Congressional Family Members on Lobbyist Payrolls
Newsmax revealed that business as usual remains the by word since Democrats have taken over the reigns of Congress following the elections in the Fall of 2006. Some distressing developments include:
* Paul Pelosi Jr., the son of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, being hired by InfoUSA at a salary of $180,000 a year to assume the title of vice-president for Strategic Planning while not having to report to work at the company's headquarters in Omaha, Nebrask like other employees of the company. In fact Paul Pelosi was able to retain his real full-time job with Countrywide Loans in California where he is a mortgage loan officer. That's a nice set-up which came about shortly after his mother nancy became the Speaker of the House of Representatives. This is the same Nancy Pelosi who promised to change the way business was done in the House to improve ethical behavoir including the acceptance of gifts and jobs in exchange for political influence. So much for promises.
* What do we know about InfoUSA? The linked article has some revealing information. From the link (in blue):
The Iowa attorney general's office, in an investigation that began in 2005, found that InfoUSA sold consumer data to telemarketing criminals who used it to steal money from elderly Americans, sometimes wiping out their life savings.
InfoUSA advertised call lists with titles like "Elderly Opportunity Seekers" or "Suffering Seniors," a compilation of names and phone numbers of people with cancer or Alzheimer's disease. "Oldies but Goodies" was a list of 500,000 gamblers over age 55.
"These people are gullible," the company said in describing the list. "They want to believe that their luck can change."
E-mails show the company continued to sell the lists even though its employees knew their customers were being investigated for fraud that victimized the elderly. InfoUSA has said the lists were aberrations and has said it would not engage in such practices again.
Gupta, 60, is an entrepreneur from India who founded InfoUSA in 1972 and built it into a publicly traded company with reported revenue of $434 million in 2006.
Gupta also considers himself a player in Democratic fundraising circles and stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom when Bill Clinton was in the White House. He gave at least $1 million to the Clinton Library and raised over $200,000 for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign.
Hillary has also made extensive use of InfoUSA's jet for campaign trips for which she had to reimburse InfoUSA an amount equal to a first class airline ticket. Use of a corporate jet for two hours could be worth $20,000 or more, but under Senate rules Mrs. Clinton may only have to pay the equivalent of the premium ticket."
Bill Clinton has also been paid by InfoUSA as a consultant. How much? $3.3 million for the last five years and some pocket change for travel worth $900,000. If you voted in the Democrats, thinking they were more likely to clean up the ethical morass in Washington, think again.
There is also this from an article authored by Dick Morris- DEMS LIKE GOP — LIKE NEPOTISM DEMS LIKE GOP — LIKE NEPOTISM published on TheHill.com on June 20, 2007. His comments in blue print:
Now that Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) is the Democratic floor leader, he has not just one but three sons — and a son-in-law — who are lobbyists. One of Reid’s sons, and his son-in-law, has lobbied in Washington; a second son lobbies for the same interests in Nevada; and a third son is an attorney who litigates for them in court. Reid’s lobbyist-sons worked to promote federal land swaps, mining interests and the University of Nevada at Reno.
Not to be outdone, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) wife, Abigail Perlman, is director of federal government affairs for Altria — the former Philip Morris corporation. Their relationship is one that was hatched in lobbying. While Blunt was dating Abigail, he quietly drafted language to benefit Altria/Philip Morris and tried to sneak it in the bill that established the Department of Homeland Security — without alerting the Republican leadership. Blunt’s mi ssion was to minimize the sale of cigarettes on the Internet, a thorn in the side of Altria/Philip Morris. Fortunately, Hastert killed the amendment.
Of the 100 senators, the sons, daughters, husbands or wives of 20 of them are registered as lobbyists, whose job often boils down to lobbying Mom or Dad. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is typical of the conflicts that can arise in such a situation. His son Scott Hatch lobbied for the makers of ephedra while his father sponsored legislation to exempt the diet supplement from federal regulation. Scott got paid $2 million in lobbying fees, while Dad got more than $137,000 from the diet supplement industry.
* Paul Pelosi Jr., the son of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, being hired by InfoUSA at a salary of $180,000 a year to assume the title of vice-president for Strategic Planning while not having to report to work at the company's headquarters in Omaha, Nebrask like other employees of the company. In fact Paul Pelosi was able to retain his real full-time job with Countrywide Loans in California where he is a mortgage loan officer. That's a nice set-up which came about shortly after his mother nancy became the Speaker of the House of Representatives. This is the same Nancy Pelosi who promised to change the way business was done in the House to improve ethical behavoir including the acceptance of gifts and jobs in exchange for political influence. So much for promises.
* What do we know about InfoUSA? The linked article has some revealing information. From the link (in blue):
The Iowa attorney general's office, in an investigation that began in 2005, found that InfoUSA sold consumer data to telemarketing criminals who used it to steal money from elderly Americans, sometimes wiping out their life savings.
InfoUSA advertised call lists with titles like "Elderly Opportunity Seekers" or "Suffering Seniors," a compilation of names and phone numbers of people with cancer or Alzheimer's disease. "Oldies but Goodies" was a list of 500,000 gamblers over age 55.
"These people are gullible," the company said in describing the list. "They want to believe that their luck can change."
E-mails show the company continued to sell the lists even though its employees knew their customers were being investigated for fraud that victimized the elderly. InfoUSA has said the lists were aberrations and has said it would not engage in such practices again.
Gupta, 60, is an entrepreneur from India who founded InfoUSA in 1972 and built it into a publicly traded company with reported revenue of $434 million in 2006.
Gupta also considers himself a player in Democratic fundraising circles and stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom when Bill Clinton was in the White House. He gave at least $1 million to the Clinton Library and raised over $200,000 for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign.
Hillary has also made extensive use of InfoUSA's jet for campaign trips for which she had to reimburse InfoUSA an amount equal to a first class airline ticket. Use of a corporate jet for two hours could be worth $20,000 or more, but under Senate rules Mrs. Clinton may only have to pay the equivalent of the premium ticket."
Bill Clinton has also been paid by InfoUSA as a consultant. How much? $3.3 million for the last five years and some pocket change for travel worth $900,000. If you voted in the Democrats, thinking they were more likely to clean up the ethical morass in Washington, think again.
There is also this from an article authored by Dick Morris- DEMS LIKE GOP — LIKE NEPOTISM DEMS LIKE GOP — LIKE NEPOTISM published on TheHill.com on June 20, 2007. His comments in blue print:
Now that Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) is the Democratic floor leader, he has not just one but three sons — and a son-in-law — who are lobbyists. One of Reid’s sons, and his son-in-law, has lobbied in Washington; a second son lobbies for the same interests in Nevada; and a third son is an attorney who litigates for them in court. Reid’s lobbyist-sons worked to promote federal land swaps, mining interests and the University of Nevada at Reno.
Not to be outdone, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) wife, Abigail Perlman, is director of federal government affairs for Altria — the former Philip Morris corporation. Their relationship is one that was hatched in lobbying. While Blunt was dating Abigail, he quietly drafted language to benefit Altria/Philip Morris and tried to sneak it in the bill that established the Department of Homeland Security — without alerting the Republican leadership. Blunt’s mi ssion was to minimize the sale of cigarettes on the Internet, a thorn in the side of Altria/Philip Morris. Fortunately, Hastert killed the amendment.
Of the 100 senators, the sons, daughters, husbands or wives of 20 of them are registered as lobbyists, whose job often boils down to lobbying Mom or Dad. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is typical of the conflicts that can arise in such a situation. His son Scott Hatch lobbied for the makers of ephedra while his father sponsored legislation to exempt the diet supplement from federal regulation. Scott got paid $2 million in lobbying fees, while Dad got more than $137,000 from the diet supplement industry.
Labels: Lobbyists
posted by Paul at 10:32 AM
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