House of Paine

the LOK

  TRHE LOBBY OCCUPIED KONGRESS 



  BUSH II  BOOM TIME 
                   FOR KAPITAL HILL KO -OPTERS 
                                             KONTINUES .....


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WASHINGTON POST JUNE 2005 :


"To the great growth industries of America
 such as health care and home building 
 add one more: influence peddling.

The number of registered lobbyists
 in Washington has more than doubled
 since 2000 to more than 34,750
 while the amount 
that lobbyists charge their new clients
 has increased by as much as 100 percent

The lobbying boom 
has been caused by three factors:

 rapid growth in government

 Republican control
 of both the White House and Congress

 and

 wide acceptance among corporations
 that they need to hire
 professional lobbyists 
to secure their share
 of federal benefits.

Lobbying firms 
can't hire people fast enough
 Starting salaries 
have risen to about $300,000 a year
 for the best-connected aides 
eager to "move downtown"
 from Capitol Hill
 or the Bush administration

 Once considered 
a distasteful post-government vocation
 big-bucks lobbying 
is luring nearly half 
of all lawmakers 
who return to the private sector
 when they leave Congress
 according to a forthcoming study 
by Public Citizen's Congress Watch



with pro-business officials 
running the executive
 and legislative branches
 companies are also hiring
 well-placed lobbyists 
to go on the offensive 
and find ways to profit
 from the many tax breaks
 loosened regulations 
and other government goodies 
that increasingly are available.


Washington has become a profit center"


------------------------------------------------------


" Hewlett-Packard Co.
 The California computer maker
 nearly doubled its budget 
for contract lobbyists 
to $734,000 last year 
and added 
the elite lobbying firm 
of Quinn Gillespie & Associates LLC.

 Its goal 
 pass Republican-backed legislation 
that would allow the company
 to bring back to the United States 
at a dramatically lowered tax rate 
as much as $14.5 billion in profit 
from foreign subsidiaries
The extra lobbying paid off
 The legislation was approved
 and Hewlett-Packard will save 
millions of dollars in taxes"

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"The Republicans in charge 
aren't just pro-business
 they are also pro-government
 Federal outlays 
increased nearly 30 percent
 from 2000 to 2004
programs that are prime
 lobbying targets:
 defense
 homeland security 
and medical coverage"


" five major tax-cuts
            and 
     curtailed regulation"









" gold rush on K Street........



one  owner of a large lobbying shop
 sez
 five years ago 
he could hire 
veteran Capitol Hill staffers
 for $200,000 a year or less
 Now 
the going rate is closer to
                 $300,000 a year
 and the most-sought-after aides 
                can expect even more"

" In 2002, Susan B. Hirschmann,
 chief of staff 
to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.)
 had so many lobbying offers 
that she enlisted Robert B. Barnett
 the attorney for Bill Clinton 
and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)
 to receive and filter them "

"For retiring members of Congress 
and senior administration aides
 the bidding from lobbying firms 
and trade associations 
can get even more fevered
 Well-regarded top officials
 are in high demand 
and lately have commanded
 employment packages 
worth upward of $2 million a year
 Marc F. Racicot
 a former Montana governor
 who chaired the Republican National Committee
 will soon collect 
an annual salary of $1 million-plus 
as president
         of the American Insurance Association"

The fees that lobbyists charge clients 
have also risen substantially
 Retainers that had been 
$10,000 to $15,000 a month 
for new corporate clients
 before President Bush took office
 now are $20,000 to $25,000 
a month or more
            lobbyists say"


Corporate clients 
accept the extra cost 
as the price of success in Washington
 At the turn of the year
 the American Ambulance Association 
decided to step up its lobbying 
and switched to Patton Boggs LLP
 the Capitol Hill powerhouse
 from a smaller lobbying shop 
across town
 In the process it boosted 
its lobbying budget
 by about a third
 to more than $300,000 a year"


 "It's pricey
 but it's the cost of doing business 
in the federal environment"