Study: Paying for lobbyists — pays off

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Big companies that spent hundreds of millions lobbying successfully for a tax break enacted in 2004 got a 22,000-percent return on that investment — proof that for those who can afford it, hiring a lobbyist can pay handsome dividends.

The figures, compiled by professors at the University of Kansas for a study to be released Thursday, offer a rarely seen glimpse of how the lobbying business works, and why — even as President Barack Obama vows to curb lobbyists' influence — the industry is booming as never before.

The report details efforts by hundreds of companies in 2003 and 2004 to push through a one-time tax "holiday" that lowered for a year the tax rate they paid on profits earned abroad. All told, U.S. companies saved about $100 billion in taxes, with pharmaceutical behemoths Pfizer and Merck & Co., technology giants IBM and Hewlett Packard, and health products maker Johnson & Johnson among the top beneficiaries.

93 firms, $282.7 million
The study zeros in on 93 firms that spent as much as $282.7 million lobbying on the issue during that period, and ultimately saved a total of $62.5 billion through the tax change. Researchers used publicly available lobbying disclosures filed with Congress and financial statements submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission to compare the amount each company saved with its lobbying expenditures.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30113628/

He's got a good start.

edit:

Another Lobbyist Headed Into Obama Administration
Leaves Critics Questioning the President's Commitment to Changing Washington

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to limit the influence of lobbyists in his administration, a recent lobbyist for investment banking giant Goldman Sachs is in line to serve as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6735898&page=1

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Lobbyists slipping into Obama administration
By Kevin Bogardus
Posted: 03/05/09 05:33 PM
Several former lobbyists are scattered throughout the Obama administration, despite the president’s efforts to slow the revolving door.

A review by The Hill of staff announcements for the White House and other departments in the administration found about two dozen people who have registered to lobby in the past, some as late as last year, according to lobbying disclosure records.
http://thehill.com/business--lobby/lobbyists-slipping-into-obama-administration-2009-03-05.html
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<snip>

When he got to the White House, he issued an executive order <3> banning lobbyists from working on issues they'd worked on in the past two years. So how's that going? As the National Journal reported <1>, Obama has "nominated two recent lobbyists to high-level administration posts, and 14 of the 112 White House staffers that Obama had named had been registered as lobbyists at some point since 2005." Three more former lobbyists are being considered for top administration jobs.

The most noted of those lobbyists is William Lynn, formerly the VP of government operations at Raytheon, nominated <4> to be deputy Defense secretary. And then there's Mark Patterson, nominated to be Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's chief of staff, who lobbied for Goldman Sachs until last year <5>. Another on the list is William Corr, who ran and lobbied for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, nominated to be deputy Health and Human Services secretary.

Lynn has already received a waiver <6> from the Obama administration, and Corr seems likely to receive one with little controversy <7> (especially since few seem to object to an anti-smoking advocate getting a top health job).

As Politico reports <8>, there are actually a number more Obama administration nominees and appointees who have lobbied, though not within the past two years. Obama's nominee to be attorney general, Eric Holder, for instance, was registered to lobby until 2004 and did work <9> for a (now-bankrupt) telecom company. Others lobbied until recently but narrowly miss being constrained by the lobbying rules; Ron Kirk, the nominee for U.S. trade representative, lobbied in Texas, but not on the federal level, and so the rules don't apply <10>.

So what gives? Well, here's what lobbyists have to say about it (from the National Journal piece):

"I applaud Obama for facing the reality that he was going to need people who know how Washington works and some of them might just have been lobbyists," said David Wenhold, president of the American League of Lobbyists and co-founder of Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies. "It was great in theory for him to say, 'No lobbyists,' but it simply doesn't work in practice."

In other words, D.C. is crawling with lobbyists, a number of whom have experience working in government. You're going to have to hire some of them. Nanny nanny boo boo.

Whether Obama has pulled something of a bait and switch is subject to debate. Obama's spokesman tells Politico <11> that a few waivers shouldn't obscure Obama's unprecedented effort to "reduce the influence of lobbyists in Washington." If you're looking for a point of comparison to evaluate that claim, none of these pieces count up the number of former lobbyists who held positions <12> in the Bush administration.
http://www.propublica.org/article/obama-lobbyists-i-cant-quit-you-090129
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Obama grants two more lobbyists waivers
By Ian Swanson
Posted: 03/10/09 08:17 PM
President Obama has issued waivers allowing two appointees who were formerly registered lobbyists to work for his administration.

The waivers ensure the two appointees can work for the administration under his executive order on ethics, which was intended to reform the revolving door between K Street and the government.

The waivers were provided for Jocelyn Frye, director of policy and projects in the Office of the First Lady, and Cecilia Munoz, director of intergovernmental affairs in the executive office of the president. The two waivers were announced on the White House blog Tuesday evening, which said the exceptions were granted under a “public interest” exemption of the executive order on ethics.

http://thehill.com/business--lobby/obama-grants-two-more-lobbyists-waivers-2009-03-10.html

:sarcasm:

And I agree with the :sarcasm:

One thing about us Dems, is we're open and up front about sex. None of that hiding in the closet for me, no, uh-uh. Alcohol, hookers and weed and I'm good to go.:sarcasm:

$10 trillion for $5 million... a 200,000% return on investment - and that's just for the Paulson/Summers/Geithner Banker Bailout, and not including financial deregulation and almost-gree-trade with China.

Wow!

The bankers really are smarter than the rest of us!

Such as how much a company or organization can spend to lobby. How many they can hire as lobbyists.

Where companies and lobbyists can hold their "seminars" for congressional members. Not in another country. Not in a location further than 50 miles from their operations.

Just suggestions.