[governance] US Business hires of former government employees as lobbyists

Fri Sep 28 03:54:08 EDT 2012

MSG as cover for corporate domination?

Snip:

For example, 51 percent
of the US Chamber, 65 perecent of PhRMA, 79 percent of Merck and Microsoft,
90 percent of Goldman Sachs and 94 percent of Vivendi lobbyists are former
government employees.

http://keionline.org/print/1555

Published on Knowledge Ecology International (http://keionline.org)

Business hires of former government employees as lobbyists

27. September 2012

In Washington, DC there is a large and growing influence industry. One
element of this industry is the thousands of people who register as
lobbyists with the Congress. Because of the way disclosure rules are
written, this is only a fraction of the persons who are actually employed
to influence the Congress or the Executive Branch. For example, the members
of the various USTR Advisory boards [2] are officially not considered
registered lobbyists [3], even though they are actively seeking to
influence government policies, and in many cases directly supervise
registered lobbyists. People like Charlene Barshefsky, a former head of
USTR under Clinton who now advocates [4] USTR demand tough intellectual
property rules for biologic drugs in developing countries, or Pfizer
Executive Vice President Sally Susman [5], who formerly worked for the U.S.
Senate and the Department of Commerce and now supervises Pfizers lobbying
efforts, don't bother to register as lobbyists.

For those that do register, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) has
created a database of the persons who work for the Congress or the
Executive Branch, and then become lobbyists.
http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/index.php [6], which is available from
their excellent web page, OpenSecrets.org [6]. What the CRP revolving door
database shows is how extensive is the role of former government employees
in running the lobbying operations for businesses. For example, 51 percent
of the US Chamber, 65 perecent of PhRMA, 79 percent of Merck and Microsoft,
90 percent of Goldman Sachs and 94 percent of Vivendi lobbyists are former
government employees.

Not every industry or interest group has such a high percentage of former
government officials on the payroll. For example, only 40 percent of the
Generic Pharmaceutical Association and 35 percent of the America Medical
Association are former government employees. It is also interesting to note
that only 9 percent of the AFL-CIO lobbyists are former government
officials.

The role of former government officials as paid lobbyists and public
affairs advisers is controversial, because the practice creates a culture
that undermines the independence and objectivity of government agencies and
the Congress, and creates powerful incentives for government officials to
ignore the public interest while currying favor to private interests.

Using the OpenSecrets database, let's take a look at how various trade
associations and businesses stack up.

Lobbyists in 2012 who have previously held government jobs*

Pharmaceuticals - Trade Associations

95 out of 146 PhRMA lobbyists
58 out of 86 Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) lobbyists
4 out of 10 Generic Pharmaceutical Association lobbyists
Pharmaceuticals - Companies

59 out of 79 Roche Holdings lobbyists
54 out of 74 Pfizer Inc lobbyists
45 out of 58 Eli Lilly & Co lobbyists
33 out of 56 Abbott Laboratories lobbyists
33 out of 42 Merck & Co lobbyists
32 out of 55 Novartis AG lobbyists
27 out of 49 Johnson & Johnson lobbyists
24 out of 35 GlaxoSmithKline lobbyists
19 out of 27 Sanofi lobbyists
14 out of 18 Bristol-Myers Squibb lobbyists
10 out of 16 Gilead Sciences lobbyists
10 out of 18 Teva Pharmaceutical Industries lobbyists
Publishers - Trade Associations

48 out of 66 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) lobbyists
27 out of 32 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) lobbyists
24 out of 27 Motion Picture Associationof America (MPAA) lobbyists
06 out of 11 Business Software Alliance (BSA) lobbyists
03 out of 04 ASCAP lobbyists
01 out of 03 Association of American Publishers (AAP) lobbyists
Publishers - Companies

37 out of 40 Time Warner lobbyists
20 out of 27 News Corp lobbyists
16 out of 17 Vivendi lobbyists
15 out of 18 Sony Corp lobbyists
08 out of 10 Walt Disney Co lobbyists
07 out of 11 McGraw-Hill Companies lobbyists
06 out of 07 Pearson Education lobbyists
02 out of 02 Washington Post lobbyists
Computers, Software, Internet, eCommerce

84 out of 108 Google Inc lobbyists
57 out of 72 Microsoft Corp lobbyists
35 out of 41 eBay Inc lobbyists
32 out of 37 Hewlett-Packard lobbyists
28 out of 34 Cisco Systems lobbyists
26 out of 37 Oracle Corp lobbyists
20 out of 36 IBM Corp lobbyists
20 out of 33 Intel Corp lobbyists
19 out of 24 SAP AG lobbyists
19 out of 24 Qualcomm Inc lobbyists
19 out of 24 Apple Inc lobbyists
12 out of 14 Amazon.com lobbyists
09 out of 16 Dell Inc lobbyists
Tecommunications - trade associations

70 out of 82 National Cable & Telecommunications Association(NCTA) lobbyists
48 out of 66 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) lobbyists
01 out of 06 Computer & Communications Industry Association lobbyists
Tecommunications - companies

95 out of 114 Comcast Corp lobbyists
89 out of 115 Verizon Communications lobbyists
54 out of 80 AT&T Inc lobbyists
34 out of 42 Time Warner Cable lobbyists
22 out of 26 CC Media Holdings (Clear Channel) lobbyists
Banking and Finance - Associations

22 out of 41 Securities Industry & Financial Market Association lobbyists
Banking, Insurance, Finance - Firms

44 out of 49 Goldman Sachs lobbyists
42 out of 60 Visa Inc lobbyists
40 out of 56 JPMorgan Chase & Co lobbyists
11 out of 15 Bank of America lobbyists
09 out of 17 AFLAC lobbyists
General Business or Labor - Associations

84 out of 166 US Chamber of Commerce lobbyists
53 out of 60 Business Roundtable lobbyists
02 out of 22 AFL-CIO lobbyists
Aviation, defense

71 out of 100 Boeing Co lobbyists
29 out of 43 Northrop Grumman lobbyists
Energy

30 out of 43 Chevron lobbyists
20 out of 34 Exxon Mobil lobbyists
Misc businesses

91 out of 129 General Electric lobbyists
35 out of 55 General Motors lobbyists
Health Care (other than pharmaceuticals)

78 out of 126 Blue Cross/Blue Shield lobbyists
27 out of 70 American Hospital Association lobbyists
12 out of 34 American Medical Association lobbyists

*Source: OpenSecrets.Org

Source URL: http://keionline.org/node/1555
Links:
[1] http://keionline.org/user/4
[2]
http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/intergovernmental-affairs/advisory-committees
[3]
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/210439-lobbyists-sue-obama-after-being-booted-from-boards
[4] http://www.nature.com/news/trade-deal-to-curb-generic-drug-use-1.11345
[5] http://keionline.org/node/1390
[6] http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/index.php

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