The Chairmen: New House Leaders Have Familiar Ties to Business, Revolving Door

By Josh Israel. Crossposted from The Center For Public Integrity.

The Republican takeover of Congress not only apparently gives the Speaker's gavel to John Boehner, it also elevates up to 25 senior GOP lawmakers to the roles of committee chairs. And while it may be a few weeks before it becomes clear which members will lead which panels, a Center for Public Integrity examination finds there are some common ties that bind the likely leaders of the 11 committees with the most domestic spending and policy clout.
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First, the top contenders are all men. Nearly all are white. Most have deep ties to the business community or the industries they will soon oversee. Some have former staffers who now work in the lobbying world and could seek influence before their committees. And many have gotten the lion's share of their campaign monies the past two election cycles from special interest political action committees.

The Center's examination focused on those likely to chair the House panels on appropriations, armed services, budget, education and labor, energy and commerce, financial services, homeland security, natural resources, oversight and government reform, transportation and infrastructure, and ways and means. The Center also included the powerful appropriations defense subcommittee -- the panel examined in its 2009 The Murtha Method investigation.

In many ways, the likely Republican chairs don't look much different than the Democratic counterparts they are replacing. The 11 current Democratic chairmen of the committees are also all men, though two are black.

But that's where the similarities end. The new GOP leaders tend to be more conservative than the average House Republican. They are generally strongly pro-business, and have significant ties to industry.

Eight of the 14 candidates for the committee chairs got the majority of their campaign funds since 2007 from special interest PACs. For instance, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, a possible candidate for the Energy and Commerce committee, got 70 percent of the $4.8 million he raised since 2007 from PACs.

Likewise, Rep. David Camp of Michigan, the top contender for the Ways and Means Committee that controls taxes and spending, got a whopping 79 percent of the $6.5 million he collected in the last two elections from political action committees.

Many lawmakers also have ties to Washington's revolving door -- through which Congressional staff leave for lucrative lobbying jobs in the private sector, where they can cash in on their access and ties.

For instance, Reps. C.W. "Bill" Young and Fred Upton are among the lawmakers who have former staffers that currently lobby for interests that fall under the jurisdiction of the committee they would chair.

Our profiles include (where appropriate):

• Top PAC Contributors: Using data from subscription-only CQ MoneyLine, we examined contributions from political action committees in the 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 (reported so far) election cycles to the would-be chairmen's campaign committee and leadership PAC, if any


• Revolving Door: Former staffers who are now registered lobbyists


• Earmarks: Requests for earmarks obtained by member in the 2008, 2009, and 2010 budgets, according to the databases provided by Taxpayers for Common Sense


• Stimulus Letters: Requests obtained by the Center for Public Integrity for stimulus funds to go to favored Transportation, Commerce, and Energy Department projects
• Ethical Issues: Any significant ethical questions the member has previously faced


• Campaign Promises: Pledges or other hints of what the member's priorities would be as chairman of the relevant committee

Appropriations Committee (Click on photos or names to access full descriptions.)

Jerry LewisHal Rogers

Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense

C.W. Bill Young

Armed Services Committee

Howard "Buck" McKeon

Budget Committee

Paul Ryan

Education and Labor Committee

John Kline

Energy and Commerce Committee

Joe BartonFred Upton

Financial Services Committee

Spencer Bachus

Homeland Security Committee

Peter King

Natural Resources Committee

Doc Hastings

Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Darrell Issa

Transportation Committee

John Mica

Ways and Means Committee

Dave Camp

Comments

[sueinmn]

11:59 AM on 11/05/2010

Self serving at its best! Hang on for a rough ride but the voters spoke loud and clear. This is the America you want! Jobs and economy being first and foremost my @ss. Looks to be a feeding trough for few.

[catcrazy]

11:35 AM on 11/05/2010

looks like Wonder bread to me.

[jones]

11:21 AM on 11/05/2010

They are all smiling and look like they belong in a Cialis ad w/o the bathtub.

[whoknew42]

11:04 AM on 11/05/2010

Well - the American people are going to get what they voted for

Politicians that have pledged allegiance to their constituents - the megacorporations and the wealthy class - while continuing to feed bs to the public about personal responsibility and pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps when they fall on hard times

And the people that voted them in will buy it, because they will turn it into an issue of blind faith - and believe that their lives suck because they didn't pray enough, or believe enough, or work hard enough.

And all the while, they will continue to wave the flag and hold on to their bibles while unfettered facism will be ushered in like a tidal wave.

And they deserve it - they deserve what they voted for - and I hope they get everything they deserve

[worldsam]

03:13 AM on 11/05/2010

This sounds very inefficient. Why have the business leaders pay for access to writing laws and regulations? Since GOP is calling for small government, here is an idea. We do away with the congress. Instead, the CEOs of the top 100 companies in the country make laws, enforce them also sit in judgment of violations. How is that for small government?

[wiseoldgranny]

01:24 AM on 11/05/2010

Hal Rodgers ... Appropriations

Still, several of his earmark requests have generated media controversy. In 2005, for instance, when Rogers slipped a provision into a spending bill requiring that the Department of Homeland Security retain a Virginia trade group that had sponsored trips for him, criticism ensued, and the no-bid contract was canceled.

Elizabeth “Sissy” Pressnell, an ex-legislative director, left to lobby on defense and other appropriations issues and now works at D.C. Associates in Alexandria, Va
Steve Carey, a former legislative director, now runs Potomac Strategic Development Co., and is a registered lobbyist for Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Lions Clubs International, and Zerco Systems International

Earmarks

Between 2008 and 2010, Rogers obtained $246.4 million in earmarks, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense
In 2010, Rogers ranked 4th in the House in total earmarks he secured by himself. Some 34 Rogers-backed earmarks were worth more than $68.3 million

Rogers voted against the 2009 economic stimulus bill. In a letter to the Commerce Department, he backed a grant proposal from the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives to expand public access to computer centers in Appalachian Kentucky as a way to help the economy amid high unemployment
.

[wiseoldgranny]

01:17 AM on 11/05/2010

Jerry Lewis of CA

76, will need a waiver from the Republican Steering Committee because of party term-limit rules. And he’ll have to outmaneuver Kentucky’s Hal Rogers for the job, as Lewis did in late 2004. When the two veteran politicians clashed at that time, Lewis reportedly won support from colleagues by making large campaign contributions. In this election, Lewis raised about $1 million to help the campaigns of other House Republicans, according to The Washington Times.

During his long tenure in Congress, Lewis has become adept at the earmarking process, securing almost $325 million in earmark funding between 2008 and 2010, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense.

In 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that federal prosecutors were investigating the relationship between Lewis and lobbyist Bill Lowery, a former California congressman who served on the Appropriations Committee with Lewis. Some of Lowery’s lobbying clients made generous contributions to Lewis’ campaign, and received earmarks from his committee. Lewis has since spent more than $1 million on legal fees, according to the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Some employees later left Lowery’s lobby firm, Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White, to found Innovative Federal Strategies, including former Lewis staffer Letitia Hoadley White. Lewis has denied any connection between his earmarks and campaign donationsI

[wiseoldgranny]

01:00 AM on 11/05/2010

C W Bill Young

Young is the likely pick to head the powerful House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, the panel that prepared a $636 billion annual funding bill for the Pentagon in fiscal 2010. He currently serves as the top Republican on the subcommittee, and obtained $140.5 million in earmarks in 2010, more than any other congressman, mostly for defense contractors.

[Harlem-bred]

12:45 AM on 11/05/2010

A rogue's gallery of nutcases, liars, and bagmen.

[Eileen Left]

12:28 AM on 11/05/2010

Thank God they didn't get rid of the filibuster.......dems might need it now!

[jaborine]

11:45 PM on 11/04/2010

Tea Bagger women and minorities is there something wrong with this picture?

[jaborine]

11:34 PM on 11/04/2010

Republican women where are you?

[sueinmn]

12:01 PM on 11/05/2010

They will NEVER get a place at the table. Watch Bachman try!

[nypapajoe]

11:27 PM on 11/04/2010

It has been two days since the election and the tea baggers have already been invalidated by Jim Demint who has already stated that the budget has to be raised! The other matter and goal is not to get the government off the publics back but off the backs of Wall St, Banks and corporations by eliminating financial regulations and lowering their taxes! So you Zombies that voted for the party of lies and deceit prepare to be scammed again by those you supported! Cause they have already started the infighting and backstabbing! For the next two years nothing that you expected will materialize except that $arah will be preparing her campaign for the presidency and the tax breaks and incentives for those corporations and foreign investors that paid for those candidates to stay in office to serve the wealthy elite!

[Hakumen]

10:50 PM on 11/04/2010

The leaders that will willingly sell America to the highest bidder. Good thing they are limited in what they can do assuming the Senate and White House don't let the House bully them.

[Hysterian68]

08:56 PM on 11/04/2010

If the victors are as bad or worse than the vanquished and the same old bribe-takers are simply trading jobs after every election, perhaps the American people must look to holding a constitutional convention to abolish the Senate and the House. To be replaced by initiatives, referenda, and plebiscites conducted through the Internet.

Representative democracy? Who needs it?