If the preposterous piece by Mr. Joel Jankowsky in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal had been published in any other newspaper, we'd guess it was a spoof. Mr. Jankowsky, a lobbyist and partner at Akin Gump, bemoans the limits being placed on lobbying activities, even though those limits remain weak and porous. "Talented women and men who registered themselves as lobbyists under the Lobbying Disclosure Act are being excluded from contributing their expertise at a critical time in our nation's history," writes Mr. Jankowsky.
Mr. Jankowsky rightly argues that big campaign contributors have far too much influence and access in the Administration, but does so through a contorted logic that completely whitewashes the role of lobbyists in the money-choked politics of Washington. Lobbyists may indeed be talented people of expertise, but they are part of a dysfunctional system that has turned policy over to the highest corporate bidder and that puts our economy and society in jeopardy. Lobbying needs far stronger constraints than the tiny but salutary steps being put into place.
Lobbyists for powerful corporations are crawling over every piece of pending legislation- from health care, to banking regulation, to climate change -- keeping a chokehold on deep reforms. Jankowsky says that lobbying is transparent. That's true in the trivial sense that lobbyists register and declare their earnings. Of course it's the activities behind closed doors and off the record that are killing our economy and confidence in the political system.
Special interests have already spent $2.5 billion dollars this year on 13,000 lobbyists like Mr. Jankowsky and his colleagues at the firm Akin Gump, with many contributing their expertise to gutting financial oversight of Wall Street, delaying control of greenhouse gas emissions, and preventing real controls on health insurance costs. (All data are drawn from http://www.opensecrets.org.) Akin Gump has lobbied in the past for AIG, the scandalous insurance company that has cost taxpayers more than $100 billion in direct bailouts. Akin Gump is a favorite lobbying firm for big oil, major health-sector companies, and financial firms that helped to lead us to catastrophe. Already in 2009, Akin Gump has collected more than $23 million in lobbying fees.
Mr. Jankowsky assures us that lobbying has little to do with "the influence of money on the policy-making process," since lobbyists are "professional advocates" who have not given any money to the President's campaign. He should know that lobbyists and campaign contributors have quite an overlap. Akin Gump employees have already contributed $469,000 in campaign funds in the 2009-10 election cycle, including $62,000 from Mr. Jankowsky himself. A lobbying firm like Akin Gump curries favor and standing through the campaign contributions of the firm's partners. It wins lobbying contracts in view of its political standing. Whether the campaign contributions are a direct pass-thru of the lobbying fees, or are independent of those fees, the result is similar: corporate money finds its way into the campaign coffers via the lobbying firms, and everybody - from the candidate to the lobbyist to the corporate interest - is pleased with the closed circle of money, camaraderie, and favored policy positions.
Lobbyists for major corporations win their influence in many other ways as well. Perhaps the most direct is that they are part of the well-heeled revolving door of Washington employment. Mr. Jankowsky himself went from being Legislative Assistant to House Speaker Carl Albert to his current employment at Akin Gump. There are dozens more examples in Akin Gump, which is just one among many major revolving doors in Washington. Indeed, influential lobbying firms have an endless stream of good jobs to offer the members and staff of Congress and the Executive branch after serving in the US Government.
American politics is suffocating on corporate money. Corporate lobbyists constitute a major conduit for the purchase of public policies. The wild excesses of lobbying and corporate power have contributed to our deepening crises in finance, health care, transport, the environment, and more. At the least Mr. Jankowsky could spare us the pontificating and stop rubbing our noses in the mess.
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The fundamental problem is that corporations are recognized as legal persons with the right to petition their government. This necessarily results in an environment benefiting corporations with the motives and resources to hire these expensive advocates to influence the politicians, drive the system to the endpoint where corporate interests trump those of real human people.
Corporations, in their essential nature as profit-seeking entities with the accumulated resources sufficient to sway government to their narrow self interest, are first class persons. Real human people are second class citizens lacking the resources to compete for the opportunity to influence our government.
Correcting this inequity will require stripping the right of personhood from corporations. The corporate right of personhood is granted by the political, legal, and social context, and can be removed by an act of Congress.
Let the law become the guardian of the rights of real human persons, protecting us from the corporate forces that elevate their interests above ours.
Once corporations do not have the right to petition the government the influence of corporate lobbying will be curtailed. Only when the right to petition the government is restricted to real human people will the government become truly of, by, and for the people.
The US of A's system of government, at federal and state level, from the White House down to state Houses of Reps has to be the most corrupt on the planet.
With the campaign funding system it uses, not only the electoral system is manipulated but even the drafting of legislation by corporate interests is permitted ad then pressure applied to get it passed.
The people have no say in who gets to run for office, they exert little if any influence on the media which shapes opinions with it's biased "reporting", and once these officials are elected have no say over the direction an official will vote in or the contents of legislation.
This is not democracy by any stretch of the imagination.
We need to break the cycle. The only way to do it is attack the problem on all fronts simultaneously. We need to put our legislators in rehab - no junk, period. We need shut down the dealers - get lobbyists out of Washington and away from legislators. And most of all we need to stop the cartels by keeping corporate money and leaders out of government.
Campaign finance is the disease - everything else, merely a symptom!
As a practical matter, it may be difficult Constitutionally to prohibit private money from entering a campaign. However, if they wanted to, they could take back some airtime on the (trillions of dollars worth of) public airwaves they give away for nothing. That would greatly reduce the amount of money one would need to run a successful campaign. The question is how to make them. The status-quo is a deadly, siren's call.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html
Maybe we should start using local currencies and developing local economies and screw Washington.
But The Elections show Americans are Smarter than the Lobbyists and SEE the INEQUALITY!
WALL STREET LOST BIG TIME TONIGHT! MAIN STREET/URBAN AMERICANS WON BIG TIME!
American People TRUMPED the BANKSTERS L00T!
All the G0LD on Wall Street can NOT BUY ENOUGH ADVERTISING TO SWAY VOTERS!
"BLOOMY and CORNSIGN" spent $371 MILLION = One BARELY W0N IN NY + ONE LOST!
L00T to Politicians is NO longer the ANSWER!
Lets AVOID THE SPIN and Try to LEARN from this DEFEAT and Correct Our Democratic Path!
0bama made at least SIX appearances for these two candidates!
Americans REJECTED DEMOCRATIC NEGLECT OF MAIN STREET/URBAN AMERICANS!
Americans REJECTED DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT OF WALL STREET Welfare!
Funny how supporting Wall Street and Ignoring Main Street can B1T you in the ASSETS!
$23,700,000,000,000 to Wall Street - The CR00KS causing the CRISIS! TH1EVES!
$00,050,000,000,000 to Main Street - The V1CT1MS of this CRISIS!
That is $474 to Wall Street for every $1 to Main Street! Americans are MAD as HECK!
[Thanks to FED Reserve=Bernanke + Paulson + Githner/Summers!]
0bama must NOW move beyond Geithner/Summers and Emanue1!
Plouffe is a PERFECT Replacement for Emanue1! L1Z WARREN a perfect replacement for Geithner!
Anyone is better than Summers! Even Volcker is Better!
__________ __________ _________
Americans have SPOKEN! We are NOT going to take the R1CH D0M1NATING US!
AMERICANS will SPEAK LOUDER in 2010 if MAIN STREET/URBAN AMERICANS are M1STREATED and IGNORED!
"Talented women and men who registered themselves as lobbyists under the Lobbying Disclosure Act are being excluded from contributing their expertise at a critical time in our nation's history."
If contributing = Writing the BILL or Finalizing the Bill then like the argument on Wall Street that Regulations and Income Limits hurt Innovations then LETS DO WITHOUT their contributions and innovations.
Here are some Wall Street Innovations we can do without:
Wall Street Innovation = Smart allocation of capital? Like it did 10+ years ago? N0!
Wall Street Innovation = THEFT of VALUE from the REAL ECONOMY? Yes!
Wall Street Innovation = PhD’s huddled over computers developing Nanosecond THEFT Tools
Wall Street Innovation = Massive Hidden FEES in Derivatives Skimmed into Employee Pockets
Wall Street Innovation = Selling High Risk obligation bearing delusional “AAA” SAFE rating?
Wall Street Innovation = Hidden paragraph explains Professionals don’t need to be overseen!
Wall Street Innovation = Senator an agency to protect consumers jeopardizes safety+soundness
Wall Street Innovation = F!ght taxing securities transactions = “disastrous” for entrepreneurs!