The very first fact every American must reconcile with is the
fact that “lobbying” elected representatives, like other forms of prostitution,
is as old as the constitutional republic itself.
Ever since the moment that our founding colonies ratified
these words, “Governments instituted among Men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed,” and established that we the people
were endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, namely “freedom
of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” Americans have
been using a myriad of mechanisms by which to do just that - to “lobby” their
elected representatives.
The second fact is that all of those mechanisms are varying
forms of “lobbying.” When one seeks to lobby elected representatives, he/she has
several choices as to how to go about that task.
They can…
· Send their money directly to the representative they hope to
influence
· Send their money to a political party in an effort to influence the
entire party
· Send their money to a PAC (issue driven Political Action Committee) to
influence the issues
· Send their money to a 527 organization that shares their interests in
certain policies
· Send their money to their union, who will use it to collectively
influence policy decisions
· Send their money to a hired spokesperson, a lobbyist to speak on their
behalf
Make no mistake… EVERY penny spent on politics or politicians, no matter
the method, is a penny spent in an effort to influence policy decisions. So,
when we discuss “lobbying” we must discuss all of the many ways Americans seek
to influence public policy, as all of them are lobby efforts. They are all means
by which the people use their free speechto petition the government
for a redress of grievances.
The
Lobby Firm
Since Washington DC is
largely run by lawyers, it should come as no surprise to anyone that lawyers and
law firms find themselves the hired communicators of the politically active. The
Top DC lobby firms reads like a who’s who of the Bar
Association.
If one truly seeks to
stop all hired lobbying in Washington DC, one should begin by not sending any
more lawyers to Washington DC.
So far in 2008, hired
lobbyists have reported spending more than $88.7 million to influence Washington
policies. The top 20 lobby clients focus on numerous issues and they spend money on
both sides of the political aisle. Where the money is spent only depends upon
two factors… (1) Who has the power to make a difference? (2) Who is sympathetic
to the cause?
Whichever political party
is in power is who will receive the lion’s share of the lobbyist funds.
People who hire lobbyists expect results and you can’t get those results by
spending money on people without power.
If you are looking to
follow lobbyist money, you must also follow the money of lawyers and law firms.
So far for 2008, lawyers and law firms are the second largest private lobby in
Washington DC giving more than $24.8 million, 75.7% of it to the Barack Obama
campaign.
Individual Lobby Efforts
Individual private contributions make up an even larger
portion of the overall lobby effort. To date in the 2008 presidential race, more
than $149.3 million has been invested in the two remaining presidential
candidates and again, every penny is an effort to influence public policy.
$97.5 million (or 65.3%) has been invested in Barack Obama
while $51.8 million (or 34.7%) has been invested in John McCain.
Here’s a factual glimpse at where all that money is coming
from and who is getting it. (This is only the Top 24 lobby
groups.)
Industry
Combined
McCain
Obama
Retired
$30,933,955
48.7%
51.3%
Lawyers/Law
Firms
$24,816,006
24.3%
75.7%
Securities &
Investment
$13,648,823
38.6%
61.4%
Real
Estate
$10,161,775
47.8%
52.2%
Misc
Business
$8,370,649
33.2%
66.8%
Education
$8,319,418
9.8%
90.2%
Business
Services
$6,996,842
26.5%
73.5%
Health
Professionals
$6,803,402
33.6%
66.4%
Misc
Finance
$5,900,027
45.1%
54.9%
TV/Movies/Music
$4,969,157
14.8%
85.2%
Computers/Internet
$4,107,883
19.7%
80.3%
Civil
Servants/Public Officials
$3,740,412
24.6%
75.4%
Democratic/Liberal
$2,591,616
0.0%
100.0%
Printing &
Publishing
$2,545,054
0.0%
100.0%
Insurance
$2,108,771
51.0%
49.0%
Other
$1,504,412
0.0%
100.0%
Hospitals/Nursing
Homes
$1,195,257
0.0%
100.0%
Republican/Conservative
$1,144,873
100.0%
0.0%
Non-Profit
Institutions
$1,118,007
0.0%
100.0%
Construction
Services
$1,086,153
0.0%
100.0%
Misc Manufacturing
& Distributing
$917,935
100.0%
0.0%
General
Contractors
$913,474
100.0%
0.0%
Lobbyists
$748,606
100.0%
0.0%
Accountants
$565,126
100.0%
0.0%
The next time you are
pondering the leftist bent in the print media, note that the people working in
that industry give 100% to the leftist candidate.
If you wonder how leftist
ideas get woven throughout the TV shows and movies you watch, note that the very
politically active entertainment industry gives more than 85% to leftists
candidates and causes.
Note also that while
retirees are the nation’s largest lobby group, they are only the largest lobby
group for John McCain. Lawyers are the biggest lobby group for Barack
Obama.
There are some other
interesting trends in the numbers above, but I’ll let you draw your own
conclusions from these facts.
The PAC
Method
The Top 20 PACs have thus
far invested more than $34.4 million in the 2008 election. Again, Obama wins
with more than 70.5% of these funds, compared to McCain’s paltry
29.5%.
Here’s the list of the
Top 20 PACS and whom they support…
The McCain-Feingold
effort to get “funny money” out of the political system only changed how that
money is funneled into the political system. The ill-advised legislation brought
about the advent of the 527 organization before the ink was dry on the bill.
527’s have thus far
invested more than $53.3 million in the 2008 cycle. Is there any doubt who wins
in the arena of 527 sludge money? Can you say “George Soros?” Here’s the Top 20
list… you guess whom they are funding.
Contributor
Total
Service Employees
International Union
$20,691,136
Soros Fund
Management
$4,750,000
Oak Spring Farms
Llc
$3,480,000
Shangri-La
Entertainment
$3,350,000
Las Vegas
Sands
$3,343,576
United Brotherhood
Of Carpenters
$2,222,274
Fund for
America
$2,000,000
United Food &
Commercial Workers Intl Un
$1,660,000
America Votes
2006
$1,450,000
Friends of America
Votes
$1,444,500
Sheet Metal Workers
Union
$1,395,567
National Assn of
Realtors
$1,195,000
Trust Asset
Management
$1,000,000
Bonanza
Oil
$1,000,000
American Fedn of
St/Cnty/Munic Employees
$919,113
Internation Union
of Operating Engineers
$755,000
American Financial
Group
$660,000
Amalgamated
Bank
$656,215
Laborers
Union
$629,312
Newsweb
Corp
$600,000
More than 80% of these
funds support Barack Obama and other left leaning causes.
The
“Bundler” Alternative
McCain-Feingold also
ushered in the practice of “bundlers,” and although when push comes to shove for
open campaign disclosure, the campaigns will name the “bundlers,” they never
name the individuals where the money originated. This is the slickest trick I
have seen in years!
We have NO idea where
this money is coming from. While the “bundler” is eventually named under duress,
we still have no idea where the “bundler” got all of that money.
We know for certain that
foreign (sometimes enemy) states and organizations have funneled funny money
into the system, because we have watched several Democrats return millions of
illegal campaign contributions once caught accepting illegal contributions. The
practice of bundling provided the much desirable escape route for politicians
caught taking, say, $800,000 in illegal funds from the Red Chinese government,
like Hillary Clinton did.
When caught, they simply
blame the bundler, return the money in question, and walk away O.J. free to
accept more blind bundled money tomorrow. If Bin Laden, Red China, the EU or
Iran wish to help America decide who our next president will be, they need only
send money to a “bundler”. What a great racket!
Since the old Clinton
Clan, who has been caught in this act and forced to return money several times
now, is largely in charge of the Obama campaign and Obama has set world records
in fund raising, much of it via “bundlers,” many are reasonably asking for a
trail to where all of
that money is coming from. But don’t expect an answer to this reasonable
question until after the fall election. In fact, don’t even expect the
mainstream news media to demand an answer until after their guy is president
elect…
The
Candidate of NO Lobbyist Money?
I know what you are
thinking. This started out reading like a fact based piece on real lobby money
in the political system and ended up reading like a hit piece on Barack Obama.
You’re thinking that this is what you should have expected from a biased
right-winger like JB Williams, and you’re right.
Like every other
political writer or reporter, I do indeed have my own personal views and that
alone makes me biased.
I am indeed very biased
towards the hard facts. Unlike my little leftist friends who blindly follow
their charismatic leaders like sheep, or allow their left-wing ideology to drive
their facts, I allow the facts to drive my ideology. I am unabashedly biased in
favor of cold hard facts and every number presented in this piece is cold hard
fact!
So, you tell me… Do the
facts matter?
Every penny invested in
politics is a penny spent in an effort to influence policy. Since Barack Obama
is the clear hands down winner in every category of lobby efforts, is he the
candidate of NO lobbyist money?
If you look close, you
will note that McCain lists “lobbyists” as his 18th largest
contributor group, giving a reported $736 thousand dollars, and that Obama shows
lobbyists nowhere on his list, as if he has never taken a penny from
lobbyists.
But look closer at the
$1.5 million “other” column on Obama’s list and then write a letter to the Obama
campaign and ask how many “lobbyist” wives have contributed to the Obama
campaign…Oh yeah, don’t forget to ask for a detailed list of individual
contributors donating through blind “bundlers.” The most interesting story of
the year could be hidden in those bundled funds!
Or, do you find the cold
hard facts to be offensive and unfair?
