Pebble Mine and the Alaska Senate Election

A while back, Rachel posted about Alaska's Pebble Mine.

Judd Legum (POMONA `00) and Tesnim Zekeria report at Popular Information:

Control of the United States Senate may come down to the results in Alaska, where Senator Dan Sullivan (R) is facing a serious challenge from Dr. Al Gross. In recent days, the race has centered on $500 billion of gold and other precious metals hidden deep in Southwest Alaska.

About two-thirds of Alaskans oppose permitting extraction of metals at the site. The opposition to the proposal, known as Pebble Mine, is centered around the site's proximity to the Bristol Bay salmon fishery, which is treasured by commercial fish farmers, recreational fishers, and Alaska Natives. In 2014, Sullivan opposed a decision by the Obama EPA to shelve the project.

Since then, Sullivan's position has been hard to pin down. But in explosive tapes released late last month, the CEO of the company developing the mine, Pebble Limited Partnership, said that Sullivan's vagueness was strategic and, based on backchannels with Sullivan's office, he was confident Sullivan would not stand in the way of the project.

After the release of the tapes, Sullivan abruptly changed his position and, for the first time, said he was definitively opposed to the mine. But Sullivan has thus far refused to return campaign contributions connected to Pebble Limited Partnership. A Popular Information investigation reveals that Sullivan has received at least $35,050 in campaign contributions tied to the mine, more than three-and-a-half times what has been previously reported.

Restaurants

This article quotes Mike Whatley, CMC `11:

 From the Denver Channel:

The first day of fall is just one week away and restaurants are preparing to take another hit.

“A lot of us are going into these months thinking, you know, how many more days can I survive until I have to close my restaurant?” said Kevin Boehm, a co-founder of the Boka Restaurant Group, an independent restaurant coalition.

Boehm is also a restaurant owner in Chicago, where COVID-19 restrictions have slashed indoor capacity. And he says outdoor seating won't be possible much longer.

The National Restaurant Association surveyed owners around the country. About three quarters say they're using patio space right now and hope to continue doing so for a least a few more weeks.

Outdoor dining is bringing in nearly half of their daily sales but keeping customers outside will soon get more costly.

“Equipment for outdoor dining, especially when it gets cold, get expensive, be it a tent for a parking lot, be it heaters or anything like that, that starts adding up in costs,” said Mike Whatley, VP of State and Local Affairs at the National Restaurant Association.

The association wants local governments to start grant programs for buying that equipment to keep temporary regulations in place that allow for more outdoor service.

The coalition hopes to see increased indoor capacity for cooler months. They're also lobbying for Congress to pass the Restaurants Act, which would create a $120 billion grant program for infependent restaurants.

Boehm says there could be rolling closures through the winter.

“By the time we get to next summer, we're going to be looking at a much smaller array of restaurants, a lot less choices, a lot more chains, and the independent restaurant is going to be an endangered species,” said Boehm.

The National Restaurant Association says owners that are innovative are the ones that will make it through this crisis.

A Followup to Our Earlier Guest

 Brady MacDonald at the OC Register:

California theme parks and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration are once again at odds just as it seemed like a reconciliation was in the works and COVID-19 health and safety guidelines for reopening the major tourist destinations were about to be issued.

Initial draft guidelines reviewed by theme park operators prompted Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood and their counterparts to ask Newsom’s administration to hold off on finalizing the reopening plan until modifications could be made to key protocols.

As a result, state officials tapped the brakes on plans to issue theme park reopening guidelines this week in order to seek more input from industry officials on proposed protocols.

“Given the size and operational complexities of these unique sectors, we are seeking additional input from health, workforce and business stakeholders to finalize this important framework — all leading with science and safety,“ California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said in a statement issued Friday.

Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Universal Studios Hollywood, Knott’s Berry Farm, SeaWorld San Diego, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Legoland California and other California theme parks closed in mid-March as the COVID-19 pandemic forced business across the U.S. to shutter their operations and society to adjust to the “new normal.”

California theme parks have been left waiting on the sidelines while other segments of the economy have reopened under Newsom’s four-tier Blueprint for a Safer Economy -— which proceeds from the most-restrictive “widespread” risk level through “substantial” and “moderate” before reaching the least-restrictive “minimal” tier.

Most California counties with major theme parks currently fall into the second-most restrictive “substantial” risk level — including Orange (Disneyland and Knott’s), San Diego (SeaWorld and Legoland), Solano (Six Flags Discovery Kingdom) and Santa Clara (California’s Great America). Los Angeles County — home to Universal Studios Hollywood and Six Flags Magic Mountain — remains in the most restrictive “widespread” risk level.

Frustrated theme park operators like Disney, Knott’s and Legoland have been demanding for weeks that Newsom allow California theme parks to reopen. In a classic case of “be careful what you wish for,” theme parks didn’t like what they saw in the draft guidelines.

The initial draft guidelines from the state for reopening California theme parks reportedly call for:

• Individual theme parks can reopen only once their county reaches the least-restrictive “minimal” risk level
• Operate at 25% of attendance capacity
• Limit visitors to residents living within a 120-mile radius of each theme park

The state’s draft guidelines present two key problems for theme parks:

Placing theme parks in the final tier of the Blueprint for a Safer Economy means the severity of the guidelines never change until the pandemic ends

Reaching the least-restrictive “minimal” tier could be difficult to nearly impossible for California’s most-populous counties

The draft guidelines likely would prevent California theme parks from reopening for weeks or months.

COVID Relief Lobbying by Trade Associations

Theodoric Meyer at Politico Influence:

THE STATE OF PLAY: Airlines, restaurants and other industries battered by the pandemic are waiting and watching as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin inch closer to a deal on a relief package. “Pelosi called on airlines Friday to hold off on any furloughs or layoffs for tens of thousands of employees facing job cuts, and vowed that Congress will enact payroll support one way or another,” POLITICO’s Tanya Snyder reports. “She said Congress would either enact standalone legislation to extend the Payroll Support Program for aviation workers or include it in a comprehensive coronavirus relief package. She called relief ‘imminent.’ ‘Today, I am calling upon the airlines to delay their devastating job cuts as relief for airline workers is being advanced in Congress,’ Pelosi said.”

— House Democrats narrowly passed their own bill on Thursday containing provisions championed by the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the National Independent Venue Association, among others, but it’s unclear which of its provisions will make it into any deal that Pelosi and Mnuchin strike. Other industries are still pushing for aid. The International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association applauded a bill introduced by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) on Thursday that would set up a $30 billion fund to help gyms and fitness clubs.

— “While many industries are looking to receive a second round of help from the federal government, a significant segment of our industry was left out of the first relief package,” Brent Darden, the trade group’s interim president and chief executive, said in a statement. “Without immediate assistance, hundreds of thousands of jobs in the fitness industry could be lost.”

Corporate Lobbying

 For Tuesday: Drutman, ch. 6-8

The Powell Memo (Drutman p. 57)

In Showdown at Gucci Gulch, Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Alan S. Murray quote Reagan aide Richard Darman saying: “I couldn’t help thinking that if I were a lobbyist, I would stand in the hallway with a big sign saying EVERYONE INTERESTED IN KILLING THIS BILL, PLEASE MEET IN THE NEXT CORRIDOR … There would have been an enormous rush, and they would have seen the power of their collective action.” Nearly three decades later, all the lobbyists have read that book, and they know how to build coalitions.

(What happened to Birnbaum?  See here.)

Lobbying presence


Review of why companies lobby (Drutman, p. 75)


...............................................Collective (Industry)............Selective (Company)

Proactive...............................Medicare presc. drug............Coverage of specific company drug

Reactive................................Keep industry tax break........Keep company contract


Drutman, p. 80:

1. Contacting Congressional staffers directly to present your point of view
2. Identifying allies in Congress who might serve as “champions” for your cause
3. Monitoring developments closely
4. Contacting members of Congress directly to present your point of view 
5. Consulting with members of Congress and/or their staff to plan legislative strategy 
6. Entering into coalitions with other organizations
7. Consulting with other organizations to plan legislative strategy 
8. Helping to draft legislation 
9. Contacting members of the executive branch directly to present your point of view 
10. Presenting research results or technical information
11. Contacting undecided members 
12. Writing position papers
13. Mobilizing constituents to contact their representatives 
14. Talking to people from the press and the media [also social media
15. Contacting members who are opposed to your position 
16. Testifying at hearings 
17. Attending political fundraisers
18. Consulting with members of the executive branch to plan legislative strategy 
19. Organizing political fundraisers 
20. Using issue advertising

Trade Associations

Second Assignment Fall 2020

 Pick one of the items below.

• Pick any chapter in Drutman and do a 2020 update.  That is, what has happened since 2015 that would either illuminate the analysis or require revision of it?
• Do a deep dive on Paul Manafort.  When so many foreign lobbyists can make so much money lawfully, why did he commit crimes?  Why did he think that he could get away with them?  See the recent report of the Senate Intelligence Committee: 
•  https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/report_volume5.pdf, 
• and of course the Mueller report https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf
• Think of the Internet Research Agency as an organization seeking to influence American politics.  What were its strategy and tactics during the 2016 campaign?  What is is doing now? Note that there has also been good reporting in the mass media.  See Senate Intelligence:
• https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf 
• Pick any of the ethnic groups that McCormick describes in his chapter (see Sakai).  Write an update.  That is, since the publication of the book, how has the group adapted to changing circumstances?  Are there significant conflicts within the group?
• Pick any topic related to the course readings, subject to my approval.

Instructions:

• Document your claims. Do not write from the top of your head. 
• Essays should be typed (12-point), double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page. Please submit papers as Word documents, not pdfs. 
• Cite your sources with endnotes in Chicago/Turabian style. Endnote pages do not count against the page limit. 
• Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you. 
• Turn in essays to the class Sakai dropbox by 11:59 PM, Friday, October 16. Late essays will drop a gradepoint for one day’s lateness, a full letter grade after that.

Poll on CA Ballot Measures

 San Diego Union-Tribune

Keep in mind the relatively small sample and the large share of undecideds.  Also note that CA ballot measures tend to lose support over time.