Results 1 to 11 of 11

Thread: President Trump’s Cabinet has had more ex-lobbyists than Bush or Obama

  1. #1

    President Trump’s Cabinet has had more ex-lobbyists than Bush or Obama

    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/pr...ama-2019-09-17

    The Cabinet choices are a sign that Trump’s pledge to ‘drain the swamp’ may not be happening

    In less than three years, President Donald Trump has named more former lobbyists to Cabinet-level posts than his most recent predecessors did in eight.

    The Cabinet choices are another sign Trump’s populist pledge to “drain the swamp” is a catchy campaign slogan but not a serious attempt to change the way Washington works. Instead of staring down “the unholy alliance of lobbyists and donors and special interests” as Trump recently declared, the influence industry has flourished during his administration.

    The amount spent in 2019 on lobbying the U.S. government is on pace to match or exceed last year’s total of $3.4 billion, the most since 2010, according to the political money web site Open Secrets. Trump’s hotel near the White House has been a magnet for lobbyists and foreign interests.



  2. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  3. #2
    You mean Trump hired people who actually understood the industries?

    OH HORROR!


    He should have hired a bunch of politicians and lawyers who never held a real job in their life.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    You mean Trump hired people who actually understood the industries?

    OH HORROR!


    He should have hired a bunch of politicians and lawyers who never held a real job in their life.
    Trump was critical of lobbyists and issued an executive order on them.

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/president...ch-appointees/

    By the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and sections 3301 and 7301 of title 5, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows:

    Section 1. Ethics Pledge. Every appointee in every executive agency appointed on or after January 20, 2017, shall sign, and upon signing shall be contractually committed to, the following pledge upon becoming an appointee:

    “As a condition, and in consideration, of my employment in the United States Government in an appointee position invested with the public trust, I commit myself to the following obligations, which I understand are binding on me and are enforceable under law:

    “1. I will not, within 5 years after the termination of my employment as an appointee in any executive agency in which I am appointed to serve, engage in lobbying activities with respect to that agency.

    “2. If, upon my departure from the Government, I am covered by the post-employment restrictions on communicating with employees of my former executive agency set forth in section 207(c) of title 18, United States Code, I agree that I will abide by those restrictions.

    “3. In addition to abiding by the limitations of paragraphs 1 and 2, I also agree, upon leaving Government service, not to engage in lobbying activities with respect to any covered executive branch official or non-career Senior Executive Service appointee for the remainder of the Administration.

    “4. I will not, at any time after the termination of my employment in the United States Government, engage in any activity on behalf of any foreign government or foreign political party which, were it undertaken on January 20, 2017, would require me to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended.

    “5. I will not accept gifts from registered lobbyists or lobbying organizations for the duration of my service as an appointee.

    “6. I will not for a period of 2 years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts.

    “7. If I was a registered lobbyist within the 2 years before the date of my appointment, in addition to abiding by the limitations of paragraph 6, I will not for a period of 2 years after the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter on which I lobbied within the 2 years before the date of my appointment or participate in the specific issue area in which that particular matter falls.

    “8. I agree that any hiring or other employment decisions I make will be based on the candidate’s qualifications, competence, and experience.

    “9. I acknowledge that the Executive Order entitled ‘Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees,’ issued by the President on January 28, 2017, which I have read before signing this document, defines certain terms applicable to the foregoing obligations and sets forth the methods for enforcing them. I expressly accept the provisions of that Executive Order as a part of this agreement and as binding on me. I understand that the obligations of this pledge are in addition to any statutory or other legal restrictions applicable to me by virtue of Government service.”

  5. #4
    https://www.propublica.org/article/t...mps-washington

    Former Trump Officials Are Supposed to Avoid Lobbying. Except 33 Haven’t.

    The former officials — including ex-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke — have found ways to sidestep the administration’s ethics pledge. At least 18 of them are now registered federal lobbyists and the rest work in jobs that closely resemble lobbying.

    It’s been more than two years since President Donald Trump, who rallied campaign supporters with calls to “drain the swamp” of lobbyists and their ilk, took office. But despite that campaign promise, Washington influence peddlers continue to move into and out of jobs in the federal government.

    In his first 10 days in office, Trump signed an executive order that required all his political hires to sign a pledge. On its face, it’s straightforward and ironclad: When Trump officials leave government employment, they agree not to lobby the agencies they worked in for five years. They also can’t lobby anyone in the White House or political appointees across federal agencies for the duration of the Trump administration. And they can’t perform “lobbying activities,” or things that would help other lobbyists, including setting up meetings or providing background research. Violating the pledge exposes former officials to fines and extended or even permanent bans on lobbying.

    But loopholes, some of them sizable, abound. At least 33 former Trump officials have found ways around the pledge. The most prominent is former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned in December after a series of ethics investigations. He announced Wednesday that he is joining a lobbying firm, Turnberry Solutions, which was started in 2017 by several former Trump campaign aides. Asked whether Zinke will register as a lobbyist, Turnberry partner Jason Osborne said, “He will if he has a client that he wants to lobby for.”

    Among the 33 former officials, at least 18 have recently registered as lobbyists. The rest work at firms in jobs that closely resemble federal lobbying. Almost all work on issues they oversaw or helped shape when they were in government. (Nearly 2,600 Trump officials signed the ethics pledge in 2017, according to the Office of Government Ethics. Twenty-five appointees did not sign the pledge. We used staffing lists compiled for ProPublica’s Trump Town, our exhaustive database of current political appointees, and found at least 350 people who have left the Trump administration. There are other former Trump officials who lobby at the state or local level.)
    More at link.

  6. #5
    http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/...mps-swamp.html

    350 Lobbyists Now Swimming in Trump's Swamp

    One of the catchier, if vague, slogans of the Trump campaign in 2016 was “Drain the Swamp!” which normally was interpreted as meaning an attack on special interest influence of government policy-making via lobbyists. But that wasn’t so clear given the fact that Trump borrowed it from Ronald Reagan, who meant it to involve getting rid of “wasteful” federal programs, i.e., those that conservatives didn’t like.

    The first tip-off that “Drain the Swamp” didn’t mean an ethics crusade came from the composition of Trump’s post-election transition team, which was thickly larded with lobbyists (in sharp contrast with what the supposed corrupt insider Hillary Clinton had planned: a ban on any lobbyists on the transition team).

    Now a bit over halfway through Trump’s first term, the liberal group American Bridge 21st Century has supplied the Washington Post with a list of lobbyists on Team Trump, and it’s formidable:

    Data provided to The Post … identifies over 350 individuals who’ve worked as lobbyists who currently work in the administration, have worked in it or have been nominated to serve in Trump’s administration. Cumulatively, they’ve represented more than 2,800 companies at one point or another, according to lobbying registration documents. Nearly 200 of them now served or have been nominated to serve in divisions of government that they once lobbied.
    Most of these people are not as famous (or infamous) as, say, the former oil industry shill and coal lobbyist who have serially run the Environmental Protection Agency under Trump. But 350 ex-lobbyists represent a lot of special interests. And their greatest concentration, the Post notes, is in the Executive Office of the President, where 47 ex-lobbyists toil to set policy for the entire federal government.

    One great fictional swamp-dweller, the Okefenokee possum named Pogo in the cartoon strip of that same name, once made an observation that holds true for the alleged swamp-drainers of the Trump administration: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

  7. #6
    Been over a decade , but I do not recall Bush having a lot of lobbyists.
    Do something Danke

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    You mean Trump hired people who actually understood the industries?

    OH HORROR!


    He should have hired a bunch of politicians and lawyers who never held a real job in their life.
    Your job is getting harder all the time.
    "The Patriarch"

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    Your job is getting harder all the time.
    LOL

    If hiring lobbyists is what got us the deregulation then I say hire more of them.

    This is one of the weakest attacks zippy has used yet.
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



  10. Remove this section of ads by registering.
  11. #9

    https://twitter.com/sethabramson/status/1160236146930212866?lang=en



    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    You mean Trump hired people who actually understood the industries?

    OH HORROR!
    ^this.

    All politicians let their family and friends and donors profiteer from public service, MAGA is just more honest straight shooter and does not try to hide wheeling and dealing being done on the side by his family members, friends and donors.

    That said, there are encouraging signs that MAGA would put an end to nepotism if elected for second term. That alone would improve transparaency in governance and make quiet some of the anti-nepotism purists.




    Related

    Kushner Personally Negotiated MIC/Saud Arms Deal

    Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson describes Jared Kushner’s secret diplomacy
    In one embarrassing episode, Tillerson said he didn’t even know his Mexican counterpart was in Washington until he walked into a restaurant and discovered Luis Videgaray dining with Kushner. It came during a delicate time in U.S.-Mexican relations, when Videgaray often went around the State Department to capitalize on his friendship with Kushner.
    “I walked back,” Tillerson said. “I could see the color go out of the face of the foreign secretary of Mexico.
    “I smiled big, and I said: ‘Welcome to Washington.’ And I said: ‘I don’t want to interrupt what y’all are doing.’ I said: ‘Give me a call next time you’re coming to town.’ And I left it at that.”
    Tillerson said the foreign minister later said he was shocked that the issues that Kushner raised with him had not already been cleared at the State Department.
    Tillerson, a former CEO of ExxonMobil, said then-Defense Secretary James N. Mattis was also often cut out of policy discussions, with former advisor Stephen K. Bannon acting alongside Kushner.
    In another meeting concealed from the secretary of State, Kushner and Bannon at a private dinner in May 2017 discussed with leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates their plans to place a blockade on neighboring Qatar.

    Tillerson, surprised when Saudi Arabia and the UAE announced the blockade some time later, indicated the U.S. would remain neutral, since Qatar is also an important ally. Barely had Tillerson spoken when Trump threw his full support behind Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The tense Persian Gulf standoff continues to this day.



    Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner questioned over $1.15bn mortgage
    Charles Kushner — Jared's father and the head of Kushner Companies, the family firm of which Jared remains a part-owner — discussed the refinancing of 666 Fifth Avenue with Qatari Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al Emadi about a month before the “diplomatic assault” started. They couldn’t reach an agreement.
    the failure to broker the deal would be followed only a month later by a Middle Eastern diplomatic row in which Jared Kushner provided critical support to Qatar's neighbors. Led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a group of Middle Eastern countries, with Kushner's backing, led a diplomatic assault that culminated in a blockade of Qatar.
    Robert Weissman, president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, thinks that Jared shouldn’t be allowed to use the US government to “negotiate” a better deal for personal gain:

    Kushner, Ivanka Trump made at least $82 million in outside income while serving in White House




    Erik Prince acknowledges attending 2016 Trump Tower meeting 'to talk about Iran policy'
    By Brooke Seipel - 03/08/19
    https://thehill.com/policy/national-...eeting-to-talk

    April 18, 2019
    Trump backer Erik Prince's account of Russian banker contact differs from Mueller report
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN1RV03F

    Officials worry Trump may back Erik Prince plan to privatize war in Afghanistan
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/militar...ze-war-n901401

  12. #10
    Seems legit.
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


    Quiz: Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

    Short Income Tax Video

    The Income Tax Is An Excise, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

    The Federalist Papers, No. 15:

    Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

  13. #11
    Where are the charts?

    The amazing ZIPPY , omits the fact that; '' there will be no lobbyists in the White House'' according
    to Obama and his 'hiring' policy.

    Besides omitting the fact, we all know that this 'whine' has not a thing to do with
    lobbyists, it's just an opportunity for zippy to bitch, isn't it.

    Where were zippy's complaints when Obama lied to us ? Here? I highly doubt it, not here not
    anywhere.

    There is an obvious agenda with zippy , it has nothing to do with fairness nor logic, , it's
    all to do with helping Globalist-Socialists spin America down the drain, quickly.

    Sorry Zippy , you've made no headway here that I've seen, I'm still not sure why anyone bothers
    to pad your income by responding to you, counting myself.....



Similar Threads

  1. Letter Outgoing President Obama left for Incoming President Trump
    By Zippyjuan in forum U.S. Political News
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 09-03-2017, 08:36 PM
  2. Replies: 15
    Last Post: 01-27-2017, 02:38 PM
  3. Obama is helping Trump with cabinet picks
    By EBounding in forum U.S. Political News
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 12-07-2016, 05:15 PM
  4. Replies: 18
    Last Post: 11-17-2016, 12:02 PM
  5. Donald Trump On President George W. Bush
    By TaftFan in forum U.S. Political News
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 01-20-2015, 04:16 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •