Union Power Prevents Public-Sector Union Reform

“Public employees have a private interest in taking more and more of the taxpayer-generated revenue for themselves. In other words, public employees have a private interest in diverting public funds from public services to their wages and pensions. In this sense, the increasing numbers of public employees and their increasing wages and benefits threaten to hollow out public services in our country.”

–  Roger Berkowitz, Executive Director, Hannah Arendt Center

The above quote explains quite well the intrinsic conflict of interest that accrues to public-sector unions. This conflict of interest is the primary distinction between public-sector unions and private-sector unions. It is the reason that private-sector unions can muster strong arguments for their continued relevance in society, whereas the very legitimacy of public-sector unions is questionable.

And lest anyone suggest that calls for reform — if not the abolition — of public-sector unions emanates solely from the “extreme right wing,” consider the provenance of the above quote. The highly regarded, intellectually elite Hannah Arendt Center boasts perhaps the most impeccable nonpartisan, anti-ideological credentials of any comparable institution in the world. It is named after famous political philosopher Hannah Arendt, the author of numerous books, the most famous being “The Origins of Totalitarianism.”

The reason Democrats don’t support public-sector union reform is obvious. There is no special interest in America that donates more money to the Democratic Party than public-sector unions. The data in the table below make this clear. If you go to the source of this data, OpenSecrets.org, you will see that the vast majority of the $535 million contributed to Democrats between 2000 and 2010 came from public-sector unions, whose membership in absolute numbers now exceeds that of private-sector unions.

In California, where public-sector union spending on state and local campaigns and lobbying exceeds $500 million per two-year cycle, the same percentages apply.

Via: California Political Review

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No Public Tours, But 344 Visits By Lobbyists To The White House

Regular American citizens visiting the nation's capital lost access to the White House in March as President Obama eliminated public tours to make a point in his battle with House Republicans in the sequestration debate over cutting spending or raising taxes.

But hundreds of K Street lobbyists, including corporate advocates who are paid to influence policy on behalf of Fortune 500 giants, saw no change in their access to the chief executive and his senior aides, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of White House visitor logs and lobbying records.

The analysis found that 200 lobbyists met 344 times with White House officials at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. between March and May.

Among the lobbyists meeting with White House officials in the most recently available three-month period:

• Mary Streett, a lobbyist for energy company Exelon who lobbies on preventing clean air and water restrictions that could harm the company's bottom line, met with officials in March.
• Joshua Zive, who represents coal and energy companies, had a meeting at the White House in April.
• Joanna Acocella, who lobbies for the Apollo Group, which owns the University of Phoenix, part of the for-profit college industry where schools' steep tuition and dubious training have led massive portions of students to default on their loans and which has faced a crackdown by the administration, met with Patrick Hidalgo, deputy director of the White House Business Council, as part of a large group in May.
• Lobbyists for fellow for-profit college groups Drexel University and Career Education Corp. also had meetings at the White House, records suggest. Funded almost entirely by federally backed loans, for-profit schools are so lucrative that Apollo paid its president $25 million last year.
• Roger R. Szemraj, who represents candy makers and other food interests, met with Doug McKalip, senior policy adviser for rural affairs, along with five other visitors. Cracking down on junk food in schools has been one of the first lady's signature campaigns.
• Paul Carothers, who lobbies for YUM! Brands, which owns Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, met with the White House Domestic Policy Council's Julie Moreno. Alcohol lobbyists and others whose Images are not entirely aligned also had significant presences.
• Arshi Siddiqui, who represents physicians, the movie industry, Siemens Corp., United Technologies Corp., UPS, and life insurers, met one-one-one with Obama economic adviser Jason Furman twice in April.
• Kim K. Bayliss, a lobbyist for corporate telecommunications giants such as Nexus Communications, met with U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel, along with two others.
• Someone with the name of Donna Crane met once with the president as part of a large group and a second time in a one-on-one with a special adviser in May. Donna Crane is a top lobbyist for NARAL, the pro-choice activist group.
• Emily Heisig, who lobbies for the New England Council, a business coalition that wants to loosen immigration restrictions on highly skilled workers, met with the president March 20.
• Labor leader Hasan Solomon of the machinists' union, was granted a meeting with special adviser to the president Stephanie Valencia. Union leaders connected to the AFL-CIO had a whopping 14 meetings with White House officials in the three-month period.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Inaugural Sponsors Spent $160 Million Lobbying Government

It's a fool's game to take anything Obama says at face value. There is always a catch. For his second inaugural, he publicly congratulates himself for banning lobbyists from sponsoring the events. Of course, no such prohibition exists on the companies who hire the lobbyists. The companies who are trying to influence the government are welcome to participate, even if their hired guns are not. The corporations who are the biggest donors to the inauguration have spent $160 million lobbying government since Obama first took office. 

From a report by The Center for Public Integrity:

Chief among corporate inaugural donors: AT&T Inc., Microsoft Corp., energy giant Southern Co., biotechnology firm Genentech and health plan manager Centene Corp. Together, more than 300 registered lobbyists worked on the five companies’ behalf to influence legislation and government policy, according to their latest federal filings covering January through September.

Corporations hire lobbyists to get access to officials so they can advocate for their positions. It is the access that is the main reason to hire a lobbyist. To a large extent, lobbyists are simply the middlemen. Obama's ban on lobbyist donations simply cuts out the middleman, allows corporations better, more direct, access to officials and allows him to reap dollars from those most trying to influence his Administration.

For his first inauguration, in 2009, Obama banned contributions from corporations and limited individual donations to less than $50,000. Those limits have been wiped away for this year's event.  

Always a catch.

Via: Breitbart

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Major Lobbyist Says “There Are Lots Of Lobbyists Working For The Administration”

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., Chairman Of Major Washington Lobbying Firm
Patton Boggs: “Now they’ve greatly changed that [last year, the Obama re-
election campaign hired former lobbyist Broderick Johnson, and in March, Joe
Biden tapped former lobbyist Steve Ricchetti as an adviser], there are lots of
lobbyists working for the administration, which is probably going to make it
work better in the second term.” (Catherine Ho, “Lobbying Icon Boggs Predicts Obama Win, Weighs In On Election’s Impact On K Street,” The Washington Post, 10/7/12)
 FLASHBACK - Obama: “[Lobbyists] Won't Find A Job In My White House.” OBAMA: “One year from now, we have the chance to tell all those corporate lobbyists that the days of them setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race - and I've won. I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am President, they won't find a job in my White House.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Spartanburg, SC, 11/3/07)