Tag: lobbyist

Sumner County Elections Hires Attorney Whose Lobbying Firm Represents MicroVote Election Equipment Used in Sumner County

Laura Baigert

GALLATIN, Tennessee – The Sumner County Election Commission (SCEC), on a 3 to 2 voice vote, decided in its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday to engage the services of legal counsel to represent them against the County Commission. The attorney specifically named in the motion is a principal with the law firm’s lobbying affiliate that represents MicroVote General Corporation, makers of the voting machines used in Sumner County elections.

In his motion, Republican-appointed SCEC member Mike Fussell made the unusual move of specifically naming attorney Tom Lee to provide the legal services as one “who is very familiar with the workings of Sumner County government.”

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Report: Kyrsten Sinema Founded Consulting Firm with Former State Rep. Chad Campell, who has Ties to Predatory Loan Interests

Neil Jones

A new report from The Intercept_ shows that Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I) founded a consulting firm known as Forza Consulting, LLC (FCLLC) in partnership with former State Rep. Chad Campell (D-Phoenix), who has supported payday lending interests in the past.

According to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), the FCLLC was formed in September 2007, with Sinema and former State Rep. David Lujan (D-Phoenix) listed as the Managers. Campbell was listed as a member, and the company is still active, according to the ACC.

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Georgia’s Largest County Considers Stacey Abrams Lobbyist for Top Election Job, Angering State

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Georgia’s largest county is prepared to name a paid lobbyist for liberal voting law activist Stacey Abrams’ group to be the next chairwoman of its election board, drawing immediate condemnation from the state’s top election official.

Fulton County’s Board of Commissioners confirmed Tuesday it is considering hiring Cathy Woolard, a former Atlanta city council president and mayoral candidate, as the next chair of the county’s election board. A vote is expected as early as Wednesday, according to the commission’s meeting docket.

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Amazon Calls for Higher Taxes on All Corporations Except Itself

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Amazon logo on Samsung smartphone screen

While the tech giant Amazon has publicly endorsed proposals to raise the corporate tax rate in the United States, the company has been secretly lobbying to keep its own tax rates low, Politico reports.

Last year, during the 2020 presidential election, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos openly supported then-candidate Joe Biden’s proposals to raise taxes on American corporations. Those proposals have re-emerged in recent weeks as a possible means of funding a possible infrastructure bill, and Biden has been advocating for other countries around the world to adopt higher corporate tax rates as well.

But recently, Amazon has been stepping up its lobbying efforts to try to convince Congress and the White House to allow the company to keep using certain tax breaks in order to keep its own rates low. The retail giant hired a tax lobbyist named Joshua Odintz, who formerly worked as a Democratic aide on Capitol Hill and then as an official in the Obama Administration. In addition to Amazon’s own efforts, similar lobbying has been undertaken by a group known as the “R&D Coalition,” which consists of several companies and organizations including Amazon, Intel, and the National Association of Manufacturers.

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‘Never Trump’ Republican Called for Russian Sanctions, Now He’s Lobbying Against Them

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by Chuck Ross   A top “Never Trump” Republican strategist who has called for “sanctions on steroids” against the Russian government has registered as a lobbyist for a Russia-owned nuclear energy firm that is seeking to relax sanctions. John Weaver, a strategist for former Republican presidential candidate John Kasich, registered as a foreign agent of JSC Technabexport on May 10, according to documents filed with the Justice Department. According to his filings, Weaver will be paid $350,000 to provide strategic advice and to lobby Congress and the Trump administration regarding a variety of issues, including “sanctions or other restrictions in the area of atomic (nuclear) energy.” It’s a stunning about-face for Weaver, who has been a vocal critic of Trump and a leading proponent of the theory that the Republican is under the influence of Russia. https://twitter.com/jwgop/status/809198779303952384 https://twitter.com/jwgop/status/814573012829798405 https://twitter.com/jwgop/status/817187381912674306 https://twitter.com/jwgop/status/818999399200264193 https://twitter.com/jwgop/status/819000711358849024 https://twitter.com/jwgop/status/1089667236749561857 Weaver acknowledged in an interview with BuzzFeed that his new role is “counterintuitive and confusing” given his criticism of Trump and Russia. He also said on Twitter that he was “shocked” when he was approached to work for Tenam, an American subsidiary of JSC Technabexport. He claimed that his efforts to stave off sanctions against JSC Technabexport, which…

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Indiana’s Senator Mike Braun Wants to Get Congress Out of a Rut by Taking Away a Prized Cash Cow

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by Evie Fordham   Republican Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, co-sponsor of a recently introduced bill banning ex-members of Congress from lobbying Congress, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview that his bill would help get Congress out of a “rut” — but he’s not expecting the legislation to gain traction anytime soon. “I think that here you’d attract better people if you didn’t have them make a career out of it,” Braun said. “But so many incentives are put in place with pensions, the ability after you’re done to become a lobbyist, so you do nestle in and then you start maybe not making the right long-term decisions. You basically make a decision: what will be best for me to nestle in further, be around here longer.” Braun and Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott are the cosponsors of the Banning Lobbying and Safeguarding Trust (BLAST) Act, introduced Feb. 28. Braun connected the legislation to his reform agenda, including doing away with taxpayer-funded pensions for members of Congress. Although the lawmakers are “barking up the right tree,” their solution might not be realistic, a government transparency expert told TheDCNF. “You generally do see more of a reform agenda from some of the newer members…

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Judson Phillips Commentary: Conservatives Need to Unite and Promote Our Agenda at the Tennessee General Assembly

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by Judson Phillips   Conservatives love to rail against the Republicans who control the Tennessee General Assembly. And why not? These Republicans go out every two years (or four if they are in the Senate) and tell the voters how conservative they are. Then, once they have been given their next two year, no-cut contract, they proceed to vote the way the lobbyists want them to. Since the Republicans took control of the General Assembly in 2008, they have not met a spending plan they did not like.  The state budget has skyrocketed. And what do conservatives do? They get on Facebook and complain. Recently some of my Facebook friends were shocked to discover that American Muslim Advisory Council has a “Muslim Day” on Capitol Hill. Activists go and push their agenda to legislators.   The Muslims are not the only group that does that.  All kinds of groups do it. They range from farmers to the bat-guano crazy left. And there are a couple of center right groups that go up there. When is there a conservative day on Capitol Hill? The answer is, there isn’t. There is not a day when conservatives go to Capitol Hill and tell legislators…

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JC Bowman Commentary: Time to Separate PACS from Lobbying

JC Bowman
dealmakers

Professional Educators of Tennessee will continue to lobby for public education.  However, we will never endorse political parties or candidates as an organization on behalf of our members.  We also do not have a PAC, nor do we plan to ever start one.  It would harm our effectiveness.  We must advance public education without the divisive tribalism of partisan politics, and we will only get involved in education related issues.

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Commentary: Why Are Senate Republicans Funneling Millions to Radical Left-Wing Groups?

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By Richard McCarty   In 1978, the US Labor Department created an occupational safety and health training grant program, which is now called the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program. In recent years, the Labor Department has awarded roughly $10 million a year in Harwood grants. The money is distributed to public colleges and universities, business groups, unions, and nonprofits. Of course, a number of these organizations neither deserve nor need taxpayer money. In President Trump’s first budget, he proposed defunding the program, and the House spending bill which covers the Department of Labor eliminated funding for the grants. Unfortunately, the Senate Appropriations Committee version of the bill allocated over $10.5 million for the grants. If they were eliminated, would the Harwood grants be missed? With the lousy record of so many government-funded training programs, it is fair to question the effectiveness of the training provided as part of the Harwood grants program. It should also be noted that some of the training classes that taxpayers have been funding only last 30 minutes to an hour. But even if the classes do meet a need, there are plenty of other sources of funding. Businesses and business groups should be fully capable of paying for their own training programs given the…

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