Birnbaum, Jeffrey H. The Lobbyists: How Influence Peddlers Get Their Way in Washington. New York: Times Books - Random House, 1992. 335 pages.
Jeffrey Birnbaum is a political reporter who has covered Washington for the Wall Street Journal since 1982. Without the WSJ connection, it's doubtful that the dozen or so lobbyists profiled by Birnbaum would have put up with him for three years -- the limousines and dinner parties are stressful enough without being puppy-dogged by a thirty-something reporter.Birnbaum got away with it, and his book hits the stores just as lobbyists are gearing up to pick Clinton's proposals to death. The main issues pursued by Birnbaum's lobbyists are tax breaks for big business; these include capital gains cuts for corporations, pressure from trucking associations to keep the gas tax low, and sundry esoteric loopholes for special interests and industries. All lobbyists earn huge salaries, as a tiny change in the tax code can mean megabucks for the corporations that employ them. So the lobbyists spread around even more money -- to pay think- tank professors to produce studies proving their positions, and for PR to disguise the effects of proposals. (For example, capital gains cuts are not tax breaks for the wealthy, but simply a well-intentioned effort to put more into research and development so that America doesn't lose its technological advantage.) Plenty of money is also used to buy access to congressmen; these, of course, are called "campaign contributions."
Choate, Pat. Agents of Influence. New York: Simon & Schuster (Touchstone Edition), 1991. 307 pages.
Pat Choate is a Texas farm boy who earned a Ph.D. in economics and went on to become a talking head on economic and trade policy. His interest in declining American competitiveness, and awareness of DC hardball politics, soon evolved into a critique of Japan's lobbying practices. He knew that Japan had the best competitor intelligence, the deepest pockets, and the perseverance to get anything they wanted from U.S. business in general, and from Washington in particular. But he didn't know that even before the book came out, Japan would put the screws on TRW, Inc. (where he worked as an analyst) and get him fired.Lee Iacocca said that the first part of this book "made me mad; the last part made me scared." The first part describes the revolving door between U.S. officialdom and lobbying on the Japanese payroll. An appendix (pages 216-257) lists over 200 registered foreign agents who are former officials, along with the firms that employ them and the foreign clients they represent. (NameBase counts 60 names from this book who are also found on the membership roster of the Council on Foreign Relations, for what it's worth.) But what's scary is the sophisticated and pervasive influence- buying, propagandizing, politicking and lobbying by Japanese companies and officials. It makes Pearl Harbor look like a bathtub.
Lewis, Charles. America's Frontline Trade Officials. Published in 1990 by the Center for Public Integrity, 1910 K Street NW, Suite 802, Washington DC 20006, Tel: 202-223-0299. 201 pages.
Founder Charles Lewis, a former investigative reporter, describes CPI as a "nonprofit organization examining public service and ethics-related issues in Washington, with a unique approach combining the substantive study of government with in-depth reporting. The Center is funded by foundations, corporations, labor unions, individuals and news organizations."This publication examines the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, created in 1962 as part of the Executive Office of the President. It is not a study of trade policy, but rather a study of the career patterns and conflicts of interest of USTR officials. Since 1974, nearly half of former senior USTR officials have registered as foreign agents since leaving office, three of the top four current officials worked for foreign clients prior to entering USTR, and some individuals even serve foreign interests simultaneously with their USTR consulting.
Most of this monograph consists of career profiles for 80 officials who served at USTR since 1974, each ranging from several pages to one paragraph in length. These were compiled by using FOIA requests, going through staff directories and newspaper indices, and conducting numerous interviews.
Silverstein, Ken. Washington on $10 Million a Day: How Lobbyists Plunder the Nation. Monroe ME: Common Courage Press, 1998. 251 pages.
These days, politicians vote huge sums for corporate welfare in the form of tax breaks and special favors, and then come up with new tricks to yank the social safety net from the rest of us. CEO salaries and benefits in 1996 are up 54 percent, to $5.7 million, while workers' salaries rose about 3 percent. Big-time journalists never have a discouraging word about NAFTA, GATT, or WTO, and they never mention the impending MAI. Have you ever wondered why? It's because they've all been bought off. Cokie Roberts collects five figures for a speech at some corporate convention, her brother Thomas Boggs gets $550 per hour as a lobbyist, and Peter Jennings or Lesley Stahl attend (but never report on) a secret meeting of the Bilderberg Group (an off-the-record, invitation-only annual gathering of the world's most powerful people from both sides of the Atlantic). Meanwhile Newt Gingrich, who also supports global capital to the hilt, recommends that we prepare for the future by reading novels about the decline of the Roman empire.This book is about lobbying, lawyering, and public relations in Washington, and how Beltway insiders and fat cats have completely corrupted the process. Not all of the above examples are from this book (no one book can cover it all), but they do capture the flavor of this hard-hitting investigative work. Highly recommended, and we hope to see more like it.
Here are the names most frequently mentioned in the above books:
ABACHA SANI AIKEN ROBERT AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER FELD ALLEN RICHARD VINCENT AMERICAN COUNCIL CAPITAL FORMATION AMERICAN TORT REFORM ASSOCIATION AMERICAN TRUCKING ASSOCIATION ANTHONY BERYL F JR (D-AR) APCO ASSOCIATES ASIA PACIFIC EXCHANGE FOUNDATION ASKEW REUBIN AUGUSTINE NORMAN R BAKER JAMES A III BALDRIGE MALCOLM BALE HARVEY E JR BARRY LISA B BELLO JUDITH HIPPLER BENTSEN KEN (D-TX) BENTSEN LLOYD M JR (D-TX) BLACK MANAFORT STONE KELLY BLACKSTONE GROUP BLOOMFIELD MARK A BOEING COMPANY BOGGS THOMAS HALE JR BONNER ASSOCIATES BONNER JACK BROCK WILLIAM E III BROWN RONALD HARMON BURSON-MARSTELLER (PR FIRM) BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE CALIO NICHOLAS E CARMICHAEL GILBERT CASSIDY ROBERT JR CENTER PUBLIC INTEGRITY CENTOFANTE NANCY CHOATE PAT CITIZENS SOUND ECONOMY COALITION AGAINST REGRESSIVE TAXATION COELHO TONY (D-CA) COHEN HERMAN JAY COHEN NEAL CONCORD ASSOCIATES CONTRIBUTIONS WATCH COOPER DORAL S COPSON ALEX COUNCIL FOREIGN RELATIONS COUNCIL RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY DARMAN RICHARD GORDON DE LAY TOM D (R-TX) DEAN DEBORAH GORE DEAVER MICHAEL K DENT FREDERICK B DEUTCH JOHN MARK DOLE ROBERT J (R-KS) DONOHUE THOMAS J (USCC) DOWLEY JOSEPH K DOWNEY THOMAS JOSEPH (D-NY) DURENBERGER DAVE F (R-MN) DUTKO DAN DUTKO GROUP EBERLE WILLIAM D EDISON ELECTRIC INSTITUTE EIZENSTAT STUART E EXPORT-IMPORT BANK FAIRBANKS RICHARD M III FALLOWS JAMES MACKENZIE FEIN BRUCE E FISH HOWARD M FREE JAMES FULLER CRAIG L GADBAW R MICHAEL GIBBONS CLIFFORD GIBBONS SAM M (D-FL) GOLDFIELD HAROLD P GORE ALBERT JR (D-TN) GOTTFRIED EDWARD GRADISON WILLIS D JR (R-OH) GRAY CLAYLAND BOYDEN HAGERTY KEN HANLEY EDWARD T HARMAN WILLIAM HATCHER ED (AMERICAN ELECTRONICS ASSN) HEIMLICH RICHARD W HELMKE MARK HEMMENDINGER NOEL HILL KNOWLTON COMPANY HILLS CARLA ANDERSON HILLS RODERICK M HOGAN BILL (CENTER PUBLIC INTEGRITY) HORMATS ROBERT D HULL SARAH INOUYE DANIEL K (D-HI) ISHIHARA SHINTARO ISON LAURA J JENKINS EDGAR L (D-GA) JOHNSON CHALMERS JOHNSON JOEL (AIA) JONAS JOHN JONES JAMES R (D-OK) JORDAN VERNON E JR JULIANO ROBERT E KANTOR MICKEY (MICHAEL) KATZ JULIUS L KATZENBACH NICHOLAS D KAY KENNETH R KEARNS KEVIN LAWRENCE KELLY WILLIAM B JR KERN HARRY F KERTZMAN MITCHELL E KIES KENNETH J KIRCH THOMAS KISSINGER HENRY A KNIGHT PETER (AL GORE AIDE) KOCH DAVID HAMILTON KOCH INDUSTRIES KOROLOGOS TOM C LAKE JAMES H LANDE STEPHEN L LENAHAN WALTER C LEWIS JAKE LIGHTHIZER ROBERT E LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION LONG RUSSELL B (D-LA) MACARTHUR DOUGLAS (GEN) MACK CONNIE (R-FL) MAHE EDDIE JR MALMGREN HARALD B MALOTT ROBERT H MANAFORT PAUL J JR MANATOS ANDREW E MANCHESTER ASSOCIATES MATHIS DAWSON MATSUI ROBERT T (D-CA) MCDONNELL DOUGLAS CORPORATION MCELHENY RICHARD L MCNAMARA JAMES A MICROSOFT CORPORATION MILLER ELLEN S MILLER WARREN MILLS WILBUR D (D-AR) MITCHELL NANCY MORITA AKIO MOSHER SOL MOYNIHAN DANIEL PATRICK (D-NY) MRAZEK ROBERT J (D-NY) MUNDHEIM ROBERT H MURKOWSKI FRANK H (R-AK) MURPHY DANIEL J (ADM) NAKASONE YASUHIRO NATIONAL REALTY COMMITTEE NATIONAL VENTURE CAPITAL ASSOCIATION NEECE ALLEN NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION ODAY PAUL T OLIVE DAVID OLMER LIONEL HERBERT OOSTERHUIS PAUL PACKARD GEORGE R PACKWOOD BOB (R-OR) PASTER HOWARD G PEARCE WILLIAM R PERRY WILLIAM J PETERSON PETER G PIERCE SAMUEL RILEY JR PINNACLE WEST CAPITAL CORPORATION POWELL TATE (PR FIRM) PRESTOWITZ CLYDE V JR PRO TRADE GROUP PROCTER GAMBLE COMPANY PRYOR DAVID H (D-AR) RADANOVICH GEORGE (R-CA) RASHISH MYER REAGAN RONALD W REESE MATT (D.1998) REHM JOHN B REUSING VINCENT RICHARDSON ELLIOT LEE RIVERS RICHARD R ROCK JAMES ROSTENKOWSKI DAN (D-IL) ROWEN HOBART RUSSO MARTY (D-IL) SALMON JOHN J SAMUELS MICHAEL A SASAKAWA RYOICHI SAUNDERS STEVEN R SAXONHOUSE GARY SCHAEFER DAN (R-CO) SCOWCROFT BRENT SEELY CAROLYN T SEYMOUR WHITNEY NORTH JR SIEGEL MARK A SIGNER WILLIAM SIMONSON KENNETH SMITH MICHAEL B SMITH TONY (SCHMELTZER APTAKER SHEPARD) SNELL RICHARD (PINNACLE WEST CAPITAL) SPERO DON STATE AFFAIRS COMPANY STRAUSS ROBERT S SULLIVAN LOUIS WADE TAKESHITA NOBORU TANAKA KAKUEI TATE SHEILA B THEVENOT WAYNE TOLCHIN MARTIN TOLCHIN SUSAN TOSHIBA CORPORATION TOWER JOHN GOODWIN (R-TX) U.S. FUEL SECURITY INC UNITED STATES JAPAN FOUNDATION UNOCAL (OIL COMPANY) VAN KLOBERG EDWARD J III VAN WOLFEREN KAREL G VANDER JAGT GUY (R-MI) WAIDMANN BRIAN WALKER CHARLS EDWARD WALKER WILLIAM NICKERSON WASHINGTON CHRISTIAN (PR FIRM) WATKINS ROBERT E (COMMERCE DEPT) WEBB HENRY REITER WEBBER ALAN M WESTERN FUELS ASSOCIATION WEXLER ANNE L WHALEN RICHARD J WILHELM DAVID WILLIAMS J.D. (JERRY DON) WILLIAMS SIDNEY LINN WOLFF ALAN WILLIAM WORLDWIDE INFORMATION RESOURCES LTD WPP GROUP PLC WRIGHT JIM (JAMES C JR D-TX) YEUTTER CLAYTON KEITH
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