CGI's BillsBest: How Corrupt Corporatists &
Congressmen Reward Each Other
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http://chasvoice.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-corrupt-corporatists-congressmen.html
How Corrupt Corporatists & Congressmen Reward Each Other Posted by Charleston Voice Revolving Door Works for Staffers, Too The revolving door goes two ways, and it works for staffers as well as for members of Congress. The more well-traveled direction is from government to corporation, trade group or other organization, often for more money than an individual can make working for Uncle Sam. It's less common for people to go the other way, from the private sector to government, unless they've been elected to serve on Capitol Hill. But it does happen. In fact, according to an analysis by Remapping Debate and the Center for Responsive Politics, 41 high-ranking staffers for new members of Congress came from organizations that have a lobbying presence in Washington. Hiring a staffer with experience in lobbying can be extremely helpful for a new lawmaker who needs to quickly build connections and might be concerned about securing funds for re-election. In many cases, legislators seemed to pick like-minded staffers, or at least ones with an extensive Rolodex who might be able to advance their pet causes. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), for example, chose Justin Roth as his chief of staff. Roth lobbied for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies from 2005 to 2008 and the Independent Insurance Agents of America from 2001-04. That could ensure that the insurance industry -- which was DeSantis' eighth-highest contributor in 2012 (after the "Retired" category), giving him $30,550 -- has a receptive ear in the lawmaker's office. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) chose Brian O'Shea as legislative director in her new office. O'Shea has worked for heavy hitter Morgan Stanley. The securities and investment industry was sixth on her list of top-contributing industries in the 2012 cycle, writing checks for $92,950. Re7986222465_5a1189be80_z.jpgp. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), whose top donor was pro-choice EMILY's List, hired Leticia Mederos as her chief of staff. Mederos worked for the National Partnership for Women and Families in 2012. Of the 38 freshmen who hired staffers that were connected to a corporation or group that lobbies, 18 were Republicans and 20 were Democrats. All but one -- Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) -- were in the House. Kaine's chief-of-staff, Mike Henry, worked for the ONE Campaign from 2009 to 2011, though Remapping Debate points out that the organization only lobbied for a part of Henry's tenure -- spending an average of $825,000 in 2009 and 2010 on human rights issues, according to OpenSecrets.org data. Labor Connections Labor unions in particular might be able to count on some new allies in Congress -- a handful of Democratic freshmen relied on unions for their election and then also hired staffers who have worked for unions, or organizations that work closely with them, in the past. Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee's new legislative director is Andrew Leavitt, who workedAFSCME_Logo-2Color.jpg for a lobbying heavy hitter, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), from 2008 to 2009. Labor unions were, by far, Kildee's top sector in the last election, contributing almost $150,000 to his campaign. The same goes for Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who received almost $160,000 from the labor sector to secure his election to the House. His new chief-of-staff is Julie Tagen, who was stationed at the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, which works to improve the retirement benefits of federal workers, from 2011 to 2012. The labor sector was second overall for freshman Reps. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), who received $221,800 and $88,000 from unions in the last election, respectively. Takano's new legislative director is Yuri Beckelman, who was a communications director for AFL-CIO from 2012 to 2013. Beatty has hired Donnica Hawes Saunders, who worked for the National Farmers Union in 2011. Rep. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) hired two former union employees as her chief of staff and legislative director, Jonathon Bray and James Cho, respectively. Bray worked for AFSCME from 2009-10 and Cho was a lobbyist for the International Association of Firefighters from 2011-12. In the last election, Frankel received almost $165,000 from labor for her 2012 campaign, her sixth-highest sector overall. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) received almost $198,000 from the labor sector, her third-highest overall, for her election to the House. Her new legislative director, Ken Montoya, lobbied for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association from 1998 to 2006 and for the Teamsters Union in 2008. Outgoing Staffers There's plenty of traffic in the other, more expected direction, of course -- from top jobs in Congress to lobbying positions. An analysis of the landings of chiefs-of-staff and legislative directors for members of the 112th Congress who left by the end of 2012 found that 26 (of 106 identified) had taken jobs lobbying. afandpa028.jpgOf the 26, four found work with companies in energy or extractive industries. Three of them are Republicans, including Elizabeth Bartheld, who went from being chief-of-staff for Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.) to vice president of government affairs at the American Forest and Paper Association. Health care entities snatched up four former top staffers, all of them Democrats, such as Heather Parsons, the new director of legislative advocacy for the American Occupational Therapy Association. Parsons had been a legislative director for Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina. Seven of the former top staffers -- five Republicans and two Dems -- went to work at lobbying firms, including the Glover Park Group and Van Heuvelen Strategies. But the list is far from complete, since many staffers didn't take new jobs until after the end of 2012, and in any case it's often more difficult to track former staff than it is to follow one-time lawmakers. Correction, Feb. 28: In the original version of this story, we wrote that Julie Tagen had worked for the National Federation of Federal Employees before being hired as Rep. Alan Grayson's chief-of-staff. Her actual employer was the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. We regret the error and have corrected the text. http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=270727 |
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