Recent Articles
Debunking Walmart’s India Lobbying Non-Scandal
From India comes a strange cautionary tale about rumor, paranoia and a lobbying scandal that wasn’t. News that Wal-Mart has spent 25 million dollars over the past four years lobbying for greater access to Indian markets has exploded into controversy, as lawmakers and social activists in that country express fears over the role that the [...]
Congress, Lobbyists Struggle Over Legislative Lock Down On Cybersecurity
In his three decades in Washington Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia), the chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has seen threats, great and small, visited upon the United States. Last month Rockefeller announced his retirement from the Congress in 2014. But before he leaves Washington he is waging a final crusade against [...]
High Stakes Political Showdown Over Online Gambling Rules
Its pit boss politics, D.C. style, as States challenge the Federal government over who will regulate the nation’s multi-billion dollar online gaming economy. Responding to new legislation drafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) that would vigorously regulate the “laptop casino” by supporting online poker while banning other [...]
Candy Lobbyists Try To Sweeten The Deal On Sugar Program
This Halloween season lobbyists for candy companies are ringing doorbells on Capitol Hill, dressed as victims of Federal price controls. Their boogyman: a three-decades old farm program that props up domestic sugar production. Advocates of the USDA’s “Sugar Program” claim it saves American farms and American jobs. Opponents see it as nothing more than outdated [...]
Fast Lane Lobbying With Google’s Driverless Car
It’s science fiction in action. As its passengers relax in blissful hands-off ease their robotic Google car, relying on a matrix of sensors and GPS controls, jockeys them through the slice and dice of high impact freeway driving, and delivers them home without so much as a bent fender. To skeptics this sounds a little [...]
Cigar Smoke and Political Fire in Washington
Up in smoke. That’s what lobbyists for the premium cigar trade are worried will happen to their profits if the FDA enacts new health regulations on the tobacco industry. But it turns out that while it might be a lot less smoky in the smoke filled room these days, politicians still like to put their [...]
Chinese Oil Rush Slows To A Crawl On Capital Hill
Seven years after the Chinese government’s attempt to acquire the American oil producer Unocal ended in fury and failure, last month’s announcement that state owned Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd. (CNOOC) is seeking to buy-out the Canadian oil driller Nexen for $15.1 billion has ignited outrage on Capitol Hill about the influence of China [...]
Dramatic Rewrite In The Works On Foreign Lobbying Rules
The ground shifted beneath of the feet of top tier Washington lobbyists with last month’s passage of the Foreign Lobbying Reform Act, introduced by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Virginia). If Wolf’s legislation goes on to be approved by the Senate, that rumble could well become a seismic event. The legislation, inserted into the 2013 Financial Services [...]
