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Refreshing?

Texan

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
While I'm quite aware that Democrats can support big business- and are tied to lobbyists too- at least Obama's promise to keep Lobbyists out of the White House and refusal to take Lobbyist donations is the first refreshing thing I've heard in years

It's unbelievable how gullible some people can be. :???:

=======================================

Democrats Look to Lobbyist to Finance Convention

By LESLIE WAYNE
Published: July 14, 2008

In terms of lobbyists, few are more connected — both west of the Mississippi and in the corridors of power in Washington — than Steve Farber, a Denver lawyer whose political contacts have thrust him into a central fund-raising role for the Democratic National Convention.

Mr. Farber’s vast contact list could prove crucial in raising the millions of dollars needed by the Denver host committee to showcase Senator Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in August in Denver. But Mr. Farber’s activities are a public display of how corporate connections fuel politics — exactly the type of special influence that Mr. Obama had pledged to expunge from politics when he said he would not accept donations from lobbyists.

For two years now, Mr. Farber has parlayed his love for Denver and his ability to call on a network of lobbying clients to help him with the daunting task of raising the $40 million, or more, that Democrats need to run their convention. As the host committee’s chief fund-raiser, he is on the phone 10, 20 times a day, twisting arms and cajoling potential donors — a task made more difficult by the fact that Denver has few hometown companies with enough resources to help foot the bills.

Yet, as Mr. Farber hops on planes, hosts breakfasts and pulls out the stops, he at least can draw on the resources of his law firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, one of the fastest-growing lobbying shops in Washington and one of the most powerful firms in the West, thanks to some recent strategic mergers that have only fattened his roster of blue-chip corporate clients.

“Steve Farber is involved with a lot of high-level candidates and ones who have won,” said Floyd Ciruli, head of Ciruli Associates, a Denver political consulting firm. “He’s famous for hiring ex-politicians, their children and ex-judges. He’s very good at making connections with people who have access to politicians.”

Mr. Farber is a golfing buddy of former President Bill Clinton, and has raised money for the Clinton Presidential Library. In return, Mr. Clinton came to nearby Aurora, Colo., to speak to businessmen at the request of Mr. Farber. Members of Mr. Farber’s firm have donated around $1.1 million to candidates, parties and political action committees since 2005, with the majority going to Democrats. And Mr. Farber chaired former Gov. Roy Romer’s winning campaigns in Colorado.

But his efforts to raise money for the Denver convention have been marred by missed deadlines as Mr. Farber has struggled to get corporations and wealthy individuals to open their wallets in a shaky economy. And Mr. Obama last week added to the challenge, with his campaign saying the candidate would give his acceptance speech outside the convention hall, distancing himself from party insiders, donors and corporate leaders who typically dominate convention week.

In raising money for the convention, Mr. Farber said he was not selling access to the many politicians attending the event, but promoting regional pride and the chance to participate in a historical event.

“We’re selling a convention and we’re selling a chance to showcase Denver as a great area,” Mr. Farber said. “If corporate America wants to be a part of it, we welcome them as partners. It’s a question of becoming part of history.”

As a result of Mr. Farber’s efforts, dozens of organizations have signed up as corporate sponsors of the Denver convention, including six that are lobbying clients of his firm: UnitedHealth Group, AT&T, Comcast, the National Association of Home Builders, Western Union and Google. In return for these donations, which can go up to $1 million or more, sponsors are promised prominent display space for corporate marketing and access to elected officials and Democratic leaders at a large number of parties and receptions.

Mr. Farber is now going through his client list — and also approaching nonclients — in his search for cash. Conventions are one of the last remaining ways for corporations to put big money into politics, since they are banned from giving directly to candidates and parties.

Even more, corporations can give unlimited amounts of money to host committees, in contrast to individuals who are restricted in the size of their political donations. Corporations can also take a tax deduction on their donations to the host committee, but individuals are barred from deducting political contributions.

“Farber has a dual role,” said Steve Weissman, a policy analyst at the Campaign Finance Institute who has studied convention finances. “He is a businessman and a community activist, and yet he is connected to a law firm that is one of the biggest in Washington. When any of Steve Farber’s clients have a problem, federal elected officials will feel obligated to listen to him if he approaches them later on federal policy interests.”

Although he is a Democrat, Mr. Farber’s firm draws political talent from both sides of the aisle. Its lobbyists include Jim Nicholson, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee; former Senator Hank Brown, Republican of Colorado; and Judy Black, wife of Charlie Black, Senator John McCain’s chief adviser, and a major bundler of donations for Mr. McCain.

Others who have passed through the doors at his firm include two former cabinet secretaries: Gale Norton, interior secretary in the Bush administration, and Federico F. Peña, transportation secretary in the Clinton administration. Mr. Farber’s firm also represents the former Liggett tobacco company and a trade group seeking to retain tax breaks for wealthy hedge fund investors.

Most recently, Mr. Farber’s firm joined forces, through mergers, with the leading law firm in Las Vegas representing gambling companies and the leading firm in Los Angeles representing water interests.

“I have my list of companies, not only my client list, but companies throughout Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region,” Mr. Farber said in a telephone interview. “We’ve got offices in Las Vegas and California, so I have clients that we can contact, and I have friends of clients that I intend to contact. And if they have given to the convention already, I try to get them to double their contribution.”

Mr. Obama’s well-publicized statements denouncing special interest money have done little to dampen Mr. Farber’s efforts. In Mr. Farber’s view, money to the convention — an issue Mr. Obama has not addressed directly — is different from money to the candidates themselves.

“The money to the convention doesn’t go to the candidates or the Democratic National Committee, but to the host committee to pay for the cost of the convention,” Mr. Farber said. “So what he has said doesn’t inhibit it.”

In fact, given the struggle that Mr. Farber has had — the host committee is $11 million short of its fund-raising goal — he could welcome a helping hand from the Obama campaign, which, so far, has been more focused on raising money for Mr. Obama, the party and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton than for the convention.

“The Obama campaign has been unbelievable in their ability to fund-raise,” Mr. Farber said. “So if they can encourage their supporters to send money to the host committee, it would be helpful.”

Mr. Farber said he was not working with the Obama campaign. “They have a list of contributors and could suggest that we contact come of those people, people they could ask to help with the convention,” he said.

In the absence of that help, Mr. Farber said he was “still talking to the corporate community.”

“What I am now selling is Senator Obama and the excitement he has created in his candidacy,” he added.



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/us/politics/14convention.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%
20Topics/Subjects/P/Presidential%20Election%20of%202008&pagewanted=all
 

Mike

Well-known member
With each post, some here have exhausted each and every semblance of cognizance they might have had at one time. :roll:

Refreshing? Hardly
 

Larrry

Well-known member
Meanwhile it is planting time in Denver. Why do these liberal think they can Plant a MARXIST yet come up with something other than a MARXIST>
There reasoning power just isn't there.
 

Texan

Well-known member
Hey, Oldtimer - is this attitude from McCain also refreshing? Or do you just not believe McCain when he says something like this?

=============================================

McCain calls lobbyists 'birds of prey'
By: Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen
August 21, 2008 02:24 PM EST

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called lobbyists “birds of prey” Wednesday and vowed to enforce a lifetime ban on lobbying for members of his administration.

“Whenever there’s a corrupt system, then you’re going to have these birds of prey descend on it to get their share of the spoils,” McCain said in a half-hour interview with Politico following a town-hall meeting in the southern part of this swing state.

McCain, clearly weary of vice-presidential speculation, began by saying preemptively that he was not going to say anything about the hot topic. His mood initially seemed sour, and his answers were clipped, although he warmed as the conversation went on.

“Let me just begin by saying that to save you some time, I’m not going to comment on the vice president,” he said. “You can ask away, but … I’m sure you understand.”

The topic of lobbyists is sensitive for McCain because several of his top aides had lucrative lobbying practices.

His tough new language is designed to build his case that he would be an agent of change in a race against an opponent who has built his entire campaign on the premise that he will reform the political status quo in Washington.

“I point out what my record is, which is one that has not won me Miss Congeniality over the years,” he said. “People want change in America — we all know that — and very legitimately so.”

The senator went so far as to say: “Lobbyists don’t come to my office. Because they know they’re not going to be an earmark. They know they’re not going to get a pork-barrel project. Senator Obama’s gotten lots of ’em.:”

McCain’s plan for the strict admonition on future lobbying by White House aides is part of a policy he imposed on his campaign staff this spring after questions were raised about their past clients.

“I would not allow anyone who worked for my administration to go back to lobbying,” McCain said. “They would have to make that pledge.”

On other matters, McCain was eager to talk about the response of his opponent, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), to Russia’s seizure of strategic points in Georgia, which top Republicans said will be a key issue this fall.

“I have, and continue to question his judgment, whether it be his initial reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia, or whether it be his failure to acknowledge that the surge has succeeded, or his opposition to nuclear power, among others,” McCain said. “So I question the judgment. I don’t question the patriotism.”

Asked if he could deal with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whom he has consistently excoriated on the stump, McCain flashed a smile and said: “I’ve faced bad guys in my time.”

“I’d be glad to meet with him,” McCain added. “It would be important to have some kind of framework for the meeting. In other words, there would have to be some kind of predetermined, at least outcome about some aspects of the meeting … for example, some progress in some area that was agreed upon earlier – the Nixon in China, Reagan-Gorbachev, et cetera. It would have to be something besides just a, quote, meeting.”

McCain took the opportunity for a mulligan on his careless answer to Pastor Rick Warren at the Saddleback Church forum Saturday, where he said that he would define “rich” as $5 million – a comment that he immediately, and correctly – predicted would be distorted.

He still did not give a number.

“I define rich in other ways besides income,” he said. “Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they’re billionaires.”

Although McCain’s campaign has become increasingly sharp in its attack on Obama, spending was one of the few times the senator even mentioned his opponent.

“Senator Obama has asked for nearly a billion dollars in earmarked pork-barrel projects. And he rails against lobbyists? I’ve never taken a single one,” McCain said.

In response to a question about the influence industry, McCain noted: “I think there are too many lobbyists in Washington.”

"But the fact is that they are the symptom of a disease,” he continued. “As long as you have earmarking and pork-barrel spending and bridges to nowhere and money for DNA of bears in Montana and museums and all that, then you’re going to have lobbyists.

“So it’s kind of entertaining to me to attack the lobbyists rather than the source of the problem, which is the earmark. They’d all be out of business – most of ’em would be out of business if we stopped pork-barrel and earmark spending.”

On other topics, McCain:

--Punted on several opportunities to whack Obama, including when he was asked whether Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is better prepared to be president (“I don’t know”), and whether the country would be more vulnerable to a terrorist attack under a President Obama than under a President McCain.

“I’m sure that if Senator Obama were president of the United States, if the American people chose him to be their president, that he would act as a president who would get my full and complete support,” McCain said.

--Said he wasn’t comfortable having his campaign aided by a best-selling attack book, “The Obama Nation,” that revives questions about Obama’s connections to Islam and makes other unsubstantiated personal accusations about the Democrat.

“Of course not,” McCain said “As you know, I have condemned the [commercials invoking Obama pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright] that were done by various people.”

McCain would not, however, denounce the book, written by Jerome Corsi, the same author who penned the book attacking Sen. John F. Kerry’s Vietnam service. “I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know – I can’t comment,” McCain said.

Politico’s Lisa Lerer contributed to this report.



http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12678.html
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
If he was actually backing up his words- with actions- like kicking out the 59 Big money Lobbyists he has on his campaign staff- including those tied to some of the most scandalous lobbying interests (the criminal communist regime in Myanmar, the foreign UBS bank accused of hiding rich US citizens accounts to avoid paying Billions in US taxes, etc. etc..)- and refuse any aid or funding from Lobbyists....
 

hopalong

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
If he was actually backing up his words- with actions- like kicking out the 59 Big money Lobbyists he has on his campaign staff- including those tied to some of the most scandalous lobbying interests (the criminal communist regime in Myanmar, the foreign UBS bank accused of hiding rich US citizens accounts to avoid paying Billions in US taxes, etc. etc..)- and refuse any aid or funding from Lobbyists....

Do you have hard evidence of those charges or ar you just pointing fingers again????

If you do he should be prosicuted if not you should crawl back into you corner of BLAME BLAME without substance.
Time to step up- Oldtimer, you have all the legal background, why is he not being prosicuted for wrong doing???

Or is it your opinion that he is wrong doing??

UP to you judge JUDY

Sorry judge JUDY for insuslting you by even referencing you to Richard

Edited to apoiligize to Judge Judy, more of a judge than , well you all know who!!!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
hopalong said:
Oldtimer said:
If he was actually backing up his words- with actions- like kicking out the 59 Big money Lobbyists he has on his campaign staff- including those tied to some of the most scandalous lobbying interests (the criminal communist regime in Myanmar, the foreign UBS bank accused of hiding rich US citizens accounts to avoid paying Billions in US taxes, etc. etc..)- and refuse any aid or funding from Lobbyists....

Do you have hard evidence of those charges or ar you just pointing fingers again????

If you do he should be prosicuted if not you should crawl back into you corner of BLAME BLAME without substance.
Time to step up- Oldtimer, you have all the legal background, why is he not being prosicuted for wrong doing???

Or is it your opinion that he is wrong doing??

UP to you judge JUDY

Sorry judge JUDY for insuslting you by even referencing you to Richard

Edited to apoiligize to Judge Judy, more of a judge than , well you all know who!!!

Heres one- there are also two other McCain lobbyists tied to Burma's regime (Myanmar) - a country that machinegunned their own people rather than allow in US and other countries aid after the Typhoon...

Foreclosure Phil Gramm- who works as a Lobbyist and the US Vice President in charge of US operations for UBS Bank- which has been well documented for its current involvement in seeking and abetting rich US investors in hiding their money in foreign accounts is well documented as having been McCains campaign co Chairman- and working for McCain while being employed by a foreign company-- and also touted by the neocons as McSames future Treasury Secretary....

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html

After John McCain nailed down the Republican nomination in March, his campaign began wrestling with a sensitive personnel issue: who would manage this summer's GOP convention in St. Paul, Minn.? The campaign recently tapped Doug Goodyear for the job, a veteran operative and Arizonan who was chosen for his "management experience and expertise," according to McCain press secretary Jill Hazelbaker. But some allies worry that Goodyear's selection could fuel perceptions that McCain—who has portrayed himself as a crusader against special interests—is surrounded by lobbyists. Goodyear is CEO of DCI Group, a consulting firm that earned $3 million last year lobbying for ExxonMobil, General Motors and other clients.

Potentially more problematic: the firm was paid $348,000 in 2002 to represent Burma's military junta, which had been strongly condemned by the State Department for its human-rights record and remains in power today. Justice Department lobbying records show DCI pushed to "begin a dialogue of political reconciliation" with the regime. It also led a PR campaign to burnish the junta's image, drafting releases praising Burma's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing "falsehoods" by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses. "It was our only foreign representation, it was for a short tenure, and it was six years ago," Goodyear told NEWSWEEK, adding the junta's record in the current cyclone crisis is "reprehensible."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/136321

http://www.mccainslobbyists.com/
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Meet the open borders family: McCain, Hernandez, Soros, and the “Reform Institute”
By Michelle Malkin • January 25, 2008 03:50 PM Follow the bouncing ball with me:

Shamnesty peddler John McCain taps former Mexican government official/shamnesty advocate Juan Hernandez as his presidential campaign Hispanic Outreach Director.

Hernandez is a fellow at McCain’s “Reform Institute.” What has he been working on there for the past year?

“Dr. Juan Hernandez serves as a Senior Fellow of the Institute’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Initiative.”

That is: Shamnesty.

Among the immigration projects at McCain’s Reform Institute: An art contest in which students depicted their protests against a southern border fence.

The grand prize winner incorporated the specious open-borders propaganda comparing our fence to keep trespassers out to the Berlin Wall designed to wall people in:



Is this what McCain believes in his heart, too? No wonder he cursed the “goddamned fence.”

The Reform Institute is a tax-exempt, supposedly independent 501(c)(3) group, as Ed Morrissey noted two years ago, “that employs Rick Davis, who also works on McCain’s staff as his chief political advisor, and they pay him $110,000 per year. The Reform Institute has often supported McCain, paid for events highlighting him and his agenda, presumably including campaign finance reform.” The Reform Institute received $200,000 in donations from Cablevision…and McCain basically tried to intervene on Cablevision’s behalf by writing a letter to the FCC supporting its regulatory agenda. Morrissey noted at the time: “[T]he Reform Institute helps keep McCain’s staff gainfully employed between campaigns, allowing McCain to do less fundraising while retaining the best of the available talent. For instance, Carl Hulse and Ann Kornblut note that Rick Davis managed McCain’s presidential campaign in 2000 before founding Reform Institute. Now its president, he gets over $100,000 a year from RI for “consulting services”. That money allows Davis to remain available for McCain’s future campaigns, and the funding he raises for RI gives him inroads for building support.”

Yep. Which is exactly how it worked out. Davis is now McCain’s campaign manager.

Here’s the 990 form for the Reform Institute, filed in 2003, listing Davis and his “consulting fees:”



Who funded the Reform Institute, which boasts Juan “Think Mexico First” Hernandez as its resident amnesty fellow? The donor list is a who’s who of ultra left-wing, open borders elites. Again, via Ed Morrissey’s research:

* The Tides Foundation, which heavily promotes “reproductive justice”, giving over $500,000 to pro-abortion efforts. They also actively oppose the death penalty (so do I, FYI). John McCain opposes abortion and supports the death penalty, so why is his chief political advisor getting so much support from those who ostensibly oppose him?

* Educational Foundation Of America, which also supports abortion. EFA also opposes drilling in ANWR, an issue on which McCain has an ambivalent record. It also supports euthanasia and assisted suicide through the Death With Dignity National Center, a group which it gave $45,000. It gave $100,000 to the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, which opposed the Yucca Mountain nuclear depository (McCain supported it), and opposes development of low-yield nuclear “bunker buster” bombs, which McCain supports.

In fact, EFA appears to contribute to just about every left-wing cause imaginable, as well as a number of noncontriversial charities and outreach efforts.

* The Proteus Fund, which also opposed the Yucca Mountain repository, spending $75K to stop it. That pales in comparison to the $935K they spent on supporting gay marriage initiatives, which McCain strongly opposes. They have also spent over $800,000 funding nuclear-disarmament and antiwar causes in each of the last two years. Their Security Policy Working Group contains nothing but left-of-center groups like Project on Defense Alternatives, which calls the Iraqi elections “faulty” and predicted disaster for the Bush administration’s “program of coercive transformation throughout the region.”

* OSI (Open Society Institute), founded and funded by George Soros. Among a litany of left-wing causes supported by OSI are People For The American Way, to support their Supreme Court Project. (Hint: It isn’t intended on assisting Bush get his nominees confirmed.) They also gave $150,000 to the Campaign Legal Center, which will be important shortly.

* David Geffen Foundation also shows up on the list, although not in the top tier. David Geffen is an entertainment-industry mogul who supports Democrats and left-wing causes. They do not have a website I could find, but Activistcash.com notes that in 2002, most of the grants Geffen gave went to environmental activists and the Tides Foundation and Tides Center.
Via Discover the Networks, you’ll see that Soros’s OSI is a key open borders funder–providing support to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Immigrant Legal Resource Center; the National Immigration Law Center; the National Immigration Forum; the National Council of La Raza; and the American Immigration Law Foundation.

Remind me again which party’s presidential nomination John McCain is running for?

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/01/25/meet-the-open-borders-family-mccain-hernandez-soros-and-the-reform-institute/
 

Texan

Well-known member
Guess if you don't want to discuss it, I'll have to talk to myself. :(

Sure are a lot of them in DC. Real 'change,' huh? And...China? What's that about? More 'change?'

===========================================

OBAMA FUNDRAISERS: Lobbyist ties
These 38 fundraisers for Barack Obama's presidential campaign work for law firms that have lobbying operations in Washington, D.C. The dollar figure reflects the minimum amount each has pledged to raise for the campaign.


BUNDLER/MIN. PLEDGE/LOCATION

Scott Harris/$200,000/DC

Allan J. Katz/$200,000/FL

Michael Lawson/$200,000/CA

John Levi/$200,000/IL

Karol Mason/$200,000/GA

Thomas J. Perrelli/$200,000/VA

Thomas A. Reed/$200,000/VA

Christina Tchen/$200,000/IL

Tony West/$200,000/CA

Mark L. Alderman/$100,000/PA

Timothy M. Broas/$100,000/MD

Peter Bynoe/$100,000/IL

Gregory B. Craig/$100,000/DC

Norman Eisen/$100,000/DC

Nicole Lamb-Hale/$100,000/MI

Andrew Schapiro/$100,000/NY

Charles C. Adams Jr./$50,000/Switzerland

David Burd/$50,000/DC

Tom Cole/$50,000/IL

Michael H. Dardzinski/$50,000/China

Howard W. Gutman/$50,000/MD

Jeff Horwitz/$50,000/NY

David C. Jacobson/$50,000/IL

Hrishi Karthikeyan/$50,000/DC

Ronald Kirk/$50,000/TX

William T. Lake/$50,000/DC

Edward Lazarus/$50,000/CA

Jack Levin/$50,000/IL

Kenneth G. Lore/$50,000/DC

Charles B. Ortner/$50,000/NY

Susan Pravda/$50,000/MA

Paul N. Roth/$50,000/NY

John Schmidt/$50,000/IL

Robert M. Sussman/$50,000/DC

Kathryn Thomson/$50,000/VA

Barry B. White/$50,000/MA

Steven M. Zager/$50,000/TX

Robert S. Litt/n/a/MD


Source: Obama for America, Center for Responsive Politics, Public Citizen
 

hopalong

Well-known member
Texan said:
Guess if you don't want to discuss it, I'll have to talk to myself. :(

Sure are a lot of them in DC. Real 'change,' huh? And...China? What's that about? More 'change?'

===========================================

OBAMA FUNDRAISERS: Lobbyist ties
These 38 fundraisers for Barack Obama's presidential campaign work for law firms that have lobbying operations in Washington, D.C. The dollar figure reflects the minimum amount each has pledged to raise for the campaign.


BUNDLER/MIN. PLEDGE/LOCATION

Scott Harris/$200,000/DC

Allan J. Katz/$200,000/FL

Michael Lawson/$200,000/CA

John Levi/$200,000/IL

Karol Mason/$200,000/GA

Thomas J. Perrelli/$200,000/VA

Thomas A. Reed/$200,000/VA

Christina Tchen/$200,000/IL

Tony West/$200,000/CA

Mark L. Alderman/$100,000/PA

Timothy M. Broas/$100,000/MD

Peter Bynoe/$100,000/IL

Gregory B. Craig/$100,000/DC

Norman Eisen/$100,000/DC

Nicole Lamb-Hale/$100,000/MI

Andrew Schapiro/$100,000/NY

Charles C. Adams Jr./$50,000/Switzerland

David Burd/$50,000/DC

Tom Cole/$50,000/IL

Michael H. Dardzinski/$50,000/China

Howard W. Gutman/$50,000/MD

Jeff Horwitz/$50,000/NY

David C. Jacobson/$50,000/IL

Hrishi Karthikeyan/$50,000/DC

Ronald Kirk/$50,000/TX

William T. Lake/$50,000/DC

Edward Lazarus/$50,000/CA

Jack Levin/$50,000/IL

Kenneth G. Lore/$50,000/DC

Charles B. Ortner/$50,000/NY

Susan Pravda/$50,000/MA

Paul N. Roth/$50,000/NY

John Schmidt/$50,000/IL

Robert M. Sussman/$50,000/DC

Kathryn Thomson/$50,000/VA

Barry B. White/$50,000/MA

Steven M. Zager/$50,000/TX

Robert S. Litt/n/a/MD


Source: Obama for America, Center for Responsive Politics, Public Citizen


Where is the outrage over this? Why is Oldtiimer not screaming with his leftist voice at the top of his lungs in outrage??

Surely he is not speachless.

When Barack Obama and fellow state lawmakers in Illinois tried to expand healthcare coverage in 2003 with the "Health Care Justice Act," they drew fierce opposition from the insurance industry, which saw it as a back-handed attempt to impose a government-run system.

Over the next 15 months, insurers and their lobbyists found a sympathetic ear in Obama, who amended the bill more to their liking partly because of concerns they raised with him and his aides, according to lobbyists, Senate staff, and Obama's remarks on the Senate floor.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/09/23/in_illinois_obama_dealt_with_lobbyists/
 

hopalong

Well-known member
The word “lobbyist” seems to have a particular meaning in Obama’s campaign vocabulary. His stump speeches imply that he is not taking money from people who want things from the government and push for them. The reality is that he has.

Contributions made by the various industry sectors tell the real story in a presidential race. And Opensecrets.org shows that Obama is picking up gobs of money put on the table by these special interests—including those involved in health care, which will surely have a lot riding on the outcome of the election and will expect to be heard after the election is over

In the pharmaceutical and health product industries, contributions to Clinton total $349,000 and $338,000 to Obama. Again, McCain trails in donations at about $98,000, an indication that the sector sees the real action on the Democratic side of the ballot. Health professionals, which include doctors, nurses, and dentists, have given Clinton some $2.3 million and Obama $1.7 million.
http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/obamas_lobbyist_line.php
 
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