Texas State Senate race fuelled by oil money

Senate District 10 in Texas is currently a closely contested race. The district voted for Donald Trump by less than 1% in 2016 and has swapped hands between the Dems and Reps often. Currently Republican Konni Burton is fending off Democratic challenger Beverly Powell for the seat. Burton has outraised Powell approximately 4:1 thus far, largely because she has received large amounts of money from PACs supported by oil magnates Tim Dunn, Dan Wilks, and Farris Wilks. This is hardly surprising given Burton's history of voting to protect the fossil fuels industry. These wealthy donors are looking to maintain Republican hegemony in the State Senate. There are currently three close races in the state and if all three flip blue then the Republicans will be forced to work with the Democrats to get much of their legislation through.

Here is a video that Burton made for the "grassroots" organization Texans For Natural Gas

Lobbying Laws on Ballot in Florida

Very related to our class - on the ballot in Florida, Amendment 12 would impose stricter rules on elected officials to eliminate the "revolving door" phenomenon. 

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/amendment-12-would-make-florida-s-lobbying-laws-the-strictest-in-the-nation

Philanthropy and Controversy

Deleted Tweet

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy posted this tweet AFTER a bomb was sent to Soros' house. Up until a couple of minutes ago it was pinned to the top of his profile. pic.twitter.com/FEeKoPolHL

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) October 24, 2018

Horowitz on Steyer


 
Pushback




"Power comes in many forms in public life. But one of its most tangible manifestations is the ability to shape the communities in which millions of people live" (Callahan, p. 94).

The Trump Foundation

Los Angeles

• Broad Foundation and charter schools
• The Broad Center and Marshall Tuck
• EdVoice and the 2018 campaign

"There is hardly any political question in the United States that sooner or later does not turn into a judicial question." Tocqueville, DIA, p. 270 of the Lawrence/Mayer ed.

Vergara v. California

The Williams Institute and Prop 8 -- Impact Report

Ackman, the Arnolds, The Innocence Project and a Claremont connection

Gun Ads

At Politico Morning Score, Zach Montellaro reports that anti-gun groups such as Giffords PAC are working suburban battleground districts.

The messaging does not skirt guns; instead, ads in these suburban districts call for more gun control and challenge the NRA. “Today, our children huddle in supply closets, hoping the next school shooter doesn’t take aim at them,” a Giffords ad in TX-07 says. “Why? Because Washington politicians like [GOP Rep.] John Culberson take tens of thousands from the NRA and then vote against our safety.”

On the airwaves, pro-gun control groups are vastly outspending the NRA in the battle for the House. Giffords PAC has spent just under $5 million in airtime in four districts (CO-06, TX-07, MN-02, VA-10) in the general election through the end of this week, according to data provided to Score by Advertising Analytics. Meanwhile, the NRA Political Victory Fund has dropped just over $480,000 in four districts (TX-07, NC-13, MN-08 and VA-05) in the same timeframe, per Advertising Analytics. Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, a pro-gun control group backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has also dropped $1.4 million in general election airwave spending in GA-06, backing Lucy McBath, a gun control activist who has worked with the group, according to Advertising Analytics.

This is a change of tune from past elections, where the battlegrounds were often focused in places where Democrats did not want to talk about, or side with, gun control. This year, a number of suburban Democrats are picking up this messaging in their ads. “I’ll stand up to the NRA to protect our community,” Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who is running in FL-26, says in an emotional ad detailing her father’s death. The NRA’s ratings have also been used as a scarlet letter of sorts for Republicans, like Democrat Mike Levin’s ad in CA-49. Republican “Diane Harkey has an A rating from the NRA. She stands with the gun lobby, not us,” the ad says, before featuring former Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly endorsing him.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the recent attack at the Pittsburgh synagogue....

On the topic of philanthropists, Alexander Soros is chairman of the board for Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, a progressive group that recently published an open letter to President Trump in response to the shooting. 

The letter states: "President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism... President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us."

For the full letter: https://www.bendthearc.us/open_letter_to_president_trump. 

Prop 8

Sam Baker at Axios:

The dialysis industry has raised $110 million to kill a California ballot measure that would cap company profits — a “record for spending by one side on any statewide ballot measure,” according to Harriet Rowan of Kaiser Health News.

Why it matters: The dialysis industry already scored a win when Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have capped dialysis clinic rates if they had financial ties to charities that subsidize patients’ commercial insurance.

This ballot measure, if passed, would be an even bigger threat to dialysis company profits.

By the numbers: The two largest dialysis conglomerates, DaVita and Fresenius, contributed $100 million of the total.

Where it stands: Wall Street analysts who have followed the ballot measure over the past few months give it pretty low odds of voter approval, Axios' Bob Herman reports. It doesn't help that every major California newspaper ran an editorial against it.

The Billionaire Club

Soros

• Open Society Foundation
• Democracy Alliance (see Callahan, p. 83)

Very rich people

• Number of billionaires in the United States
• By 2018, the US figure was up to 585.
• The Forbes 400

WEALTH INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1913: EVIDENCE FROM CAPITALIZED INCOME TAX DATA Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman 2014

How do they make their money?  Industries most represented on Forbes’ 2018 World’s Billionaires ranks:

Industry	Number of Billionaires	% of total
Finance and Investments	310	14%
Fashion and Retail	235	11%
Real Estate	220	10%
Manufacturing	207	9%
Technology	205	9%
Diversified	194	9%
Food and Beverage	165	7%
Healthcare	134	6%
Energy	94	4%
Media and Entertainment	73	3%

Philanthropy



The local connection: Carnegie Hall and  Donald Carnegie McKenna (his grandmother was a first cousin of Andrew Carnegie.)




Foundation Basics (from the Council on Foundations)

What is a foundation?

In the nonprofit sector, the term foundation has no precise meaning. The Council on Foundations defines a foundation as an entity that supports charitable activities by making grants to unrelated organizations or institutions or to individuals for scientific, educational, cultural, religious, or other charitable purposes. While foundations are often primarily engaged in grantmaking activities, some may engage in their own direct charitable activities or programs. When thinking about foundations in the charitable context, it is helpful to see how the IRS describes private foundations and public charities. Visit the Charities and Nonprofits section of the IRS website at www.irs.gov.

The IRS classifies all 501(c)(3) organizations into two distinct types: private foundations and public charities.


What is a private foundation?

Private foundations are generally financially supported by one or a small handful of sources—an individual, a family, or a corporation. There are a few different kinds of private foundations: independent, family, and corporate. These categories are not legally defined. Rather, they are commonly used in the field of philanthropy to distinguish the different kinds of private foundations. Private foundations must pay out at least 5 percent of their assets each year in the form of grants and operating charitable activities. A private operating foundation is a kind of private foundation and must operate under similar rules. However, it does not have to pay out 5 percent or more of its assets each year in grants. Instead, it must carry out its own charitable purposes. All private foundations are 501(c)(3) organizations. Under the Internal Revenue Code, a charity is presumed to be a private foundation unless it can prove that it is a public charity.

Some of the big players:

• Bloomberg
• Gates and the Giving Pledge
• Chan Zuckerberg

From Sourcewatch: From 1990 to 2014, AEI received more than $111 million in disclosed contributions from the following organizations:[53]

• Kovner Foundation
• Donors Capital Fund
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
• Smith Richardson Foundation
• Sarah Scaife Foundation
• Searle Freedom Trust

China and Angola: Different Avenues of Foreign Influence

At The New York Times, Matthew Rosenberg and Maggie Haberman report that Trump uses an unsecured iPhone that the Russians and Chinese have tapped.

The officials said they have also determined that China is seeking to use what it is learning from the calls — how Mr. Trump thinks, what arguments tend to sway him and to whom he is inclined to listen — to keep a trade war with the United States from escalating further. In what amounts to a marriage of lobbying and espionage, the Chinese have pieced together a list of the people with whom Mr. Trump regularly speaks in hopes of using them to influence the president, the officials said.

Among those on the list are Stephen A. Schwarzman, the Blackstone Group chief executive who has endowed a master’s program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Steve Wynn, the former Las Vegas casino magnate who used to own a lucrative property in Macau.

The Chinese have identified friends of both men and others among the president’s regulars, and are now relying on Chinese businessmen and others with ties to Beijing to feed arguments to the friends of the Trump friends. The strategy is that those people will pass on what they are hearing, and that Beijing’s views will eventually be delivered to the president by trusted voices, the officials said. They added that the Trump friends were most likely unaware of any Chinese effort.

...
Administration officials said Mr. Trump’s longtime paranoia about surveillance — well before coming to the White House he believed that his phone conversations were often being recorded — gave them some comfort that he was not disclosing classified information on the calls. They said they had further confidence he was not spilling secrets because he rarely digs into the details of the intelligence he is shown and is not well versed in the operational specifics of military or covert activities.

Justin Elliott at ProPublica:

A current State Department official helped a top fundraiser for Donald Trump arrange meetings with U.S. senators and Angolan officials in early 2017, according to emails obtained by ProPublica. Neither the official nor the fundraiser registered as a foreign agent.

Aryeh Lightstone helped plan the January 2017 meetings with U.S. senators, high-ranking Angolan government officials and the Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy, the emails show. Several months later, Lightstone was appointed by the Trump administration to a top position in the U.S. Embassy in Israel. The involvement of a now-sitting Trump administration official in Broidy’s work has not previously been reported.

Broidy has since been embroiled in scandal, stepping down from his Republican National Committee deputy finance chair post after the revelation that he agreed to pay $1.6 million in a settlement with a Playboy model he reportedly impregnated. (Broidy has said it was just to help her financially, and he stopped paying her after the arrangement became public.)Elliott Broidy, the Trump fundraiser(Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Pepperdine University)

The Washington Post reported in August that the Justice Department is investigating whether Broidy “sought to sell his influence with the Trump administration by offering to deliver U.S. government actions for foreign officials.” Several news outlets have also reported that Broidy worked for or sought to do business with a Malaysian financier and the United Arab Emirates. (Learn more about Broidy in this “Trump, Inc.” podcast episode.

Crowds on Demand

James Rufus Koren at the Los Angeles Times:

Paid protesters are a real thing.

Crowds on Demand, a Beverly Hills firm that’s an outspoken player in the business of hiring protesters, boasts on its website that it provides its clients with “protests, rallies, flash-mobs, paparazzi events and other inventive PR stunts.… We provide everything including the people, the materials and even the ideas.”

The company has hired actors to lobby the New Orleans City Council on behalf of a power plant operator, protest a Masons convention in San Francisco and act like supportive fans and paparazzi at an L.A. conference for life coaches.

But according to a lawsuit filed by a Czech investor, Crowds on Demand also takes on more sordid assignments. Zdenek Bakala claims the firm has been used to run an extortion campaign against him.

Bakala has accused Prague investment manager Pavol Krupa of hiring Crowds on Demand to pay protesters to march near his home in Hilton Head, S.C., and to call and send emails to the Aspen Institute and Dartmouth College, where Bakala serves on advisory boards, urging them to cut ties to him. Bakala alleges that Krupa has threatened to continue and expand the campaign unless Bakala pays him $23 million.

COMPANY WEBSITE 

A video from the Sac Bee:

This Week's Material and Stuff You Can Do for a Living

FROM COMMON CAUSE:

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

The Philanthropic Advisor develops and implements donor-centric strategies to raise donor sights, articulate aspirational goals and ideas, present philanthropic opportunities and close transformational gifts. This position will be responsible for managing a portfolio of individual donors, family foundations and donor advised funds with the capacity to give mid-level annual gifts; and solicit and steward individual prospects for legacy giving. The Philanthropic Advisor monitors and reports on progress, ensuring that revenue and engagement goals are met.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Strategic and Administration
Establish annual revenue goals and report on program’s performance in conjunction with the Deputy Director of Development.
Design and implement customized plans for individual mid-level donors, with the goal of increasing engagement and annual support.
Mentor and provide support for state staff.
Individual Donors, Family Foundations & Donor Advised Funds
Design and execute annual plans to identify, cultivate, solicit and steward donors that will meet or exceed donor engagement and revenue goals.
Manage portfolio of prospects and current donors with the capacity to contribute mid-level gifts in support of the priorities of Common Cause.
Travel to qualify, cultivate and solicit philanthropists at in-person meetings.
Identify, cultivate and solicit legacy giving donors and prospects, coordinating as needed with state leadership, the president, and other staff.
Manage portfolio records and provide monthly analysis of donor performance related to such things as retention, growth, upgrades, etc.
Assist with special projects and perform other related duties that contribute to the Development department and Common Cause goals as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:
Commitment to the Common Cause mission and a passion for democracy issues
Proven experience and a successful track record in identifying, cultivating, soliciting, closing and stewarding philanthropic gifts. Progressive sales leadership may be considered in lieu of nonprofit fundraising experience.
Ability to plan and execute donor-centric, multi-state fundraising initiatives and work with high-level volunteers and organization leaders
Strong working knowledge of the philanthropic landscape in the northeast region, prospect research methodology, best practices and evolving trends in philanthropy
Able to work independently and as part of a team
Flexibility to travel frequently, work evenings and weekends
Success in deadline-driven environment with shifting demands and priorities

TO APPLY:

Please submit resume, cover letter with salary requirements and a donor writing sample to Director of Human Resources at hr@commoncause.org and include PHILANTHROPIC ADVISOR in the subject line; or fax to 202.355.7546. No phone calls please. Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

ABOUT COMMON CAUSE:
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to restoring core values of American Democracy, reinventing an open, honest, and accountable government that works for the public interest, and empowering ordinary people to make their voices heard. Founded 48 years ago, Common Cause has over 1 million members and supporters, and chapters in 35 states around the country. At the national and state level, Common Cause is actively engaged in defending and advancing the core values of our democracy, which include politics not dominated by money, full access to voting and fair elections, economic opportunity for all, an ethical and accountable government, and an open and democratic media. More information can be found at: www.commoncause.org.

Common Cause is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, creed, color, religion, ethnicity, national origin, party or political affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, or any illegal or prohibited factor.

FROM DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE:


FOUNDATION RELATIONS ASSOCIATE

Location: Headquarters, Washington, DC
Department: Development
Supervisor: Director, Foundation and Corporate Relations
BASIC SUMMARY:

The Foundation Relations Associate plays a key role in Defenders’ foundation fundraising program. The Associate is responsible for writing and editing grant proposals, reports, and other written communications to funders while spearheading general Foundation operations including: internal reporting and submission tracking, database management, cultivation mailings, restricted revenue tracking and basic prospect research. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Proposal and Grant Reports

• Work with Defenders’ program and senior staff and Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations to develop compelling proposals, concept papers, letters of inquiry, and reports describing a variety of conservation initiatives for private and corporate foundations and government agencies.
• Draft and edit grant proposals, letters of inquiry, concept papers and reports in collaboration with program staff.
• Work with program and Finance staff to prepare financial information, including grant budgets, invoices and financial reports, for foundation donors and prospects.
• Participate in select program planning sessions.

Grants Management

• Monitor and communicate proposal and reporting deadlines to Finance and Program departments.
• Work with Vice President of Development, Finance and Program departments to communicate and monitor grant allocations and expenditures.
• Work with the Philanthropy Manager to review allocation and acknowledgement of restricted foundation grants. 
• Monitor and report on restricted and unrestricted revenue.
• Fundraising Strategies and Prospect Research
• Develop and implement fundraising strategies for a portfolio of foundation donors and prospects, with lead responsibility for general species and habitat-specific proposals. 
• Identify prospects for specific programs and conduct high-level research and analysis of foundation funding trends as part of fundraising strategy development.

Operations/Administrative:

• Enter foundation interactions in database for portfolio contacts.
• Pull reports from database for Foundations team. Help develop database protocols and procedures for Foundations team.
• Prepare briefing materials for foundation visits for portfolio contacts.
• Work with Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations and other staff on annual budget and periodic revenue reporting.
• Manage Foundation workplan and other tracking documents and distribute on a timely basis.
• Track and report on restricted and unrestricted revenue for weekly, monthly and quarterly updates.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required.

Experience

• Minimum of three years in foundation fundraising, preferably in a conservation, environmental, advocacy or related field.
• Experience with donor management and engagement.
• Experience with government grants and/or cause-related marketing is a plus.
• An equivalent combination of education and experience may be accepted as a satisfactory substitute for the specific education and experience listed above.

Other

• Proven track record in raising funds from foundations, preferably for a conservation or environmental organization.
• Demonstrable skill in writing excellent proposals and other grant-oriented materials.
• Strong knowledge of foundations and recent trends in environmental grant making.
• Research, computer literacy and fundraising database skills.
• Ability to work under the pressure of deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Detail oriented with sharp eye for proofreading and data management.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use a computer and communicate with others while doing so.
WORK ENVIRONMENT:

General office working conditions, the noise level in the work environment is usually quiet.
VALUES AND DIVERSITY:

Defenders of Wildlife is a national, non-profit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities. Our employees work in an environment that is inclusive and honors each of our unique perspectives and backgrounds. We believe that the conservation of biological diversity is best advanced by the contributions of people of diverse backgrounds, experiences, beliefs and cultures. We strive toward a collective goal of including all people in the conservation of our Nation’s wildlife and wild places.


Visit Our Values and Diversity page to learn more about who we are and how we operate.
SALARY RANGE:


Up To $60,000

HOW TO APPLY

Interested applicants please reference Foundation Relations Associate position in your subject line and submit a letter of interest along with your resume to us via e-mail at: HR@defenders.org.

Dictatorial Cameroon lobbying U.S. during "democratic" election

Cameroonian President Paul Biya won his seventh term in office today which will bring his reign as President to a remarkable 43 years. Keep in mind that Cameroon is a "democracy." 

Why haven't you heard of President Biya's voter suppression, his government arresting and torturing gays, or the widespread violence against the English-speaking population? This recent FP piece outlines a potential reason:

"Part of that strategy involves doing just enough to keep the United States and other major Western powers from bothering to notice. In Biya’s corner is a small but powerful constellation of lobbying and public relations firms that the government has embraced in the buildup to the 2018 vote in an effort to buy the prestige of outside approval. These firms have shouldered the weight of managing the country’s media relationships and keeping in contact with U.S. lawmakers.

Documents filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act show the Biya government is channeling upward of $184,000 a month to these firms. Squire Patton Boggs is currently receiving $100,000 a quarter from Cameroon. Glover Park Group—which just cut ties with the Saudi government—is providing public affairs and communications support to the Embassy of Cameroon in Washington for $51,000 a month, and in September, Mercury Public Affairs secured a media relations contract with the government worth $100,000 a month. Squire Patton Boggs and Glover Park Group did not return phone calls asking for comment, while Michael McKeon, a partner at Mercury Public Affairs, told Foreign Policy that the group “does not represent Cameroon” at present, despite his name being on a contract that runs until 2019.

'Biya in this case is really trying to play the PR game … they’re trying to somehow present this regime that has been in power for [nearly] 40 years as a credible guarantor of the democratic rights and aspirations of its people,” Smith said. “Once you start peeling back the layers, the opposite is true.'"

Saudi Influence

At The Washington Post,  Tom Hamburger , Beth Reinhard and Justin Wm. Moyer report:

In the past two years, the Saudis have intensified their efforts to cement the U.S. relationship. The kingdom’s spending on U.S. lobbying and consulting, which had dropped from $14.3 million in 2015 to $7.7 million in 2016, surged to $27.3 million last year, according to public records. More than 200 people have registered as agents on behalf of Saudi interests since 2016, according to lobbying documents posted by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Among those on the payroll have been some of Washington’s top public relations and lobbying shops: the McKeon Group, helmed by Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; BGR Group, a firm founded by prominent Republicans Ed Rogers and Haley Barbour; the Glover Park Group, which was launched by Democratic political strategists including Joe Lockhart and Carter Eskew; and the now-defunct Podesta Group, the former firm of Democratic superlobbyist Tony Podesta.

Rogers and Eskew are both contributing opinion writers for The Washington Post. Last week, both of their firms announced they were dropping their representation of Saudi Arabia. The Post had told them they could not continue to write for The Post and lobby for Saudi Arabia, according to spokeswoman Kristine Coratti Kelly.

Separately, Saudi money — and funds from its close ally, the United Arab Emirates — have also flowed into think tanks throughout Washington, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Brookings Institution and the Middle East Institute. All three said last week that they are ending or reconsidering Saudi grants.

“One of the foreign policy truisms force-fed in Washington is that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have a special, unbreakable relationship,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat and leading critic of the war in Yemen. “At least everybody who is smart and knows about foreign policy who walks into your office tells you that. But as it turns out, a lot of those people are getting gulf money.”

One of the biggest beneficiaries of Saudi money has been the Middle East Institute, which touts itself as “an unbiased source of information and analysis on this critical region.” The organization is chaired by Richard A. Clarke, who held senior national security positions during the administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Between 2016 and 2017, the think tank received between $1.25 million and $4 million in funding from Saudi interests, according to its public disclosures.

Additional items:

• At WP, Robert Costa and Karoun Demirjian report that right-wing politicians and pundits "are mounting a whispering campaign against Jamal Khashoggi ... exchanging articles from right-wing outlets that fuel suspicion of Khashoggi, highlighting his association with the Muslim Brotherhood in his youth and raising conspiratorial questions about his work decades ago as an embedded reporter covering Osama bin Laden, according to four GOP officials involved in the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly."
• At Time, Alana Abramson provides some context; "According to data compiled by the Center for International Policy, a foreign policy think tank, that was provided to TIME, the Saudi government spent $10 million on lobbying in 2016. By 2017, that number had nearly tripled, increasing to almost $27 million."
• Maureen Dowd sums it up: "Hollywood, Silicon Valley, presidential libraries and foundations, politically connected private equity groups, P.R. firms, think tanks, universities ... are awash in Arab money. The Saudis satisfy American greed, deftly playing their role as dollar signs in robes."

The Saudi Network

Philip Bump and Justin Wm. Moyer at The Washington Post:


 

Constituencies and Foreign Lobbying

• Think Tanks
• From POGO

Disputes about foreign policy are not new:

The "natural born citizen" clause

The Citizen Genet Affair
"The King's Lobbyists" (h/t Yianni)

Ban on Foreign Campaign Money ...but
No Ban on Foreign-Connected US Money

And US diaspora groups, of course, have no limit at all.

• Dual citizens
• Foreign-Born Population

Mideast

• AIPAC
• Public sympathies
• CAIR
• Changing demographics

Armenia



And what happened?

Current administration

Ireland

Controversial Program at Heritage

Unnamed donors, sitting judges, secrecy pledges and loyalty oaths at Heritage Foundation “training academy” for law clerks. After questions from The Times, the passages below were deleted from the application materials.https://t.co/VKabsCzrEw pic.twitter.com/o7LfTutAw1

— Adam Liptak (@adamliptak) October 18, 2018

JUST IN:

“Heritage is reevaluating the Federal Clerkship Training Academy. As a result, the program will not go on as scheduled.” – Greg Scott, director of media at The Heritage Foundation. https://t.co/hxIBv7Ddgm

— Adam Liptak (@adamliptak) October 18, 2018

IBEW Endorses Republican Candidate

Historically the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has almost solely endorsed Democratic candidates, so it came as a bit of a surprise when they recently endorsed Republican Chris Sununu for New Hampshire Governor. It is believed that the reason for their support is Sununu's support for Northern Pass, a 192 mile transmission line which plans to bring Canadian power to New Hampshire. Northern Pass is expected to employ a significant number of IBEW members. The last time that IBEW endorsed a Republican candidate for Governor was in the 1980s when they endorsed Sununu's father John. Sununu's Democratic opponent, Molly Kelly, vehemently opposes Northern Pass so it makes sense that IBEW would break from the norm and support a Republican.

Trump lawyer's history of using non-profit work to enrich self

One of President Trump's lawyers Jay Sekulow has contracted a non-profit phone bank to raise money from the public for his organization, The American Center for Law and Justice, with a script that cites a Justice Department investigation into Planned Parenthood and anti-abortion legal action taken by the non profit. Since 2000, tens of millions of dollars from the ACLJ and CASE (an affiliated group run by Sekulow) have made their way to Sekulow's law firm and family. Spending and interest groups gets complicated.


The Guardian

WAPO

AIPAC's Struggle to Remain Bipartisan

AIPAC has been struggling to remain a bipartisan group. It has become harder for them to not to be considered a conservative group as younger American Jews see the issue of Israel differently than the older generation and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has developed a close alignment with President Trump. AIPAC wants to avoid becoming a partisan group like the NRA because they can only succeed when working with whoever is in power. AIPAC also faces the risk of the group splitting into two groups due to polarization. 

From The Atlantic: 

"Thus they are more likely to inherit their parents’ progressivism than their parents’ Zionism. The same concern for human rights and equality that informs their general political outlook makes them unsympathetic to Israel’s policy of holding millions of Palestinians under military occupation, without basic rights, in the West Bank. Which puts them at odds with AIPAC. They are also generally more assimilated than their parents, which means that—irrespective of their politics—they care about Israel less. Which means they’re less likely to join AIPAC."

 

Foreign Lobbying

Foreign lobbying is very much in the news today:

• Lobbying firms drop Saudi Arabia
• But not all of them...

The reason for FARA:





FARA HOME

The LDA EXCEPTION  Private entities like companies and nonprofits that would otherwise be required to follow FARA registration requirements may choose to instead register as a lobbyist with the House Clerk's Office and Secretary of the Senate so long as the agent has engaged in at least some lobbying activities that fall under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA).

The LDA exemption is not available to agents of a foreign government or political party, or if the "principal beneficiary" of the activities is a foreign government or political party.

Alternative database from -- where else -- Open Secrets

Silverstein

• Lobbying for rebels
• Turkmenistan:  Still Bad
• APCO responds to Silverstein (But APCO has worked for Kazakhstan)

Media

• Planting op-eds
• Open, disclosed ads
• Covert buys of social media
• State-run networks:  
• Al Jazeera America
• RT (epic fail)

Flattering interviewees (an actual email to yours truly):

Dear John , 

I hope all is well. 

 I would like to introduce myself again. I would  like to introduce myself.  My name is XXX  I’m an international producer for Russian Television -  Channel One  that based in Moscow, Russia. We also have offices in New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles.  “Chanel One” is a number one broadcasting company in Russia and also very popular in Russian Community around the world.  We have over 250 million audience in 190 Countries.  Channel One is as big in Russia as CNN and FOX in US.

We have been working on our weekly news show "Sunday times" about Donald Trump's meeting with Putin. Our network's CEO Mr. Ernst asked me to contact you and include you in our show. He really would like to have you as a part of our show. You opinion is very important for Russian audience.
...

You are very well known in Russia. Russian politicians and regular people look up to you as a peer where they watch your interviews and follow you on social media for inspiring messages. It would be such an honor and  pleasure to meet you in person and film an interview with you. 

Other Strategies and tactics

• Policymaker outreach
• Plying staff with talking points
• Coalition support -- more on Thursday
• Networking and the National Prayer Breakfast 
• Think Tanks

From POGO

Manafort and FARA

 

Saudi Arabia -- or -- We Picked the Right Week to Discuss Foreign Lobbying

Justin Wm. Moyer at The Washington Post

The alleged killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is putting pressure on Saudi Arabia’s formidable lobbying corps in Washington, with at least one firm dropping its representation of the country and others warily monitoring the crisis.

The Harbour Group — which had received $80,000 a month to advise Saudi Arabia on communications, foreign policy and government relations — said it had severed its ties with the kingdom.

“We are terminating our relationship,” Richard Mintz, managing director of the Harbour Group, said in an interview Friday.

The Saudis plowed $27 million into lobbying in Washington last year, making them one of the highest-spending countries seeking to influence U.S. policy, according to public records.

Ben Freeman, director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington, called the nearly three dozen Washington lobbying and law firms retained by the kingdom a “Saudi machine.”

See data from Open Secrets

But at Marketplace, Victor Reklatis writes:

The outcry also could spur the Middle Eastern kingdom to ramp up its already-powerful lobbying and public-relations efforts in Washington, D.C., said Ben Freeman, author of “The Foreign Policy Auction” and director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, a think tank.

“What we’ve seen in the past from a lot of countries, when it comes to their spending on lobbying and PR in D.C., is they actually tend to spend more when relationships sour in Washington,” Freeman told MarketWatch.

One example of that came last year, when Saudi Arabia and its Mideast allies had a falling out with Qatar. “After that, we really saw a lobbying blitz from both sides, with the Saudis and Emirates adding lobbying firepower in the summer of 2017, and the Qataris doing the same thing,” Freeman said.

In 2017, Saudi Arabia nearly tripled its spending on registered foreign agents to influence American policy and opinion, according to Freeman, who analyzed Foreign Agents Registration Act filings. The country spent $27.3 million, up from just under $10 million in 2016. This year’s total could be higher as Saudi Arabia has been increasing the number of lobbying firms that it works with, he added.

These totals don’t include donations to American universities and think tanks, which don’t have to disclose such contributions. Saudi Arabia’s overall 2017 spending on influencing the U.S. easily could amount to double that $27.3 million figure when such outlays are included, Freeman said.

Corporations and Stickiness

Another measure of the growth of government intervention:



But note a significant drop in 2017: 



The Trump Bump in Lobbying

Tax Lobbying and the executive branch



What does it mean that lobbying is "sticky"?

• Alphabet
• Boeing
• Exxon Mobil
• Facebook
• Microsoft
• National Assoc of Realtors

"The increasing complexity of policy also makes it more difficult for generalist and generally inexperienced government staffers to maintain an informed understanding of the rules and regulations they are in charge of writing and overseeing" (Drutman, p. 220).

A  2016 article:

Congress has given itself a lobotomy over the past three decades. It has eliminated thousands of staff positions, eviscerated its ability to carry out policy analysis, and generally has such low pay and difficult work environments that it relies on inexperienced and overstretched 20-somethings for the vast bulk of its work.

An Unconventional Attack Ad

A PAC ad "not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

Or, an Oscar-nominated director decides to help Beto with his messaging.

Second Assignment

Pick one of the items below.

• 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?  Mr. Mueller has thoughtfully provided you with primary-sources:  https://www.justice.gov/sco.
• Think of the Internet Research Agency as an organization seeking to influence American politics.  What were its strategy and tactics during the 2016 campaign?  Again, Mr. Mueller is helpful: https://www.justice.gov/sco.  Note that there has also been good reporting in the mass media.
• Choose any philanthropist.  (See Callahan.)  What are her or his major current goals in the policy arena?  What strategy is the philanthropist employing to achieve those goals?  How successful has this strategy been?
• Pick any of the ethnic groups that McCormick describes in his chapter.  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 26. Late essays will drop a gradepoint for one day’s lateness, a full letter grade after that. 

Big Casino Politics

At ProPublica, Justin Elliott provides a nice segue to next week's topic.  In early 2017, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visted the United States.  Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson attended a DC breakfast with Abe and some American CEOs, including two others from the casino industry. Adelson and the other casino execs pressed him on opening Japan to US casino operations.

Adelson had a potent ally in his quest: the new president of the United States. Following the business breakfast, Abe had a meeting with Trump before boarding Air Force One for a weekend at Mar-a-Lago. The two heads of state dined with Patriots owner Bob Kraft and golfed at Trump National Jupiter Golf Club with the South African golfer Ernie Els. During a meeting at Mar-a-Lago that weekend, Trump raised Adelson’s casino bid to Abe, according to two people briefed on the meeting. The Japanese side was surprised.

“It was totally brought up out of the blue,” according to one of the people briefed on the exchange. “They were a little incredulous that he would be so brazen.” After Trump told Abe he should strongly consider Las Vegas Sands for a license, “Abe didn’t really respond, and said thank you for the information,” this person said.

...

The casino business is one of the most regulated industries in the world, and Adelson has always sought political allies. To enter the business in 1989, he hired the former governor of Nevada to represent him before the state’s gaming commission. In 2001, according to court testimony reported in the New Yorker, Adelson intervened with then-House Majority Whip Rep. Tom DeLay, to whom he was a major donor, at the behest of a Chinese official over a proposed House resolution that was critical of the country’s human rights record. At the time, Las Vegas Sands was seeking entry into the Macau market. The resolution died, which Adelson attributed to factors other than his intervention, according to the magazine.

In 2015, he purchased the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the state’s largest newspaper, which then published a lengthy investigative series on one of Adelson’s longtime rivals, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which runs a convention center that competes with Adelson’s. (The paper said Adelson had no influence over its coverage.)

In Japan, Las Vegas Sands’ efforts have accelerated in the last year. Adelson returned to the country in September 2017, visiting top officials in Osaka, a possible casino site. In a show of star power in October, Sands flew in David Beckham and the Eagles’ Joe Walsh for a press conference at the Palace Hotel Tokyo. Beckham waxed enthusiastic about his love of sea urchin and declared, “Las Vegas Sands is creating fabulous resorts all around the world, and their scale and vision are impressive.”

If you are a movie fan, and have read this far, you are probably thinking of this scene:

Trade Associations and the Growth of Lobbying

Trade Associations and collective interests

Background

Another view of contract lobbyists

Corporate headquarters

Growth of government

Did Collins earn some Pinocchios on PP statement?

Did Susan Collins make an inaccurate statement about Planned Parenthood simply opposing Republicans because of their political orientation? Two news sources have different takes:

The Washington Post

The National Review

"Hidden Money Funding the Midterms"

This article goes along with what we have been discussing in class about campaign finance transparency. With Mountain Families PAC, Republicans spent $1.3 million on the West Virginia Senate seat against Don Blankenship (with no disclosure of the source of funds). Blankenship was recently imprisoned back in 2010, and the Republicans did not want him to win the primary. "The move worked like this: Start a new super PAC after a deadline for reporting donors and expenses, then raise and spend money before the next report is due. Timed right, a super PAC might get a month or more undercover before being required to reveal its donors. And if a super PAC launches right before the election, voters won’t know who’s funding it until after they go to the polls." Overall, spending without donor disclosure has reached over $21.6 million on 78 different congressional races in this election cycle. 

Doctors

Suhas Gondi, Jonathan Kusner, and Yosef Berlyand at STAT:

Physicians do many things well. One thing they aren’t good at is showing up to vote. That bad habit starts early, and we believe it can — and must — be changed.

We don’t have data from recent elections, but studies from a decade ago show that physicians voted less often than the general population. (Lawyers, in contrast, were more likely to vote than the general population.) Given that health care accounts for almost one-fifth of the U.S. gross domestic product, and that new laws and regulations continuously alter the norms of medical practice, it is both curious and shameful that medical professionals fail to fulfill the basic civic responsibility of voting.

Several reasons have been tossed around to explain why physicians vote at such low rates. One is that doctors are so busy that it’s difficult to fit a trip to a polling place into an already packed day. Another explanation is that some physicians decide that the value of their single vote is too small to justify taking time away from patients in need. Low voting rates could also be part of broader disengagement from public life, consistent with evidence that physicians volunteer less often than other highly educated professionals and are less likely to donate to candidates.

But now more than ever physicians need to vote because the outcomes of elections are increasingly affecting their patients and their ability to care for them. Realizing this, many have called for more doctors to get politically involved. Although we’ve seen in recent years a swelling of physician advocacy on political issues, from repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act to “Dreamers” to gun violence, this engagement has largely taken the form of protests, marches, and social media campaigns. Far less energy has been invested into boosting the number of doctors who cast votes, the most fundamental form of civic engagement.

Conflicting takes on Soros and Kavanaugh Protests

While many claimed the President was tweeting conspiracy theories yet again when he claimed the anti-Kavanaugh protesters were "paid by Soros and others," this journalist maps out how Open Society (Soros foundation) grantees did in fact play a large role in the logistics and signage at the protests.

One ironic tidbit in the article: 

"Rethink Media created a “social media strategy sheet” back in August for anti-Kavanaugh protesters. One talking point: “Kavanaugh was hand-picked by dark money groups and their billionaire backers.” Rethink Media is itself a Soros grantee, and Saturday’s protests and unlawful disruptions were part of a well-funded, orchestrated network that books buses, hotel rooms and churches for such agitation."

At the same time, this Washington Post article gives the Soros-funded-protestor claim 3 Pinocchios, pushing the argument that donations do not mean influence.

While the Washington Post is right to claim that Trump and Grassley's comments that the protesters were directly paid to protest are completely false, I think a key takeaway for our class's purpose is the concluding line of the first article:

"Mr. Soros, much like the Koch brothers, funds causes he cares about. There’s nothing wrong with that, but democracy is better served if we follow the money on the right and left and find solutions where they are likeliest to lie: in the middle."

What's in a proposition Title? Could be everything.

Despite early polling finding a majority of Californian's opposed to increases in the gas tax, new polling finds that a majority of Californian's oppose Proposition 6. While some credit the millions of dollars spent by construction firms and labor unions for swaying public opinion against Proposition 6, others believe the ballot title may be playing a role as well. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra gave Proposition 6 the title, "Eliminates certain road repair and transportation funding. Requires certain fuel taxes and vehicle fees to be approved by the electorate." Note that this title does not describe Proposition 6 as a repeal of gas taxes. When asked a more general question about repealing the recent gas tax increases, more likely voters (50%) were in favor than in opposition (46%) according to the PPIC. Repeal proponents sued on the basis that the title was misleading and  Superior Court judge Timothy Frawley agreed. However, Frawley's ruling was overturned by the state court of appeal, thus keeping the ballot title as is.

Your Weekend Getaway Packet 10/5 ed.

Murkowski is a no.  You heard it here first: http://gov106.blogspot.com/2018/09/items-for-very-busy-news-week.html

Here's a BIG reason why my gut has been that Murkowski would be no on Kavanaugh (though I did NOT expect her to be no on cloture)...https://t.co/FibzBkeJkO

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 5, 2018

This documentary, which features a certain CMC alum who fought dark money in court when he was MT AG, is available for free online streaming for the rest of this month.
http://www.pbs.org/pov/darkmoney/video/darkmoney/  (Not mandatory viewing for this week.)




Nicholas Florko reports at STAT:

A Republican lobbying firm, the CGCN Group, is behind this week’s launch of the shadowy drug pricing organization, Alliance to Protect Medical Innovation, a partner at the firm confirmed to STAT Thursday.

It is still unclear who is funding the organization, but the group admitted Thursday it relied on some “seed money from people inside the [drug] industry.” The brand drug lobby BIO also said in a new release on its website Thursday that it is joining as one of APMI’s first members.

“APMI is our client and is in the process of naming the executive director,” Ken Spain, partner at CGCN Group, told STAT. “We are helping them with the rollout of the organization.”

Rebecca Robbins at STAT:

In 26 years in Congress, Rep. Anna Eshoo has always won reelection by at least 20 points. The Democrat is virtually certain to win big once again in November, buoyed largely by voters in her wealthy Silicon Valley district who do not struggle to pay for their prescription drugs.

So why is a political action committee focused on high drug prices bothering to sink $500,000 into attack ads against her?

The ad blitz from Patients for Affordable Drugs highlights the unorthodox tack the group is taking in the 2018 midterm elections: intervening in races in which there is no hope of altering the outcome.

Of the nine congressional and gubernatorial races in which P4AD has supported or opposed candidates to date, just three or four are competitive, according to STAT’s analysis of election forecasts from the website FiveThirtyEight.

And of the at least $8 million the group has spent in total, as much as $6 million has gone to the races in which the outcome has long been determined.

P4AD, which is funded mainly by the billionaire Houston couple John and Laura Arnold, says that where its money can’t help decide a race, it can still send a message: that politicians running campaigns funded by drug companies will face retribution. But that, too, is a dubious strategy, experts say.

If the goal is to make politicians hesitate before accepting a check, “pharma’s not at the stage of the NRA,” said Bob Blendon, a Harvard professor who studies the politics of health care. “It’s going to be years before somebody runs in this state or that with a major biotech presence [and says] they’re not going to accept [drug industry] funding. I’m not sure it’s a realistic goal.”

From from Politico Influence:

TARIFF LOBBYING CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP: Lobbying against the Trump administration’s tariffs continues to be a huge business driver for K Street. Here’s a rundown of the latest registrations: Twin Enterprises Inc. (dba ’47 Brand),a sports licensing and apparel company based in Massachusetts, hired Crowell & Moring to lobby on tariff exclusions; TricorBraun, a St. Louis packaging company, hired Husch Blackwell to lobby on tariffs; Edelman / Char-Broil hired Robert Carlstrom Jr. to lobby on tariffs on Chinese products; and Air Master Awning, a Puerto Rican company, hired Sorini Samet to lobby on Chinese trade actions.

— The lobbying comes as trade associations and coalitions continue their broader push to stop the tariffs. The Tariffs Hurt the Heartland campaign will hold a town hall Thursday with former Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) in Indianapolis. The town hall will also feature Brian Kuehl, executive director of Farmers for Free Trade; Steve Bohman, vice president of global production for Vera Bradley, and others.