At the American Spectator dinner, where Rand Paul is seated at the head table next to David Koch.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) February 12, 2015
Lee Fang, at The Nation:
… While all eyes were on the changing of the guard in Congress as Republicans seized control of the US Senate in January, there was an equally profound change taking place among Capitol Hill staff, as many GOP lawmakers handed over the keys to corporate lobbyists like Leftwich.
“We’ve seen a dramatic uptick in K Street moving into congressional staff positions since the Citizens United decision,” says Craig Holman, Public Citizen’s expert on lobbying and ethics. House Speaker John Boehner, he notes, has “encouraged new members to employ lobbyists on their personal and committee staff.”
On almost any big issue coming up for debate during the final two years of the Obama administration—surveillance, trade, healthcare, entitlements, tax reform, climate change—corporate lobbyists will now be attempting to influence their own former colleagues, whose salaries are now covered by US taxpayers.
The new staff director of the House Intelligence Committee, Jeff Shockey, comes to the Hill after working as a lobbyist for many of the country’s leading intelligence-agency contractors, including General Dynamics, Boeing and, just last year, Academi, the firm formerly known as Blackwater. The House Oversight Committee, a key investigative body, will now have a staff director named Sean McLaughlin, a former corporate lobbyist who spent the past three years as a principal at the Podesta Group. Tom Chapman, who earned compensation worth $1,531,453 in 2014 as vice president of government affairs for US Airways, will now earn considerably less as part of the counsel staff for the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, which oversees his former employer. And as Congress takes up tax reform, one of the latest hires to the Joint Committee on Taxation is Ben Gross, who spent more than a decade as international tax director for PricewaterhouseCoopers, a firm that specializes in helping corporations avoid American taxes.
Lobbyists have been hired to help the offices of the most controversial addition to the GOP leadership team, Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise, now House majority whip… In a party at the posh Capitol Hill Club, a private meeting ground for Republicans that has been sued by its employees for alleged racial discrimination, nearly 300 lobbyists cheered the embattled lawmaker as he laid out his agenda for the coming session, according to Politico. Scalise was flanked by one of his newest staffers, Bill Hughes, formerly a lobbyist for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, a powerful trade group that has pressured lawmakers to drop efforts to raise the minimum wage.
And why not celebrate? Scalise is beloved by Washington’s army of influence-peddlers for his loyalty to the Beltway’s lobbyist elite. In his previous position as chair of the Republican Study Committee, Scalise welcomed the “K Street community” at special business-outreach events attended by representatives of such major firms as Halliburton, MasterCard, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman. The news that Scalise would move up the leadership ladder was celebrated by Koch Industries lobbyists, who threw a tony wine-tasting party featuring “pinots from Oregon and the central coast of California.” Soon after ascending to his new post, Scalise shocked many by having a registered lobbyist, John Feehery, sit in as applicants interviewed for jobs…
Via Billmon (this tweet stream here):
Brought to you by the good people at Koch Industries — "Bringing Dead 19th Century Things Back to Life" — & the National Football League.
— Billmon (@billmon1) February 12, 2015
OzarkHillbilly
Makes one wonder if the American experiment is dead.
raven
Same as it ever was.
Mustang Bobby
@raven: Bought and paid for.
raven
“Money”
opiejeanne
Off topic: The state of Washington now has an outbreak of mumps. Somehow I missed the story about the mumps outbreak in the NHL in December.
Mumps.
Neither my husband nor I think we had the mumps; I am due to have a blood test on Monday so I will ask if they can also check for antibodies for that and measles and rubella. At age 64 I don’t need to catch the mumps or anything else.
Keith G
@OzarkHillbilly: I cannot recommend highly enough the book The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood.
The book does the best job that I have encountered at discussing the influences of socio-economics on the developing move toward revolution and how those influences, in part, set the stage for what was to follow.
From the blurb:
And it’s available from Audible if one likes to listen while working.
I meant to add that in my view modern conservatism seeks to erase the gains for the average folks made by the American Revolution.
Howard Beale IV
@raven: Money. Money. Money
Tommy
@Howard Beale IV: I clearly can’t speak for all Americans but generally speaking when I give money to somebody/something I expect something in return. Willing to bet people far richer than myself that can give away tens of thousands or millions want something in return. IMHO it is just that simple.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Tommy: While I agree, sure if I give someone money I want something in return. Unfortunately the USSC doesn’t seem to “think” that way.
OT: I conducted surgery on my Note8(tablet not my phone) yesterday, changed the battery. That was fun.
PIGL
@Tommy: A number of Supreme Court Justices seem to have been confused on this point however. Either that much smarter than us, or much stupider, or totally corrupt.
BillinGlendaleCA
@PIGL: I’ll have what’s behind door number 3.
BillinGlendaleCA
Hey Joe, science doesn’t require belief.
satby
@Tommy: what do you expect in return for giving money to some charity?
buddy h
Bob Simon (CBS news) was killed in a car crash.
BillinGlendaleCA
@satby: Tax deduction.
ETA: If you give enough, maybe your name on a building.
Mustang Bobby
@BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, but two naked people and a talking snake? Now that was real.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mustang Bobby: After you’ve ingested the shrooms, it all seems real.
Tommy
@satby: They serve the purpose of what made me want to give them money in the first place.
Baud
Bad writing like this ruins a piece for me. Their salaries are “covered” by taxpayers because they are now employees of Congress. If the author doesn’t think they should be employees, that’s fair. But government employees deserve to be paid like any other.
ThresherK
@buddy h: I barely watch 60 Minutes any more, and that I don’t really know his name must mean he didn’t suck*. Too bad.
This reminds me of Manute Bol’s death; he also passed as result of injuries suffered while riding in a livery/limo which crashed.
(* This is about the highest compliment I give to mainstream media newsfolk. Please take it as such.)
Professor
@satby: Qualitative satisfaction that you are helping somebody in need. That is the essence of the Golden Rule that society lives by. Thus, Do unto others as you would expect others to do unto you.
buddy h
@ThresherK: I remember seeing him during the Vietnam war, on assignment. A young man with long hair, long sideburns, close to the action.
I don’t watch 60 Minutes much, but he was the kindly elder statesman there.
Baud
@ThresherK:
Ditto.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m hoping my next phone comes with a removable battery. Harder to find these days.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Pay govmunt employees? Then we have to pay taxes, and we can’t have that.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Just ask Kansans about how much better off they are not paying for a functioning government.
Mustang Bobby
@Baud: I have been going to Kansas for a theatre festival every spring since 1991 and I’ve seen it go from a prosperous state with strong support for community colleges, which in many rural areas are the only form of higher education available, to bordering on Depression-era devastation, and all on purpose. One good friend who used to be the Speaker of the House in the state (and the only Republican I’d ever vote for) refers to the current governor in terms that recall indecent conduct with certain barnyard creatures. “We’re living in the Somalia of the Midwest.”
satby
@Professor: I get that. I was asking Tommy because his comment made it sound like he expected something more tangible.
Tommy
@BillinGlendaleCA: I think in his last year working for the government my father made $128,000. 100% sure he could have made millions working in the private sector. I got a good friend that graduated at the top of his law class at Michigan. Works at the EPA. I guess I am agreeing with you. You have to pay a little money if you want the top people to work in our government.
satby
@Mustang Bobby: and yet, they keep voting for their own devastation. So I have a hard time feeling bad about that.
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
I’ve never been; I’ve only read the news about Kansas. Devastating to hear a first hand account of the change.
If the Republicans win the White House, I was thinking of getting a bumper sticker that said “We are all Kansans now.”
satby
@Tommy: Lots of people would trade more money for work that has impact and that they feel passionate about. Especially if, like your father, they have more money than they need already.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I think all the Samsung phones have removable batteries.
JPL
The new overlords have been clear about ridding us of those entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare, but turning public education into profit making schools, scares me. The new science books will include creationism. How many Kansans blame Obama for their situation?
BillinGlendaleCA
@satby: Like Tommy’s dad, my dad worked for the DOD. One of the things that government work(Federal) provided was pretty stable employment(this was the 60’s and 70’s) as well as a good pension with early retirement. My dad was retired at my age(55).
BillinGlendaleCA
@JPL: All of them Katie.
Tommy
@satby: My father got his money after working for the government. My father helps me a little. My brother a lot. He will only say he is doing this because his father never helped him and mom. Me. My brother. He says they want to see us enjoy a little in his wealth.
It is a sticking point with my father. That his father never gave him a single dollar. Not a single dollar.
C.V. Danes
@OzarkHillbilly:
The American experiment is not dead. Its undead.
raven
@ThresherK:
C.V. Danes
@Keith G:
The sole purpose of conservatism, modern or otherwise, is to restore the aristocracy.
Botsplainer
@satby:
I tend to view incessant money grubbing (as opposed to “getting paid well for doing something you’re good at and genuinely love”) as a form of hoarding justifying intervention and treatment.
The Koch Brothers are hoarders. Buffett and Gates are not. Jobs was not. Allen is not.
C.V. Danes
@Tommy:
The difference between you and our rich overlords is that they demand something in return. You pay your money because that’s the cost of civilized government. They pay their money because that the cost of ownership.
C.V. Danes
@Baud:
Apparently they like it very much, thank you, because they just voted for more of the same.
Buddy H
@JPL: …turning public education into profit making schools, scares me.
I remember when that first became a thing (was it the early ’90s?) and comedians were having fun with it: “If Johnny has six cans of delicious coca cola, and gives two cans of delicious, thirst-quenching coca cola to Sally, how many delicious, thirst-quenching cans of coca cola does Johnny have left?”
Mustang Bobby
@C.V. Danes: Kansas used to be fairly moderate state; they elected Democrats as governors (Kathleen Sebilius) and moderate Republicans like Nancy Landon Kassebaum to the Senate. Then they went nuts. I’ve watched it happen over the last 25 years and it’s both sad and cautionary. The RWNJ’s learned it was easier to win an election by scaring them with abstracts like gay marriage and abortion mills in Toledo, proving my axiom that no one ever lost an election by exploiting the fear and paranoia of the base.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I know. The Note 4 is very tempting. I won’t be looking until the summer, so there’ll be new models out by then.
satby
@Botsplainer: I totally agree with that.
BillinGlendaleCA
@C.V. Danes: Guess they didn’t know about “Green Balloons”.
gene108
@Baud:
So much better off that they re-elected everybody, who gutted there government for four years.
I think at some level, if the choice is to have this country run by the rich for the rich or give blacks, gays and DFH or anything that might be associated with such groups as seat at the table to make decisions, most Americans would rather let the rich do whatever they wanted.
Baud
@gene108:
I think your second paragraph explains that those people didn’t get reelected because they made Kansans better off, but for other reasons entirely.
Elizabelle
Plutocrats buying and staffing our government, and now TV commercials filled with screaming goats.
Coincidence? You decide.
gene108
@Baud:
But they still got re-elected. And that is all that matters to them and to the balance of power in this country.
We have governments that are materially destroying the qualify of life of their citizens and getting rewarded for it. I’m not sure how to win against both the money advantage Citizen’s United has unleashed and the crazed bigotry of our fellow citizens.
It’ll take a lot more than good ideas and good governance.
Baud
@gene108:
Our people turning out would help.
debbie
@Baud:
It sure worked in 2008 and 2012. The trick is to find out how to win the small (state level) elections. It’s the GOP who have problems with the big elections.
OGLiberal
@Keith G: Great book. Would also add Bernard Bailyn’s Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Similar grounds. Wood, Bailyn, and the recently departed Edmund Morgan (American Slavery, American Freedom – read to find out why the rich pitted poor blacks against poor whites in 27th century colonial Virginia…then realize how much has not changed since then) are greats of American history.
danielx
Why not, indeed. Scalise is simply carrying on in the tradition of that well-known pillar of rectitude Tom DeLay.
@Tommy:
Yeah, but you’re just a citizen unaccustomed to the rarefied air that adds to the clarity of thinking evidenced by certain Supreme Court justices. You can’t think of all those campaign contributions and so forth as bribes, you must think of them as speeches about investing in good government. Though if par value of such speech is a dollar a word, those are some hellaciously long speeches.
jimmiraybob
Well, I guess the 19th century would be a start. I have 12th century in the office pool.
Morzer
@Tommy:
No, no, comrade. That’s not how the free market works in our Exceptional America. You ought to give the super-rich your money because they’ve already given you the privilege of living in the very country blessed by their presence. You owe them, don’t you see?
C.V. Danes
@Mustang Bobby:
Indeed. The voice of the lizard brain is exceptionally difficult to overcome.
rikyrah
@gene108:
I call it clinging to the Whiteness.
ceece
@satby:
“Lots of people would trade more money for work that has impact and that they feel passionate about. ”
(raises hand)
—community college instructor in Silicon Valley
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@Baud:
As Roger Moore points out in the thread above, those goddamned Voter ID laws are fucking killing us at the ballot box, but no one on the Democratic side other than the president seems to realize it.
ThresherK
@raven: Wow.
Given my mom was from Bridgeport (where I was born, and where Bol played his college ball), I can’t imagine why I’d confuse his injuries from a 2004 livery crash with his death six years later.
opiejeanne
@JPL: One of the “new” charter schools in Washington is in big BIG trouble. There is evidence that they have been using the money they are sucking from the public school system to pay off debts incurred when they were a private school, not to mention their terrible test scores. There is little oversight in this new system that was voted for in 2012, no real accountability on how the money is spent, so this is reminiscent of how the Feds got Al Capone.
Tree With Water
@OzarkHillbilly: Then again, I recall that one American president once said of the GOP, “I welcome their hatred”, and he was elected to the office 4 times. Or flash forward, and consider why Elizabeth Warren has risen to such prominence within the democratic party in so short a time. Warren is rightly praised because her mouth is hard wired to her brain, but after all, she is simply shooting very fat fish in a very small barrel. The American experiment is just getting warmed up. Don’t blame it or the rank and file because a generation of democratic politicians chose to incrementally sell their vital interests down the river.