NPR’s Fresh Air with Dave Davies has a directly and chillingly relevant piece today on the scope and effect of lobbying on American government by a wide range of domestic and foreign interests.
One particularly pernicious gambit is to use lobbying, a constitutionally protected activity to petition the government to redress grievances, as …
NPR’s Fresh Air with Dave Davies has a directly and chillingly relevant piece today on the scope and effect of lobbying on American government by a wide range of domestic and foreign interests.
One particularly pernicious gambit is to use lobbying, a constitutionally protected activity to petition the government to redress grievances, as a way to launder enormous sums of money from despicable, brutal autocratic regimes, which cannot directly contribute to congress members. Instead they give millions to American lobbyists who will then act as cut outs and simply pass on the money to American politicians, fooling no one as to where the funds are from, a tactic for which Paul Manafort was convicted, and then pardoned by Trump.
Casey Michel shines a light on Americans lobbying for foreign governments in Washington, in many cases representing brutally repressive regimes and countries that oppose U.S. interests. Laws requiring registration of lobbyists and disclosure of their efforts have been little-enforced, and thus ignored by countless agents who've reaped huge profits from their work. Michel's new book is Foreign Agents.
I have read repeatedly in the MSM that popular public initiatives are "blocked by the (insert wealthy interest here) lobby like it's a law of nature that cannot be overcome. I have read that laws written by "powerful lobbies" are passed by Congress nearly verbatim. Isn't that a T-rex i the room? Like a form of organized crime inserting itself between the public and "our" representatives, and little is done about it? Is that the government we were promised in school? Or something broken?
Thanks to Biden and Harris/Waltz for seeking alternatives. Trump, on the other had can't wait to cut the taxes of the very wealthy yet again.
Well there has been almost NO legislation passed in the past two years of any kind let alone pro lobby legislation, as the current House is totally dysfunctional and couldn't pass a bill to pay for ice cream these days due to Mike Johnson and the maga constituency. So I doubt there is any current legislation that would meet your accusation.
Interestingly most of that cookie cutter legislation I’m reading about is targeted towards state legislatures. There’s been reporting that the more powerful lobbies’ suggested legislation is being passed verbatim by those legislatures.
NPR’s Fresh Air with Dave Davies has a directly and chillingly relevant piece today on the scope and effect of lobbying on American government by a wide range of domestic and foreign interests.
One particularly pernicious gambit is to use lobbying, a constitutionally protected activity to petition the government to redress grievances, as a way to launder enormous sums of money from despicable, brutal autocratic regimes, which cannot directly contribute to congress members. Instead they give millions to American lobbyists who will then act as cut outs and simply pass on the money to American politicians, fooling no one as to where the funds are from, a tactic for which Paul Manafort was convicted, and then pardoned by Trump.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fresh-air/id214089682?i=1000665326651
Thank you Ed Guerrant
How American Lobbyists Threaten Democracy
NPR Fresh Air Podcast | August 14, 2024 4:51 PM ET
<iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197979992/1257276254" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"></iframe>
Casey Michel shines a light on Americans lobbying for foreign governments in Washington, in many cases representing brutally repressive regimes and countries that oppose U.S. interests. Laws requiring registration of lobbyists and disclosure of their efforts have been little-enforced, and thus ignored by countless agents who've reaped huge profits from their work. Michel's new book is Foreign Agents.
I have read repeatedly in the MSM that popular public initiatives are "blocked by the (insert wealthy interest here) lobby like it's a law of nature that cannot be overcome. I have read that laws written by "powerful lobbies" are passed by Congress nearly verbatim. Isn't that a T-rex i the room? Like a form of organized crime inserting itself between the public and "our" representatives, and little is done about it? Is that the government we were promised in school? Or something broken?
Thanks to Biden and Harris/Waltz for seeking alternatives. Trump, on the other had can't wait to cut the taxes of the very wealthy yet again.
Well there has been almost NO legislation passed in the past two years of any kind let alone pro lobby legislation, as the current House is totally dysfunctional and couldn't pass a bill to pay for ice cream these days due to Mike Johnson and the maga constituency. So I doubt there is any current legislation that would meet your accusation.
Interestingly most of that cookie cutter legislation I’m reading about is targeted towards state legislatures. There’s been reporting that the more powerful lobbies’ suggested legislation is being passed verbatim by those legislatures.
Imagine that...
I’m shocked, shocked.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HMIyDf3gBoY&pp=ygUbTW92aWUgY2FzYWJsYW5jYSBpbSBzaG9ja2Vk