Lobbyists are selling filibusters to Republicans (and Mary Landrieu)

[octoberlib]

I’ve detailed before how lobbyists, even agents for foreign governments, have secured Republican filibusters at a shocking rate. The cottage industry around monetizing filibusters has grown rapidly since Obama’s first election. From 2009 to 2010, there were more filibusters filed than during the 1950s through 1960s combined, as The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel observed.

The interesting dynamic for me is, how money in politics has incentivized this contraction of democratic governance. Here are just a few examples of how powerful industries have usurped the normal gears of government, and used Senate obstruction to push policies that punish ordinary Americans and the environment:


• According to a new report from Public Campaign Action Fund, Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has collected a hundreds of thousands in funds from the same industries he has protected with filibusters, particularly from oil companies and the finance sector. McConnell has led filibusters to protect oil subsidies, to block efforts to mitigate the mortgage crisis, and against campaign disclosure reforms.

• Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) placed a “blanket hold” on every Obama nominee to force the administration to accept a Northrop Grumman contract to build a $35 billion refueling tanker in Mobile, Alabama. Northrop Grumman is a major Shelby donor.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/172087/lobbyists-who-profit-senate-dysfunction-fight-filibuster-reform#



Landrieu blocked Obama's nominee for the Office of Management and Budget to extract a promise from the administration to allow more oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

[okaawhatever]

1. Selling filibusters? More like kidnapping democracy and our tax dollars. nt

[ananda]

2. And holding all of us hostage to the iron whims of corporate fascists.

..

[octoberlib]

5. I was surprised to learn

There are actually firms on K street, like Endgame Strategies, who specialize in this. If a corporation doesn't like a proposed regulation or law, these firms will match the corp up with Republican senators who will filibuster for them. For a price, of course.

[Laelth]

3. Important article. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[annabanana]

4. kickaroonie! . . . n/t

[freshwest]

6. Important revelation. Boehner was known for handing out those lobbyist checks on the House floor.

People didn't used to get wealthy, rapidly and without good reason, like McConnell when they went to Congress. The GOP removed ethics and changed the laws to help their donors.

They aren't hiding it now. They are extorting all of the country through the instrument defined to stop them by regulation. The public has had its mind brainwashed very well.

Our only hope is to see if those who are so anti - government, regulation, protections and all the rest see they are losing their country to these unaccountable entities, and not to the Obama bogeyman they've been taught to hate and fear, but to the masters of the people they voted for.

A portion do profit very well directly from this state of affairs. They are not in the dark about what they are doing and will never change their minds.

They will continue to work with these forces to destroy all government as they gladly carry home the spoils of this war.

[Morphia]

7. Why hide it when the SCOTUS made bribery 100% LEGAL in American Politics?

There is also no real incentive to stop it either because it is easy money for the politicians.

They can give lip service to it and pocket all the lobbyist money.

[octoberlib]

8. There are some encouraging signs.

The group, the Fund for the Republic, recently laid out its plan for 110 donors, fundraisers, activists, and political operatives, who convened over two days in mid-September at the W Hotel in Washington, DC, for an invitation-only, closed-press gathering titled "Crony Democracy." Cohosted by the Democracy Alliance, the conference featured speakers and attendees including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, investor and progressive activist Jonathan Soros, ex-George W. Bush adviser Mark McKinnon, Stride Rite Corporation founder and major Democratic donor Arnold Hiatt, and Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's.

The event had a single goal: convincing well-heeled donors to invest in a $40 million "surge" to combat the flood of big money into American politics. That money, to be raised over five years, according to internal planning documents obtained by Mother Jones, will be funneled through the Fund for the Republic (FFR), a 501(c)(3) charity founded in September 2012. Nick Penniman, a progressive fundraiser who runs the fund and helped organize the "Crony Democracy" event, says his group will dole out those funds to groups involved in lobbying, grassroots advocacy, litigation, and electoral work aimed at strengthening ethics and campaign finance reform laws.
With an eye toward the 2014 and 2016 elections, AFR plans to fund groups working to defeat politicians who oppose campaign finance reform—such as Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—and to elect supporters of the cause. Documents provided to Mother Jones say this political work will be funded "primarily" by AFR, which, as a so-called social-welfare group, can engage in electoral activity as long as these efforts don't eat up a majority of the group's money and time.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/democracy-alliance-fund-for-republic-40-million-surge-reform

Soros has threatened to primary any Democrat who doesn't support campaign finance reform.

[freshwest]

11. Thanks, octoberlib, that is very encouraging. Now we must do our part.

[malaise]

9. I'm glad Harry Reid was so patient

None can deny the empirical evidence. When the Supremes empower the corporations, the majority in the Senate have to protect democracy - great rules change. Go Dems.

[spanone]

10. we have the best democracy money can buy.