Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 192
November Surprises
“Disney is preparing to take its fight with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his GOP allies in the state legislature to the next level,” CNBC reports.
“With just weeks until Florida’s legislative session ends, Disney is pushing lobbyists to step up their efforts to influence the Republican-controlled state legislature and to target land use related bills that could hurt the company, among other measures, said the people, who declined to be named in order to speak freely about the issues.”
“Former Rep. Barney Frank co-sponsored the law that tightened banking regulations after the financial crisis, but since leaving office he has been working the other side of the street—as a board member of Signature Bank, which regulators shut down Sunday,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The 2010 Dodd-Frank legislation set tougher regulatory safeguards on banks with more than $50 billion in assets. After leaving office and joining Signature’s board, Mr. Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, publicly advocated for easing those new standards for smaller banks.”
“Almost exactly a month before a Norfolk Southern train derailed and spewed hazardous materials in eastern Ohio, the company gave the maximum $10,000 to help bankroll Gov. Mike DeWine’s inaugural festivities,” WSYX reports.
“An examination of state records shows this contribution, which is part of $29,000 the Virginia-based corporation has contributed to DeWine’s political funds since he first ran for governor in 2018, is merely one piece of an extensive, ongoing effort to influence statewide officials and Ohio lawmakers.”
NBC News: EPA orders Norfolk Southern to clean up Ohio train derailment site and pay all costs.
New York Times: “Rarely has a lobbyist enjoyed the access to a House speaker that Jeff Miller has with Mr. McCarthy, a California Republican. As Mr. McCarthy has gained power, Mr. Miller’s prominent place in his orbit has drawn increased scrutiny from watchdog groups that track political influence as well as from conservatives who see him as an unaccountable power behind the throne whose presence is starkly at odds with their increasingly populist, anti-corporate message.”
Former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), who lost a Senate bid in Ohio last year, announced that he’s joining the leadership council of a political nonprofit that promotes the natural gas industry, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
“For many cooks, waiters and bartenders, it is an annoying entrance fee to the food-service business: Before starting a new job, they pay around $15 to a company called ServSafe for an online class in food safety,” the New York Times reports.
“But in taking the class, the workers — largely unbeknown to them — are also helping to fund a nationwide lobbying campaign to keep their own wages from increasing.”
Sen. Joe Manchin’s chief of staff, Lance West, is joining the American Petroleum Institute as vice president of federal affairs, Axios reports.
“Oil and gas industry lobbyists, anticipating that Republicans could take control of the House in the midterm elections, are already working behind the scenes on Capitol Hill to push back against what they consider the Biden administration’s anti-fossil-fuel agenda,” the New York Times reports.
“There is almost glee in their voices when they discuss the possibility of helping draft questions for Biden administration officials, like Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who if Republicans take control will be called to testify more frequently, and aggressively, in oversight hearings.”
“Republicans plan to launch a variety of investigations into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many of its largest member corporations if they retake the majority in the House of Representatives this November,” The Intercept reports.
“The probes, said a GOP member of Congress and multiple Republican operatives who requested anonymity to discuss plans that have yet to be made public, will marry Republicans’ newly formed hostility to the Chamber with the party’s mission to undermine the growth of the ESG investment sector.”
The lobbyist son of congressman Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) was arrested for slapping a Miami city commissioner at a steakhouse, the Miami Herald reports.
American Prospect: “On Sunday afternoon, the Washington Football Team lost to the Dallas Cowboys, and Punchbowl News was there to see it. The D.C.-based scoop shop, a newsletter-based online publication, partnered with the scandal-plagued and still nameless sports franchise to secure a luxury skybox from which to watch the game. And they invited some friends—in their own words, an ‘exclusive group of D.C. decision makers.'”
“On its face, the event looks like a flagrant violation of journalistic ethics. Basically every single lobbyist listed represents a firm that has lobbied legislators on the text of the Build Back Better, bipartisan infrastructure, and American Rescue Plan acts over the last ten months…”
“Over that same ten-month period, which makes up the entirety of Punchbowl’s existence, the publication has covered those pieces of legislation breathlessly. Build Back Better, in particular, has been the object of an overwhelming percentage of the outlet’s journalistic output. For the publication to then host the very same lobbyists who were attempting, and often succeeding, to take down multiple provisions in that bill as special guests at a free skybox event raises serious questions about whether Punchbowl has been doing journalism or simply laundering industry talking points.”
Former Trump acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker earned $400,000 last year by helping a conservative “dark money” group secure pardons from his former boss, the Daily Beast reports.
Neither Whitaker nor the group reported the lobbying activity as required by law.
“Boris Johnson declined to apologize over his attempt to protect a ruling U.K. Conservative Party lawmaker who broke lobbying rules, even with his government still battling to contain the fallout,” Bloomberg reports.
As she nears the end of her city council term, Sara Goddard reflects on how to best lobby for change: 7 Effective Ways To Make Your Legislators Take Notice.
Facebook outspent nearly the entire D.C. influence industry on lobbying during the quarter ending Sept. 30, putting in its second most lavish three months ever, Politico reports.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) writes for Fox News that delays in passing the budget reconciliation bill are due to intense lobbying from the pharmaceutical, health insurance and fossil fuel industries.
“Lobbying efforts by some of the nation’s biggest business groups are falling on deaf ears with House Republicans just a few years after the two worked in lockstep to craft the 2017 tax bill that delivered massive corporate tax cuts,” The Hill reports.
“Even after every major business group in Washington, D.C., urged House Republicans to support the Senate-passed $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, only a handful of GOP lawmakers have said they would vote for the measure.”
New York Times: “As Democrats labor to keep Mr. Biden’s proposal on track in Congress amid deep internal divisions, a robust influence campaign is meeting it at every turn. Business groups are working in overdrive to fight large swaths of it, such as raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations; expanding Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision services; and proposed taxes and fees to cut down on carbon emissions.”
“The effort is unfolding less conspicuously than previous lobbying pushes; pandemic restrictions have limited large gatherings of lobbyists at the Capitol, so the corridor outside the Senate Finance Committee’s office, which has long been known as ‘Gucci Gulch,’ is no longer overrun with shiny Italian shoes. But the campaign is proceeding as intensely as ever, via individual meetings, Zoom calls, fund-raisers and the airwaves.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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