties in South Beach in Miami ($5,000), concerts by the Who or Bob Seger ($2,500 for two seats), and even Broadway shows like “Mary Poppins” and “The Drowsy Chaperone” (also $2,500 for two).
The lobbyists and their employers typically end up paying for the events, but within the new rules.
Instead of picking up the lawmaker’s tab, lobbyists pay a political fund-raising committee set up by the lawmaker. In turn, the committee pays the legislator’s way.
(snip)
http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/in-the-news/2007/february/page.jsp?itemID=29471804
Wow 1 million over twenty years.....Fred was cashing in big time.....a total of $50,000 a year....must have bought a new yacht every year...
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