Politics

Sunrise (1/31/11)

By Paul Blumenthal

SEARCH CONTACTS MADE BY EGYPT'S WASHINGTON LOBBYISTS

--A Socrata database of all contacts reported in 2010 by Egypt's Washington lobbyists can be found here.

--Details: "The three lobbying firms reported 366 contacts with government officials, lawmakers, congressional staff, military officials, and non-governmental organizations. The vast majority of those contacts were made with lawmakers and their staff. Lobbyists made sixty-nine contacts with sixty-one members of Congress and 179 contacts with 141 different congressional staffers. ... The Livingston Group carried the heaviest lobbying load for the government of Egypt, including leading an Egyptian military delegation to over 100 meetings on Capitol Hill. Lobbyists for The Livingston Group, including the former congressman himself, brought the military delegation to 147 meetings with members of Congress and their staff meet. In those April, 2010 meetings, the delegation received meetings with forty-five members of Congress and 102 congressional staffers."

--The Hill reports that one lobbyist is sticking by Egypt: "In an e-mail to The Hill, former Rep. Toby Moffett (D-Conn.), co-chairman of the PLM Group, said "we have always been very proud to represent Egypt."

WE KNOW IT WHEN WE SEE IT, BUT WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS

--Roll Call: "The House Ethics Committee said last week that it knows a rules violation when it sees one, but it can?t specify what one looks like. ... But ethics observers are split over whether that decree ­? issued when the Ethics panel declined to pursue allegations that three lawmakers? fundraising events may have violated the chamber?s rules ? weakens existing standards meant to keep lawmakers from granting donors special access, or at least the appearance of it. ... In its report last week, the Ethics panel found the trio of lawmakers had avoided an ethics violation in large part because each retained a private fundraising consultant, allowing them to claim there was a clear separation between official activities and campaign fundraising."

NEW ETHICS MEMBER'S CONFLICT

--Politico: "Rep. Linda Sanchez has only been the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee for three days, but there are already questions about whether Sanchez has a conflict of interest involving her chief of staff, a top ethics lawyer and the high-profile Maxine Waters ethics trial that looms before the committee. ... Sanchez?s chief of staff is Adam Brand, son of top ethics lawyer - and former House general counsel - Stan Brand. The elder Brand is representing Waters (D-Calif.) in the ethics case pending before the Ethics Committee."

GOVERNMENT-BACKED AUTHORITY UNDER FIRE FOR LOBBYING

--Gannett: "The Delaware River Port Authority spent $1.7 million over the past decade to lobby the federal government for money, congressional records show. ... DRPA hired five lobbying firms -- Blank Rome LLP, Duane Morris LLP, American Continental Group, Borski Associates and C2 Group -- between 2001 and 2010, according to the records filed last year and this year. DRPA briefly hired a sixth firm, Peyser Associates, which merged with Blank Rome in 2005, according to Peyser's now-inactive website. ... The congressionally chartered authority, run by a 16-member board appointed by the governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, ended its Washington lobbying contracts late last year after fresh allegations of corruption, nepotism and questionable ethics."

Full post as published by Sunlight Foundation on January 31, 2011 (boomark / email).