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Lobbyists Fundraising for Clinton, Bush, Rubio and Kasich Are Coworkers
Lobbyists Fundraising for Clinton, Bush, Rubio and Kasich Are Coworkers
7/22/15
Just how incestuous is the small world of big money politics? The leading Democratic candidate and at least three major Republican candidates are all relying on members of the same lobbying firm to help them raise presidential campaign cash: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
Akin Gump is hardly a household name, but the law and lobbying firm is famous in Washington for its ability to sell access to those in power. Akin Gump’s employee roster is filled with former members of Congress, and its client list is a veritable who’s who of elite interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Monsanto, Boeing, Chevron, Gilead Sciences, Pfizer and AT&T. The United Arab Emirates and Japan are among the foreign governments represented by the firm.
....Last week, the Clinton, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio campaigns filed reports with the Federal Election Commission to list their lobbyist bundlers, revealing that all three have relied on Akin Gump for campaign cash. In Clinton’s case, her campaign not only used Akin Gump lobbyists as bundlers, but the Clinton campaign treasurer, Jose H. Villarreal, works for Akin Gump’s lobbying division, though he is not registered as a lobbyist. In addition, former Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., who is now employed by Akin Gump, has been tapped to raise money for the presidential campaign of Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, who kicked off his candidacy on Tuesday.
For Clinton, Akin Gump lobbyists Donald Pongrace, Scott Parven, Allison Binney, Brian Pomper and Arshi Siddiqui are listed as bundlers. Together, Akin Gump’s pro-Clinton team brought in $129,850 in the first six months of this year.
....The arrangement means that in practical terms, if an establishment candidate makes it to the White House, there’s a good chance he or she will have won with money raised by Akin Gump.....
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/22/top-fundraisers-hillary-clinton-jeb-bush-work-lobbying-firm/
7/22/15
Just how incestuous is the small world of big money politics? The leading Democratic candidate and at least three major Republican candidates are all relying on members of the same lobbying firm to help them raise presidential campaign cash: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
Akin Gump is hardly a household name, but the law and lobbying firm is famous in Washington for its ability to sell access to those in power. Akin Gump’s employee roster is filled with former members of Congress, and its client list is a veritable who’s who of elite interests, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Monsanto, Boeing, Chevron, Gilead Sciences, Pfizer and AT&T. The United Arab Emirates and Japan are among the foreign governments represented by the firm.
....Last week, the Clinton, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio campaigns filed reports with the Federal Election Commission to list their lobbyist bundlers, revealing that all three have relied on Akin Gump for campaign cash. In Clinton’s case, her campaign not only used Akin Gump lobbyists as bundlers, but the Clinton campaign treasurer, Jose H. Villarreal, works for Akin Gump’s lobbying division, though he is not registered as a lobbyist. In addition, former Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., who is now employed by Akin Gump, has been tapped to raise money for the presidential campaign of Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, who kicked off his candidacy on Tuesday.
For Clinton, Akin Gump lobbyists Donald Pongrace, Scott Parven, Allison Binney, Brian Pomper and Arshi Siddiqui are listed as bundlers. Together, Akin Gump’s pro-Clinton team brought in $129,850 in the first six months of this year.
....The arrangement means that in practical terms, if an establishment candidate makes it to the White House, there’s a good chance he or she will have won with money raised by Akin Gump.....
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/22/top-fundraisers-hillary-clinton-jeb-bush-work-lobbying-firm/
"Akin Gump"....pulling the strings of the United States of America. Who knew?
Here's what Joe Biden has to say, btw, about $$$ in Politics~
Vice President Joe Biden declared last week that the “one single thing” that would make it possible to turn liberal priorities into law would be to “get private money out of the political process.” Democratic candidates, he said, should “start in our own party” by only taking limited amounts of money during primaries from “millionaires and billionaires.”
Noticeably, Biden did not then add: “… And that’s exactly what I’ll be doing as I run for the Democratic presidential nomination, starting today!”
So while these were nice words on Biden’s part, it was a little like LeBron James holding the ball with 30 seconds left in game seven of the finals, saying, “I think one of our good players should really take a shot!” (Of course, that may be too flattering to Biden. He’s more like the Democrats’ Karl Malone: two finals, no championships.)
If anyone is living up to Biden’s words, it’s Bernie Sanders, who has committed to not accepting Super PAC support. By contrast, Super PACs affiliated with Hillary Clinton have so far raised $24 million, including million-dollar-plus donations from billionaires Haim Saban and George Soros. Of the $47.5 million Clinton’s campaign itself has raised to date in donations capped at $2,700, just one-fifth came from donors giving $200 or less, compared to four-fifths of Sanders’ $15 million.
Biden was speaking to Generation Progress, the youth arm of the think tank Center for American Progress, which is closely linked to the Democratic Party. Biden told his young audience that “no matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand” of Democratic candidates that they take limited money from the 1 percent — at least during primaries. For general elections, Biden said, in which even candidates who dislike the current system can’t be expected to unilaterally disarm, “it’s going to require a constitutional amendment” nullifying Citizens United and related Supreme Court decisions....
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/21/joe-biden-democrats-start-party-get-private-money-politics/
Noticeably, Biden did not then add: “… And that’s exactly what I’ll be doing as I run for the Democratic presidential nomination, starting today!”
So while these were nice words on Biden’s part, it was a little like LeBron James holding the ball with 30 seconds left in game seven of the finals, saying, “I think one of our good players should really take a shot!” (Of course, that may be too flattering to Biden. He’s more like the Democrats’ Karl Malone: two finals, no championships.)
If anyone is living up to Biden’s words, it’s Bernie Sanders, who has committed to not accepting Super PAC support. By contrast, Super PACs affiliated with Hillary Clinton have so far raised $24 million, including million-dollar-plus donations from billionaires Haim Saban and George Soros. Of the $47.5 million Clinton’s campaign itself has raised to date in donations capped at $2,700, just one-fifth came from donors giving $200 or less, compared to four-fifths of Sanders’ $15 million.
Biden was speaking to Generation Progress, the youth arm of the think tank Center for American Progress, which is closely linked to the Democratic Party. Biden told his young audience that “no matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand” of Democratic candidates that they take limited money from the 1 percent — at least during primaries. For general elections, Biden said, in which even candidates who dislike the current system can’t be expected to unilaterally disarm, “it’s going to require a constitutional amendment” nullifying Citizens United and related Supreme Court decisions....
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/21/joe-biden-democrats-start-party-get-private-money-politics/
Biden told his young audience that “no matter how much you love me or somebody else, you have to demand” of Democratic candidates that they take limited money from the 1 percent — at least during primaries.
Guess this means he doesn't want people voting in the primaries for $24 mill Hill....
We really do need to Get $$$ Out of Politics.
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We can support getting $$$ out of politics not only with the 8 ways listed in the last link in the OP, but also by eating ice cream! That's also very American, but it has to be Ben & Jerry's... 
Ben & Jerry’s founder criticizes money in politics at GrassRoots 2015
News, Stories, Top
July 21, 2015
by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
TRUMANSBURG, N.Y. — A co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream attended the 2015 GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance this weekend to promote the Stamp Stampede, a campaign aimed at reducing the influence large corporations have on politicians and elections.
“It’s about the power of numbers of people over huge amounts of money,” said Ben Cohen.
“Whatever you may care about … the reason why things are screwed up is because politicians are being paid large sums of money to pass laws that benefit those who already have so much at the expense of everyone else.”
News, Stories, Top
July 21, 2015
by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
TRUMANSBURG, N.Y. — A co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream attended the 2015 GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance this weekend to promote the Stamp Stampede, a campaign aimed at reducing the influence large corporations have on politicians and elections.
“It’s about the power of numbers of people over huge amounts of money,” said Ben Cohen.
“Whatever you may care about … the reason why things are screwed up is because politicians are being paid large sums of money to pass laws that benefit those who already have so much at the expense of everyone else.”
I LOVE these guys! And their ice cream is yum, a nice perk!! Go Stamp Stampede!!
