John Boehner adds lobbyist to staff - Chris Frates

John Boehner Hires Lobbyist As Policy Director
Politico: House Speaker-elect John Boehner announced Thursday that he hired the Medical Device industry's chief Lobbyist as his policy director, adding to a growing number of Republican lawmakers who have recruited top aides from K Street. Read the whole story: Politico Get HuffPost Politics On Twitter and Facebook! Subscribe to the HuffPost Hill newsletter! Know something we don't? E-mail us at [email protected] ...

Boehner Picks Lobbyist as Policy Director
House Speaker-elect John Boehner (R-OH) announced that he "hired the Medical Device industry's chief Lobbyist as his policy director, adding to a growing number of Republican lawmakers who have recruited top aides from K Street," Politico reports. ...

Tea Party Lawmakers Heart K Street
Thu Dec. 9, 2010 8:51 AM PST Well, that didn't take long. The Washington Post's Dan Eggen reports that a number of Republicans, including Tea Party-backed senators-elect Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), have hired former Lobbyists as their chiefs of staff. Lee has hired former energy lobbyist Spencer Stokes, while Rand Paul has tapped anti-union lobbyist Douglass Stafford on board. In the House, Rep. Charlie Bass (R-N.H.) has brought on Food Industry lobbyist John Billings as his chief ...

New Republican Lawmakers Tap Lobbyists For Top Staff Roles
For some incoming Republican lawmakers, the road from their home districts to Capitol Hill detours onto Washington's K Street, home to many prominent "public affairs" firms. A number of 2011 freshmen -- who railed against Incumbents beholden to Lobbyists -- have hired registered Lobbyists as senior aides. The Washington Post reports that Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who defeated Sen. Russ Feingold after complaining that Feingold "embraced Lobbyists and declared himself to be on their side...

GOP Speaker-elect Boehner hires lobbyist as policy director
Stumble This! House Republican leader John Boehner has tapped a top medical industry Lobbyist to be his policy director when he takes the reigns as speaker in January. The lobbyist, Brett Loper, is the senior executive Vice President of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, a pharmaceutical and health products industry, which lobbied in opposition to Democrats' Health Care reform Legislation. "I'm very pleased Brett will be joining our team," Boehner said Thursday in a statement, accordi...

The GOP's Quid Pro Quo
The Right Wing astroturfers are calling in their markers. After defeating Feingold, Johnson himself has turned to K Street for help - hiring Homeland Security Lobbyist Donald H. Kent Jr. as his Chief of Staff. Johnson is not alone: Many incoming GOP lawmakers have hired registered lobbyists as senior aides. Several of the Candidates won with strong support from the anti-establishment Tea Party movement. These cases illustrate the endurance of Washington’s traditional power structure, even ...

Why a lobbyist as a chief of staff isnt inherently a problem
The Hill was the first to report that Lobbyists are being hired by the freshman class, a story which others later followed. The consensus seems to be that newly elected congressional reformers are hypocritical in hiring institutional influence as their chief advisors. This assumption is wrong. It isn't hypocritical to hire someone who knows more than you do to help navigate Washington. In fact, it is a savvy move to hire someone who has seen both the outside and the inside of policy making. Ne...

NH's Bass: Leading by example?
Republican Charlie Bass -- because he's already been to Congress and is back for a return trip -- will be judged politically both by the past and the present. And, at least right now, the past seems to be merging with the present in the hiring of a Lobbyist to be his Chief of Staff. Bass was elected to the U.S. House seat in the 2nd Congressional District that became open when Incumbent Democrat Paul Hodes tried and failed to win Judd Gregg's seat in the U.S. Senate. A Washington Post story ques...

At Least 13 New Republican Members Of Congress Hire Corporate Lobbyists To Manage Their Office
To many Americans, Washington is fundamentally broken. While corporations enjoy record profits and executives reward themselves with million-dollar bonuses, lobbyists have gamed the system so corporate behemoths like ExxonMobil and GE pay zero corporate income taxes. During the economic crisis, with high unemployment and stagnant wages, middle class Americans seem to be bearing the sacrifices. Riding a wave of this popular discontent, Republicans won a historical congressional election this ye...

Tea Party-Backed New Senators Hire Lobbyists As Staffers Despite Campaign Rhetoric
The Washington Post: In addition to Johnson, Sen.-elect Mike Lee (Utah) has announced that energy Lobbyist Spencer Stokes will be his Chief of Staff. Tea Party favorite Rand Paul (Ky.) has hired anti-union Lobbyist Douglas Stafford as his top senatorial aide. Read the whole story: The Washington Post Get HuffPost Politics On Twitter and Facebook! Subscribe to the HuffPost Hill newsletter! Know something we don't? E-mail us at [email protected] ...

John Boehner Reveals Plans For First Vote As Speaker
Incoming Speaker of the House John Boehner recently announced that his first measure to cut spending as leader of the House of Representatives would be to reduce Congressional Budgets. "Well, how about we start with cutting Congress? I'm going to cut my budget, my leadership budget five percent. I'm going to cut all the leadership budgets by five percent. I'm going to cut every committee's budget by five percent," Boehner told Lesley Stahl of CBS News's "60 Minutes." "And every member is going...

GOP anoints freshmen for Appropriations Committee
The House Republican Steering Committee late Thursday chose three freshmen to join the Appropriations Committee, sources confirmed Friday. Reps.-elect Kevin Yoder (Kan.), Alan Nunnelee (Miss.) and Steve Womack (Ark.) will join the spending panel. In the past, members had to wait years for the chance to join the spending panel, but House Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) has vowed to remake it into the engine of Spending Cuts. While the GOP has tapped longtime appropriator and earmark p...

Dissenting Over the New GOP Appropriations Chairman
RedState's Erick Erickson, a good bellwether for conservative purists and Tea Partiers, doesn't like the House GOP Steering Committee's recommended pick for chairman of the Appropriations Committee next year: John Boehner and Eric Cantor want Hal Rogers of Kentucky to serve as Appropriations Chairman. Hal Rogers is a big spending porker who has been a champion of Earmarks. So brazen in his lust for your money, Rogers wants to put a Lockheed Martin Lobbyist in as staff director for the Appropria...

Rhetoric aside, many incoming Republicans hiring lobbyists
During his campaign to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate, GOP nominee Ron Johnson accused Democratic Incumbent Russell Feingold (D) of being "on the side of Special Interests and Lobbyists." "After promising voters that he would reform the culture of lobbying in Washington, instead Senator Feingold embraced lobbyists and declared himself to be on their side," a Johnson spokeswoman said at the time. But after defeating Feingold, Johnson himself has turned to K Street ...

You Will Be Assimiliated
Resistance is futile.During his campaign to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate, GOP nominee Ron Johnson accused Democratic Incumbent Russell Feingold (D) of being "on the side of Special Interests and Lobbyists." "After promising voters that he would reform the culture of lobbying in Washington, instead Senator Feingold embraced lobbyists and declared himself to be on their side," a Johnson spokeswoman said at the time. But after defeating Feingold, Johnson himself has turned to K Street fo...

The Sunlight Foundation: INTEREST GROUPS CELEBRATE WITH CONGRESS
On Wednesday, the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) is putting on an enticing holiday party for members of Congress: the invitation calls it a celebration with wine and spirits, and it's at Wolfgang Puck's upscale restaurant The Source, down the street from the Capitol on the ground floor of the sleek Newseum building. And as Congress is considering tougher Food Safety laws which affect farms, the American Farm Bureau has invited every member of Congress, some Executive Branch offic...

New Republican lawmakers are hiring lobbyists, despite campaign rhetoric
During his campaign to represent Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate, GOP nominee Ron Johnson accused Democratic Incumbent Russell Feingold (D) of being "on the side of Special Interests and Lobbyists." "After promising voters that he would reform the culture of lobbying in Washington, instead Senator Feingold embraced lobbyists and declared himself to be on their side," a Johnson spokeswoman said at the time. But after defeating Feingold, Johnson himself has turned to K Street ...

John Boehner: The Quiz
In this week’s issue of the magazine, Peter J. Boyer writes about John Boehner and the Tea Party Congress. Test your knowledge of the next Speaker of the House with this week’s quiz. You can also try our quizzes on Sarah Palin, George W. Bush, and Kanye West. Hendrik Hertzberg: A path we should not follow. Peter J. Boyer: Will John Boehner control the Tea Party Congress? John Lahr: Elia Kazan’s singular path. Reviewers’ favorite books from 2010. Zachary Kanin: At dinn...

Lobbyists Take Jobs with Tea Partiers
The Washington Post reports that Sens.-elect Mike Lee (UT), Ron Johnson (WI) and Rand Paul (KY) have all hired Lobbyists as their top Senate aides, despite their campaign Rhetoric and strong support from the anti-establishment Tea Party movement. "These cases illustrate the endurance of Washington's traditional power structure, even in the wake of an election dominated by insurgent rhetoric." ...

Lobbyist offered key House staff post
Posted by Politico on Dec 10 2010 Filed under Politico. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Click here to cancel reply. We allow third-party companies to serve ads and/or collect certain anonymous information when you visit our web site. These companies may use non-personally identifiable information (e.g., click stream information, browser type, time and date, subject of advertisements ...

Boehner promises to cut own budget by 5 percent
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican lawmaker expected to be the next speaker of the House says that one of the first votes the House will take next month will be to cut congressional Budgets, including his own, by 5 percent. Ohio Republican John Boehner says on a “60 Minutes” interview to be aired Sunday on CBS that the budget cuts would save the federal treasury some $25 million to $30 million. Boehner says that in the age of Trillion-dollar Deficits, “we’ve got to st...

Boehner promises to cut own budget by 5 percent
WASHINGTON—The Republican lawmaker expected to be the next speaker of the House says that one of the first votes the House will take next month will be to cut congressional Budgets, including his own, by 5 percent. Ohio Republican John Boehner says on a "60 Minutes" interview to be aired Sunday on CBS that the budget cuts would save the federal treasury some $25 million to $30 million. Boehner says that in the age of Trillion-dollar Deficits, "we've got...

Fattahs Hopes as Appropriations Chair Dashed by CBC
The political landscape changed dramatically on Nov. 2 for Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), the gritty and audacious Philadelphia Congressman hoping for a tightening of the polls that evening - just enough to hold off an expected Republican takeover of the House.  His plan was to embark on an ambitious bid for Chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, overseeing $1.4 Trillion in discretionary funding and finding ways to push education as a top priority. As the GOP amassed big gai...

When We Said We Were Going to Ban Earmarks, You Didn't Think We Were Going to Ban Earmarks, Did You?
When congressional Republicans backed a two-year earmark Moratorium in a wave of post-election enthusiasm, apparently they didn't understand that banning Earmarks would entail not having any more earmarks. Now—after failing to drag Democrats into their porkless hell—they're freaking out. After agreeing to kill earmarks, some of the most conservative GOP lawmakers are already starting to ask themselves: What have we done?... So some Republicans are discussing exemptions to the earmark ban, a...

Bachmann responds to earmark controversy
Rep. Michele Bachmann lashed out at media outlets that have suggested she wants to backtrack on the GOP’s earmark ban. “There is no daylight between my position and Speaker-designate John Boehner on Earmarks. Period,” she said on Friday afternoon. In several instances Bachmann has indicated she wants a change in the definition of earmarks to allow House members to earmark dollars for transportation and Army Corps of Engineers projects. On Thursday, Bachmann expressed Discomfort...