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Title: Obama and McCain's Lobbyist Ties
Source:
CNN
URL Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/29/lobbyists/index.html
Published: Jul 29, 2008
Author: David Mattingly and John Jones
Post Date: 2008-07-29 16:17:42 by Rupert_Pupkin
Keywords: Obama, McCain, Lobbyist
Views: 229
Comments: 7
Analysis: Obama, McCain both have lobbyist ties Story Highlights John McCain, Barack Obama both speak out against lobbyists' influence Obama vowed to not accept money from Washington lobbyists Obama campaign says it does get money from state, local lobbyists Candidates can avoid lobbyists but still rake in millions from bundlers From David Mattingly and Joe Johns CNN (CNN) -- Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama like to portray themselves as Washington outsiders, but neither candidate is completely clean of the influence of lobbyists. Politicians know that tough talk on lobbyists sounds good to the public, but the reality is that top level candidates can't live without them, experts say. "They know they work with lobbyists. They have staffers who have been lobbyists. They are going to depend on lobbyists for a lot of the information on the decisions they make if they get elected. So, absolutely there's a lot of hypocrisy involved," said Larry Sabato, a politics professor at the University of Virginia. During this campaign, lobbyists and trade groups donated $181,000 to McCain, while Obama received $6,000, according to the New York Times. In all, lobbyists reported contributions of $4.7 million to Democrats and $3.3 million to Republicans, the Times reported this week. But those figures only include registered lobbyists and trade groups -- not big companies that could have lobbyist ties. Still, both candidates maintain they are above the influence of lobbyists. Obama has pledged not to take money from lobbyists, but even within that promise there are loopholes. His campaign says it steers clear of registered federal lobbyists, but it does take money from lobbyists at state and local levels. The senator from Illinois also has taken in $18.8 million from lawyers and law firms, according to estimates from the Center for Responsive Politics, and some of those firms employ lobbyists for special interest clients. Watch where Obama's money comes from » "People who are not directly registered as lobbyists but perhaps working for a company, maybe working for a company in a capacity that's tangentially related to the government affairs, can give money," said Lisa Lerer, who covers lobbying for Politico. "And just because you don't take money from lobbyists, of course, does not mean you're not taking money from big business." This past April, McCain spoke out against lobbyists, saying "workers and entrepreneurs of America are taken for granted by their government while the lobbyists and special pleaders are seldom turned away." Watch more on McCain's interactions with lobbyists » But McCain raised eyebrows in 2006 when he attended a fancy soiree of the little-known but well-respected International Republican Institute in Washington. A video from the group's Web site shows the chairman of AT&T -- which had just donated $200,000 to the institute -- introducing McCain, who is still chairman of its board. McCain at the time was fresh off a term as chairman of the Senate committee that regulates telephone companies. AT&T said there were no strings attached to the donation, but that's not always the point. "Access is the name of the game. It's getting in the door to see the candidate so you can make your case. Sometimes you don't even need to see the candidate, you just talk to staff members, the people who influence a candidate's decision," Sabato said. IRI gets almost all of its money from the federal government to do things like promote democracy around the world and help governments run more efficiently -- a cause McCain believes in. A former IRI staffer who also worked for McCain's 2000 presidential campaign said that while the IRI event may have brought McCain and lobbyists together, the event did not involve any favors or deals. Additionally, a candidate can completely avoid lobbyists and rake in millions from so-called bundlers, deep-pocket contributors who work to get others to fork over the maximum individual contribution. Sheila Krumholz, executive director for the Center for Responsive Politics, says the organization has been working to find out more about bundlers such as how much they have raised and where they work, so they can better identify the source of the money. "We know that Barack Obama has raised at least $52.2 million from bundlers, or about 18 percent of his overall receipts," Krumholz said. Obama's campaign figures show that 94 percent of the money going to Obama comes from people writing checks for $200 or less. CNN obtained an e-mail in which a top-dollar fundraiser promised a private meeting with Obama for Iranian Americans if the group could raise $250,000. The Obama campaign said the e-mailer was wrong to make such a promise and fell short of their financial goal. A spokesman said Obama did speak to the group for about 15 minutes, pausing for handshakes and photos. In fact, Obama's campaign is offering a chance to meet their candidate to anyone who joins their donor pool. Obama on his Web site tells visitors anyone who donates any amount by July 31 could be selected to come to Denver, Colorado, to join him backstage at the the Democratic convention.
Poster Comment: Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama like to portray themselves as Washington outsiders, but neither candidate is completely clean of the influence of lobbyists. "Outsider" and "maverick" - when you hear those words from a mass media darling candidate, the first thing you should know is that they're anything but that. And when they talk about "reform" and "change," twice as many alarms should go off. Everyone knows that Mad Mac was bought and paid for long ago, whether it was by Charles Keating, La Raza, Anheuser-Busch, or the Bonano crime family. Finally the truth is beginning to leak out about Obama too, for anyone who was dumb enough to buy into his fake, squeaky-clean messiah image.
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#1. To: Rupert_Pupkin (#0)
Perhaps Mom and Pop Black in Harlem did NOT contribute that $250 MILLION to Obummer?
Nor did misty-eyed college students, but it sure makes them feel good to think so and pretend they're backing an "outsider" grassroots candidate.
No help now, let me figure this one out by myself. What interest wants this country permanently mired in the ME quagmire??? Just maybe they have $250 million in change lying around? But now, lets see, they is all white folks, boy this is gonna be a tuff one to crack.
Pick me, pick me, Cynicom, I found the answer to your question. According to CNN, it was Iranian-Americans who were trying to buy influence with Obama. " CNN obtained an e-mail in which a top-dollar fundraiser promised a private meeting with Obama for Iranian Americans if the group could raise $250,000. The Obama campaign said the e-mailer was wrong to make such a promise and fell short of their financial goal. A spokesman said Obama did speak to the group for about 15 minutes, pausing for handshakes and photos. "
John McCain funded by Soros since 2001 Candidate's Reform Institute also accepted funds from Teresa Kerry By Jerome R. Corsi © 2008 WorldNetDaily As Sen. John McCain assumes the GOP front-runner mantle, his long-standing, but little-noticed association with donors such as George Soros and Teresa Heinz Kerry is receiving new attention among his Republican critics. In 2001, McCain founded the Alexandria, Va.-based Reform Institute as a vehicle to receive funding from George Soros' Open Society Institute and Teresa Heinz Kerry's Tides Foundation and several other prominent non-profit organizations. McCain used the institute to promote his political agenda and provide compensation to key campaign operatives between elections. In 2006, the Arizona senator was forced to sever his formal ties with the Reform Institute after a controversial $200,000 contribution from Cablevision came to light. McCain solicited the donation for the Reform Institute using his membership on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, he supported Cablevision's push to introduce the more profitable al la carte pricing, rather than packages of TV programming. (Story continues below) adsonar_placementId=1270202;adsonar_pid=663759;adsonar_ps=1451068;adsonar_zw=300;adsonar_zh=250;adsonar_jv="ads.adsonar.com"; Yet, the Reform Institute still employs the McCain campaign's Hispanic outreach director, Juan Hernandez, as a senior fellow of its Comprehensive Immigration Reform Initiative. As WND reported, Hernandez serves as a non-paid volunteer for the McCain campaign. A dual Mexican-U.S. citizen, he was a member of former President Vicente Fox's cabinet, representing an estimate 24 million Mexicans living abroad. Hernandez, with a "Mexico first" message, has argued aggressively against building a fence on the Mexican border, insisting the frontier needed to remain wide open so illegal immigrants could easily enter the U.S. The July 6, 2001, homepage of the Reform Institute archived on the Internet lists founder McCain as chairman of the group's advisory committee. Prominent senior officials on the McCain 2008 presidential campaign staff found generously paid positions at the Reform Institute following the senator's unsuccessful run for the White House in 2000. Rick Davis, McCain's current campaign manager, was paid $110,000 a year by the Reform Institute for a consulting position, according to the group's 2003 Form 990 filing with the IRS. In 2004, Davis advanced to the position of Reform Institute president, with an annual salary of $120,000, according to the group's 2004 Form 990. In 2005, Davis remained president, but his salary dropped back to $45,000 a year, with a time commitment of five hours per week, according the 2005 Form 990. Carla Eudy, a senior advisor on McCain's 2008 presidential campaign who until recently headed fundraising, was paid $177,885 in 2005 to serve as the Reform Institute's secretary-treasurer. Other McCain presidential campaign staffers who have found employment at the Reform Institute include Trevor Potter, McCain's 2000 legal counsel, and Crystal Benton, the senator's former press secretary, who served as institute's communications director in 2005 for an annual salary of $52,083. The Reform Institute regularly has supported McCain in various legislative efforts, including on campaign finance reform, global warming and "comprehensive immigration reform," all efforts widely opposed by many in the party's conservative base. Arianna Huffington, syndicated columnist and creator of the HuffingtonPost.com, has served on the Reform Institute's advisory committee since the group's inception. According to FrontPage Magazine, Teresa Heinz Kerry has provided more than $4 million to the Tides Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by anti-war activist Drummond Pike in 1976 with a history of funding causes such as abortion, homosexual-rights activism and open borders. Financial contributors while McCain was chairman of the Reform Institute also have included the Educational Foundation of America, a group that supports abortion and opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve. The Soros-Kerry funding connection with McCain was first exposed by Ed Morrissey at the Captains Quarters blog in 2005. Subsequently, David Horowitz's DiscoverTheNetworks.org website and Michelle Malkin's blog gave renewed attention to the Reform Institute's funding ties. "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
Being true, we need to invade Iran at once, they may not have WMD but they have money and we cant have them keeping it.
I think that's the general idea and media cheerleaders for another useless ME war for Israel/the MIC/oil industry -like CNN - are trying their very best to promote that idea to fruition.
Finally the truth is beginning to leak out about Obama too, for anyone who was dumb enough to buy into his fake, squeaky-clean messiah image.
#2. To: Cynicom (#1)
#3. To: Rupert_Pupkin (#2)
Nor did misty-eyed college students
#4. To: Cynicom, All (#3)
What interest wants this country permanently mired in the ME quagmire??? Just maybe they have $250 million in change lying around? But now, lets see, they is all white folks, boy this is gonna be a tuff one to crack.
#5. To: Rupert_Pupkin (#0)
ELECTION 2008
Posted: February 12, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
George Soros
#6. To: scrapper2 (#4)
According to CNN, it was Iranian-Americans who were trying to buy influence with Obama.
#7. To: Cynicom (#6)
Being true, we need to invade Iran at once, they may not have WMD but they have money and we cant have them keeping it.
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