The Washington Independent

Sunday, May 27th, 2012

Lobbying

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Environmentalists Size Up Climate Change Legislation’s Odds Against a More Conservative Congress

By | 10.01.10 | 4:44 am

This year, Congress passed the most ambitious agenda in recent memory, overhauling how the nation regulates banks and financial products and dramatically reforming the health-care system. President Obama had hoped to add comprehensive energy legislation — with a cap-and-trade program — to that list, but the Senate failed to move More…

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Broken Federal Election Commission Fails to Enforce Campaign-Finance Laws

By | 09.28.10 | 4:36 am

Campaign finance reform groups are telling a sobering story. During the 2004 and 2006 elections, nonprofit groups reported who donated nearly every penny spent on independent advertisements mentioning candidates (called electioneering communications) to the Federal Election Commission. In 2008, they accounted for less than two-thirds of the dollars behind the More…

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As Liberal Groups Prepare Mass Rally, 99ers Push to Organize

By | 09.27.10 | 7:47 am

In response to last month’s Glenn Beck-hosted “Restoring Honor” summit, hundreds of thousands plan to descend on Washington for a rally by the Lincoln Memorial next weekend. On Saturday, liberal groups are hosting the “One Nation Working Together” event, making a case for activism for progressive legislation to a More…

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Environmentalists Look Forward: An Interview With the Sierra Club’s Brune

By | 09.24.10 | 4:30 am

Despite the Gulf oil spill, a massive pipeline break in Michigan and broad concerns about global warming, ambitious climate-change and energy legislation is likely dead for the year. That poses a conundrum, going forward, for environmentalists: How to convince lawmakers of the need for legislation to sever the country’s More…

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In Wake of Ballot Initiatives, Questions About the National Organization for Marriage’s Funding

By | 09.20.10 | 8:32 am

The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal society founded in New Haven in 1881, does a lot of good work. In a report detailing its charitable giving during 2009, the organization noted that while the “Knights and their families are hardly immune to the economic downturn,” they had once More…

Rangel Returns to Raising Funds in DC

By | 09.15.10 | 11:24 am

Now that Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y) managed to successfully dispatch a crowded field of challengers in his Harlem, N.Y. Democratic primary yesterday, he’s finding out who’s still his friend in Washington this morning over breakfast.

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Good Government Groups Raise Questions About New White House Ethics Czar

By | 08.20.10 | 7:10 am

When the Obama administration announced last month that Norm Eisen, the specially appointed White House “czar” for ethics and transparency, was leaving to become the ambassador to the Czech Republic, advocates of campaign finance reform and “good government” groups in Washington took the news hard. They describe Eisen’s tenure as More…

Politicians Still Scoring Points Over Abramoff Scandal

By | 08.17.10 | 5:40 pm

The U.S. Department of Justice investigation into former House Majority Leader Rep. Tom Delay (R-Texas) might finally be over, but the fallout among other political figures over their ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff continues:

Ensign Blames CREW for Ethics Woes

By | 08.13.10 | 5:36 pm

Senator John Ensign (R-Nev.) is raising money for a legal defense fund to fight the numerous ethics charges against him. In his appeal he blames Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which he refers to as “a liberal organization,” for his present troubles, and says he’s been More…

Randy “Duke” Cunningham: Prison Reform Advocate

By | 08.11.10 | 3:23 pm

Much has been made of disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s new job selling pizza at a kosher establishment in Baltimore. But what of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.), still serving prison time for ethics breaches that included accepting over $2 million in bribes from defense contractors?

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