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Lobbying efforts permeate politics ? even Obama's
(Chicago Tribune (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) WASHINGTON _ Throughout the contentious campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama has sought to seize the moral high ground on taking money from lobbyists and special interests.
He has portrayed Washington as a haven of corporate greed, where lobbyists manipulate bills and big companies carry the day. Obama once said he would not work with or employ federal lobbyists in his administration.
But those who lobby for a living say it's not that simple, and even Obama's stance shows some flexibility. He won't take money from federal lobbyists but accepts money from employees of firms and corporations that lobby, and he uses lobbyists and other government relations professionals as advisers.
Sen. Hillary Clinton and her supporters accuse Obama of overstating the case.
"I think the whole discussion is ridiculous," said Geraldine Ferraro, a former New York congresswoman who was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1984 and is backing Clinton. "Most of the people in the Congress, on both sides of the aisle, understand the difference between giving someone access and committing a crime. Raising money from lobbyists is not the issue. Honesty and integrity are."
Others give Obama credit for his refusal to take money from registered lobbyists, saying at least he is taking a stand. Among these is Massie Ritsch, of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
But just who is and is not a lobbyist is not always obvious. Some register with the Senate. Others do not. "An interest is special only when it is not your own," Ritsch said. "Everyone is represented somehow in Washington."
Ferraro, for example, lobbies for a firm, Blank Rome, that employs lawyers and lobbyists, an increasingly common model in Washington. Lobbying was once a discrete specialty, but the concept of government relations has exploded over the last decade to include a wide variety of services, many of which do not involve direct contact with members of Congress.
Lawyers represent clients before regulatory bodies and executive-branch agencies. Public relations specialists plan high-profile media campaigns. Ethics experts advise clients how to follow increasingly strict rules. "There are 70,000 practicing lawyers in Washington, D.C., alone," said Nicholas Allard, a lobbyist at Patton Boggs. "A large number of them are involved in advocacy before some part of the government."
Added to that is the growth of nonprofit groups and trade associations, all of which use lobbyists, as do a growing number of universities and hospitals. Despite this, "folks think all lobbyists are corporate lobbyists," said Heather Podesta, a lobbyist and Clinton fundraiser. "That's simply not the case."
Clinton and Obama have both received vast sums of money from lawyers in firms such as Ferraro's. And while Obama has largely lived up to his pledge to not accept money from registered lobbyists and corporate political action committees, he has taken contributions from scores of lawyers who represent large corporations, as well as from the employees of financial services firms and drug companies.
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Obama said it is important to minimize lobbyists' roles.
"Nobody's hands are perfectly clean, you know, in politics," Obama said in a recent debate in South Carolina. "There is a distinction, though, between not taking PAC and federal lobbyist money and having that as a major way of driving your campaign."
Podesta, however, argued that Obama's distinctions mean little. She and her husband, Tony, a well-known lobbyist in Washington, hosted a fundraising event at their home for Obama when he ran for the Senate. Now, even if she wanted to raise money for him, she would be persona non grata. "It's a little disingenuous," she said.
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Clinton also has decried the influence of special interests in Washington, but she has not hidden her association with prominent D.C. lobbyists and their firms.
Obama has also had to rely on big-time fundraisers. Steven Zager, a Houston lawyer for the law and lobbying firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, has held several events for Obama in Texas. Zager, a lifelong Republican, received what many large fundraisers seek: access to the candidate.
In this case, it was simply to have Obama make his case personally why Republicans should vote for him. "I believe this guy is something special," Zager said.
Akin Gump is a prime example of how difficult it can be to untangle the knot of corporate interests, big money and politics. Collectively, lawyers at the firm had given Obama almost $65,000 by the end of 2007, although the firm itself didn't give a dime. Lawyers at the firm represent large oil companies such as Lukoil and electronics giants such as Samsung. (Zager mainly represents electronics and telecommunications companies.)
As lobbyists, the firm represents, among others, oil giants Exxon and BP, the agribusiness behemoth Archer Daniels Midland, and aerospace titan Boeing.
Lawyers at Sidley Austin, a Chicago firm with a robust Washington presence, had given Obama more than $225,000 by the end of 2007, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. One of Sidley's attorneys, John Levi, is on a list supplied by Obama's campaign of fundraisers, or "bundlers," who have raised more than $200,000 for the candidate.
Sidley lawyers represent, among others, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Owens-Corning. They have lobbied for such companies as Honeywell, General Electric, General Motors, Monsanto and MasterCard.
Beyond law firms, Obama's bundlers work at companies such as Citigroup and Exelon, which owns ComEd, and at financial services giants Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs.
Clinton has tried to tie Obama to pharmaceutical and insurance companies because he has received a large amount of donations from executives there.
To that, Obama said in South Carolina, "If you've got a mid-level executive at a drug company or insurance company who is inspired by my message of change, and they send me money, then that's recorded as money from the drug or the insurance industry _ even though it's not organized, coordinated or in any way subject to the problems that you see when lobbyists are giving money."
Working as a senior adviser to Obama is former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. Daschle serves as a consultant to Alston & Bird, a law and lobbying firm. Daschle is not a registered lobbyist, and the firm says he "focuses his services on advising the firm's clients on issues related to all aspects of public policy."
The difference? "Registered lobbyists spend a great deal of their time on the Hill talking directly to members and staff in an effort to persuade them on a given issue," Daschle said. "Former members who are now lobbyists have a great advantage in making contact based on past relationships. I have chosen not to do that."
Obama has also used major fundraisers who are registered lobbyists on the state level. And he uses registered federal lobbyists such as Broderick Johnson, who lobbies for AT&T and Shell Oil, among others, as a campaign adviser. Since Johnson isn't giving money to Obama, his name won't show up in FEC records.
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(c) 2008, Chicago Tribune.
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Copyright ? 2008 Chicago Tribune
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