Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics:
FEC NO LONGER ENFORCING ELECTION LAW?: Following an August story on OpenSecrets Blog chronicling organizations skirting Federal Election Commission disclosure laws, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 sent a letter to the FEC begging one question: Who is enforcing FEC law if the FEC isn�t?
The letter focuses on contention over �reasonable interpretation� of what constitutes �express advocacy� in the context of a statement by the FEC that an advertisement urging the public �help� a candidate is not express advocacy, since it does not directly tell the public to �vote for� a candidate.
While the letter cites OpenSecrets.org data, the Center for Responsive Politics remains neutral on the issue.
The groups are seeking clarification and a legal explanation, given that advertisements not demonstrating express advocacy are not subject to laws requiring public disclosure of advertising funding.
Meanwhile, a new report by non-profit advocacy group Public Citizen delves deeper into campaign finance information disclosure in the wake of the January Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court ruling. The report contends that the identities of the people and organizations behind political advertisements are becoming less clear, particularly among �Republican-oriented� groups.
The report shows the percentage of groups reporting donors decreasing from 98 percent and 97 percent in 2004 and 2006, respectively, to 49 percent in 2008 and only 32 percent thus far in the 2010 election cycle.
�The Supreme Court has unleashed a flood of new corporate spending on election ads and the public can�t even tell who is behind a given ad,� explained David Arkush, director of Public Citizen�s Congress Watch division, in a Wall Street Journal article.
LADY GAGA AND HARRY REID TEAM UP: What do Lady Gaga and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have in common? Hint: not fashion sense. Still, the pair teamed up earlier this week via Twitter to voice support for the repeal of the military�s �Don�t Ask, Don�t Tell� policy for gay service members.
Reid began the correspondence with a tweet saying �@ladygaga There is a vote on #DADT next week. Anyone qualified to serve this country should be allowed to do so.� The pop star responded by writing �God Bless and Thank you @HarryReid, from all of us, like u, who believe in equality and the dream of this country. We were #BORNTHISWAY.�
While there is no record of Gaga herself making campaign contributions to Reid, the senator has done well fund-raising with her colleagues in the television, movies and music industry, who have donated $436,250 to Reid during the 2010 election cycle.
From 2009-2010, Reid is second to only U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in campaign contributions from people and political action committees associated with this industry.
BLOOMBERG�S PERSONAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION RECORD BROKEN: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be notable for massive contributions to his own campaigns, but this billionaire media mogul-turned-politico�s record for the largest personal campaign contribution in U.S. history has been shattered by California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, a Republican.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported another $15 million donation Tuesday, bringing Whitman�s total personal contributions for the 2010 governor�s race to $119 million. A recent Rasmussen poll shows Whitman, former chief executive officer of eBay, slightly ahead of Democratic challenger Jerry Brown, the state�s former governor and current attorney general.
Bloomberg set the former record of $108 million in personal contributions in his mayoral re-election bid last year, when he spent about $185 per vote, as OpenSecrets Blog previously reported.
Have a news tip or link to pass along? We want to hear from you! E-mail us at press@crp.org.
A recent study from the Center for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics has found "a significant relationship" between lobbyists' salaries and their previous work experiences on Capitol Hill.
Using data from the Center for Responsive Politics, LegiStorm.com and Lobbyists.info, researchers Jordi Blanes i Vidal, Mirko Draca and Christian Fons-Rosen analyzed the employment histories and salaries of 1,100 politically connected federal lobbyists.
Their study concluded that these lobbyists experienced a "sizable drop in earnings when their old bosses left Congress."
Overall, the researchers found that lobbyists' earnings dropped by 24 percent upon the departure of one of their former employers in either the Senate or a senior position within the House.
This decline represents about $177,000 per year for the lobbyist -- and the decrease in revenue persists for three years after the politicians exit, they observed.
"When a politician leaves, a lobbyist's connection to that politician becomes obsolete," said study co-author Draca. "The politician is no longer a potential target for lobbying."
Measuring the significance of the "revolving door" between K Street and Capitol Hill is a difficult task. The study's attempt to measure influence of the revolving door by examining earnings is the first of its kind.
"There is plenty of discussion of the idea that former staffers are able to 'cash in' on the connections that they gained from working in Congress," Draca said. "But formal evidence on what these connections are worth in dollar terms is thin on the ground."
"Lobbyists argue their earnings reflect expertise on policy issues generally," co-author Vidal continued. "Our study tests whether former congressional staffers would be high-earners regardless of their privileged access to a powerful politician."
With their analysis showing a correlation between salaries and political connections, the authors beg to differ with the assessment that lobbyists bring only skills to the table when earning hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"Our estimates can be interpreted as the price of accessing or influencing politicians," Vidal said. "Access or influence can be systematically bought and sold. This means that if you have the money, you can hire a lobbyist with political connections and improve your chances of affecting policy."
Last year, the Center for Responsive Politics put large amounts of the lobbying data on our website, OpenSecrets.org, as bulk files in a move to encourage the use of these data in "mash-ups" by researchers and citizens. LegiStorm, meanwhile, has been providing data on congressional salaries and making it available online since 2006.
The team at the Center for Economic Performance was able to merge these various data together and apply statistical analysis for their study.
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eric seiger eric seiger
Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics:
FEC NO LONGER ENFORCING ELECTION LAW?: Following an August story on OpenSecrets Blog chronicling organizations skirting Federal Election Commission disclosure laws, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 sent a letter to the FEC begging one question: Who is enforcing FEC law if the FEC isn�t?
The letter focuses on contention over �reasonable interpretation� of what constitutes �express advocacy� in the context of a statement by the FEC that an advertisement urging the public �help� a candidate is not express advocacy, since it does not directly tell the public to �vote for� a candidate.
While the letter cites OpenSecrets.org data, the Center for Responsive Politics remains neutral on the issue.
The groups are seeking clarification and a legal explanation, given that advertisements not demonstrating express advocacy are not subject to laws requiring public disclosure of advertising funding.
Meanwhile, a new report by non-profit advocacy group Public Citizen delves deeper into campaign finance information disclosure in the wake of the January Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court ruling. The report contends that the identities of the people and organizations behind political advertisements are becoming less clear, particularly among �Republican-oriented� groups.
The report shows the percentage of groups reporting donors decreasing from 98 percent and 97 percent in 2004 and 2006, respectively, to 49 percent in 2008 and only 32 percent thus far in the 2010 election cycle.
�The Supreme Court has unleashed a flood of new corporate spending on election ads and the public can�t even tell who is behind a given ad,� explained David Arkush, director of Public Citizen�s Congress Watch division, in a Wall Street Journal article.
LADY GAGA AND HARRY REID TEAM UP: What do Lady Gaga and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have in common? Hint: not fashion sense. Still, the pair teamed up earlier this week via Twitter to voice support for the repeal of the military�s �Don�t Ask, Don�t Tell� policy for gay service members.
Reid began the correspondence with a tweet saying �@ladygaga There is a vote on #DADT next week. Anyone qualified to serve this country should be allowed to do so.� The pop star responded by writing �God Bless and Thank you @HarryReid, from all of us, like u, who believe in equality and the dream of this country. We were #BORNTHISWAY.�
While there is no record of Gaga herself making campaign contributions to Reid, the senator has done well fund-raising with her colleagues in the television, movies and music industry, who have donated $436,250 to Reid during the 2010 election cycle.
From 2009-2010, Reid is second to only U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in campaign contributions from people and political action committees associated with this industry.
BLOOMBERG�S PERSONAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION RECORD BROKEN: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be notable for massive contributions to his own campaigns, but this billionaire media mogul-turned-politico�s record for the largest personal campaign contribution in U.S. history has been shattered by California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, a Republican.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported another $15 million donation Tuesday, bringing Whitman�s total personal contributions for the 2010 governor�s race to $119 million. A recent Rasmussen poll shows Whitman, former chief executive officer of eBay, slightly ahead of Democratic challenger Jerry Brown, the state�s former governor and current attorney general.
Bloomberg set the former record of $108 million in personal contributions in his mayoral re-election bid last year, when he spent about $185 per vote, as OpenSecrets Blog previously reported.
Have a news tip or link to pass along? We want to hear from you! E-mail us at press@crp.org.
A recent study from the Center for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics has found "a significant relationship" between lobbyists' salaries and their previous work experiences on Capitol Hill.
Using data from the Center for Responsive Politics, LegiStorm.com and Lobbyists.info, researchers Jordi Blanes i Vidal, Mirko Draca and Christian Fons-Rosen analyzed the employment histories and salaries of 1,100 politically connected federal lobbyists.
Their study concluded that these lobbyists experienced a "sizable drop in earnings when their old bosses left Congress."
Overall, the researchers found that lobbyists' earnings dropped by 24 percent upon the departure of one of their former employers in either the Senate or a senior position within the House.
This decline represents about $177,000 per year for the lobbyist -- and the decrease in revenue persists for three years after the politicians exit, they observed.
"When a politician leaves, a lobbyist's connection to that politician becomes obsolete," said study co-author Draca. "The politician is no longer a potential target for lobbying."
Measuring the significance of the "revolving door" between K Street and Capitol Hill is a difficult task. The study's attempt to measure influence of the revolving door by examining earnings is the first of its kind.
"There is plenty of discussion of the idea that former staffers are able to 'cash in' on the connections that they gained from working in Congress," Draca said. "But formal evidence on what these connections are worth in dollar terms is thin on the ground."
"Lobbyists argue their earnings reflect expertise on policy issues generally," co-author Vidal continued. "Our study tests whether former congressional staffers would be high-earners regardless of their privileged access to a powerful politician."
With their analysis showing a correlation between salaries and political connections, the authors beg to differ with the assessment that lobbyists bring only skills to the table when earning hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"Our estimates can be interpreted as the price of accessing or influencing politicians," Vidal said. "Access or influence can be systematically bought and sold. This means that if you have the money, you can hire a lobbyist with political connections and improve your chances of affecting policy."
Last year, the Center for Responsive Politics put large amounts of the lobbying data on our website, OpenSecrets.org, as bulk files in a move to encourage the use of these data in "mash-ups" by researchers and citizens. LegiStorm, meanwhile, has been providing data on congressional salaries and making it available online since 2006.
The team at the Center for Economic Performance was able to merge these various data together and apply statistical analysis for their study.
The Birmingham <b>News</b> Pink Edition: Supporting the fight against <b>...</b>
Reports on the work being done in our community to fight the disease and sharing the stories of breast cancer survivors.
Monday's <b>news</b>: Saturday's opener can't get here soon enough! - On <b>...</b>
At long last, we've got some honest-to-goodness competitive NHL hockey to look forward to this week as the 2010-11 season opens Thursday evening.
Monday Morning Breakfast & Baseball: Roster <b>News</b> - Twinkie Town
Here's what's making news in Twinkie Town on Monday, October 4.
eric seiger eric seiger
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