Extortion (33 page)

Read Extortion Online

Authors: Peter Schweizer

91. Lou Dobbs, comments on
Lou Dobbs Tonight
, Fox Business Network, January 19, 2012.
92. Richard Verrier, “Obama Administration Expresses Concern About Anti-Piracy Bills,” Los Angeles Times, January 14, 2012.
93. “Lawmakers Withdraw Support of Anti-piracy Bills after Online Protest,” CNN Wire, January 19, 2012,
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/tech/sopa-blackouts
(accessed May 6, 2013).
94. Sarah Barmak, “The Day the Web Went Dark; U.S. Anti-Piracy Bills Spark Outrage Online
,” Toronto Star, January 21, 2012.
95. Matthew Garrahan, “President Taps ‘Hollywood ATM,’” Financial Times, March 9, 2012.
96. Erica Orden and Peter Nicholas, “Movie Mogul’s Starring Role in Raising Funds for Obama,” Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2012.
97. Anna Palmer and Robin Bravender, “Chris Dodd’s Debut with Hollywood a Flop,” Politico, January 19, 2012.
98. Tina Daunt, “Hollywood Moguls: No ‘Obama Boycott’ over Piracy Stance,”
Hollywood Reporter
, January 18, 2012.
99. Ryan Nakashima, “AP: Hollywood Warms to China’s New Openness,” Yahoo! News, April 16, 2012,
http://news.yahoo.com/hollywood-warms-chinas-openness-211340104.html
(accessed May 6, 2013).
100. Orden and Nicholas, “Movie Mogul’s Starring Role.”
101. Garrahan, “Obama Taps ‘Hollywood ATM.’”
102. Robert Herbold, interview with the author.
103.
Opensecrets.org
, “Facebook Inc.,”
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000033563
(accessed May 6, 2013).
104. “Silicon Valley is waking up to the fact that we have to be part of the process in Washington,” writes John Battelle. “For too long we’ve treated ‘government’ as damage, and we’ve routed around it.” Alex Howard, “The Week the Web Changed Washington,” O’Reilly Radar, January 20, 2012,
http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/01/the-week-the-web-changed-washi.html
.
105.
Marketwatch.com
, “Google, Facebook Continue to Flood Washington with Cash for Lobbying Efforts; Consumer Watchdog Calls Record Spending Cynical Bid to Buy Influence,” January 23, 2013.
106. John Allison, interview with the author.
107. Saki Knafo, “Joe Biden Talks Violent Video Games with Industry Reps in Wake of Newtown Shooting,” Huffington Post, January 11, 2013.
108. Eric Lichtblau, “Makers of Violent Video Games Marshal Support to Fend Off Regulation,” New York Times, January 12, 2013.
109. Jeffrey Grubb, “Obama: ‘Congress Should Fund Research into the Effects Violent Video Games Have on Young Minds,’” VentureBeat, January 16, 2013,
http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/16/obama-congress-should-fund-research-into-the-effects-violent-video-games-have-on-young-minds
(accessed May 6, 2013).
110.
Opensecrets.org
, “Entertainment Software Assn,”
https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000025695
(accessed May 6, 2013).

 

6. Slush Funds

 

1. FBI.gov, “Famous Cases and Criminals: Al Capone,”
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/al-capone
.
2.
Encyclopaedia
Brittanica, “Meyer Lansky,”
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/330022/Meyer-Lansky
.
3. Ken Silverstein, “Beltway Bacchanal: Congress Lives High on the Contributor’s Dime,”
Harper’s
(March 2008).
4. Halimah Abdullah, “Whitfield Spent $24,000 from Leadership PAC at Beverly Hills Hotel,” Lexington Herald-Leader, October 4, 2009.
5. Brody Mullins and Brad Haynes, “Some PACs Run After Politicians Drop Out,”
Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2009.
6. Aaron Blake, “Rep. Joe Kennedy III Launches Political Action Committee,” Washington Post, April 12, 2013.
7. GenYPack, “Congressman Aaron Schock,”
http://genypac.com/about/congressman-aaron-schock
.
8. Marcus Stern and Jennifer LaFleur, “Leadership PACs: Let the Good Times Roll,”
Pro Publica
, September 26, 2009.
9. Ibid.
10. Janie Lorber, “Being in Congress Has Perks,” Roll Call, October 18, 2011.
11. Corbin Hiar, “Congressional Perks: Lawmakers’ Most Surprising Benefits,” Center for Public Integrity, November 23, 2011,
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2011/11/23/7495/congressional-perks-lawmakers-most-surprising-benefits
.
12. Stern and LaFleur, “Leadership PACs: Let the Good Times Roll
.”
13. Federal Election Commission (FEC), “Candidate and Committee Viewer: Republican Majority Fund,”
http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do
.
14. Federal Election Commission (FEC), “Candidate and Committee Viewer: America Forward Leadership PAC,”
http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommit teeDetail.do
.
15. Federal Election Commission (FEC), “Candidate and Committee Viewer: Rely on Your Beliefs Fund,”
http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do
.
16. Ibid.
17. Jonathan Tamari, “Andrews’ Wife Vetted Use of Campaign Funds on Trip,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 12, 2012.
18. U.S. House of Representatives, Office of Congressional Ethics, “Report,” Review 11–3260, p. 15; and Tamari, “Andrews’ Wife Vetted Use of Campaign Funds on Trip.”
19. House Office of Congressional Ethics, “Report,” p. 27.
20. Federal Election Commission (FEC), “Candidate and Committee Viewer: Americans Nationwide Dedicated to Electing Republicans,”
http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do
.
21. Ibid.
22. House Committee on Appropriations, “Full Committee Members,”
http://appropriations.house.gov/about/members
.
23. Federal Election Commission (FEC), “Candidate and Committee Viewer: Toward Tomorrow,”
http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do
.
24. Federal Election Commission (FEC), “Candidate and Committee Viewer: Impact PAC,”
http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do
.
25. Federal Election Commission (FEC), “Candidate and Committee Viewer: Heartland PAC,”
http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do
.
26. Stern and LaFleur, “Leadership PACs: Let the Good Times Roll.”
27. Luke Rosiak and Glenn Thrush, “Rangel’s Son Got Campaign Cash,”
Politico, December 4, 2008.
28. Federal Election Commission (FEC), “Candidate and Committee Viewer: Democratic Future,”
http://www.fec.gov/fecviewer/CandidateCommitteeDetail.do
; Josh Israel, Aaron Mehta, and Gabriel Debenedetti, “Political Inaction Committees: How Political Action Committees Are Spending Your Donations,” Center for Public Integrity, October 5, 2010,
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2010/10/05/2460/political-inaction-committees-how-political-action-committees-are-spending-your
.
29. Rachel Leven, “FEC to Congress: Expand Ban on Personal Use of Political Committee Funds,”
The Hill
, May 12, 2012.

 

7. Trust Me: You’re Gonna Need to Pay Me

 

1. “Too Big Not to Fail,”
The Economist, February 18, 2012.
2. Ibid.
3. “Over-regulated America,”
The Economist, February 18, 2012.
4. “Too Big Not to Fail
,”
The
Economist.
5. Ibid.
6. Amanda Becker, “Multitudes of Lobbyists Weigh in on Dodd-Frank Act,” Washington Post, November 22, 2010.
7. U.S. Department of the Treasury, “Financial Stability Oversight Council,”
http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/fsoc/Pages/home.aspx;
Cornell University Law School, Legal Information Institute, “Dodd-Frank: Title X—Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection,”
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/dodd-frank_title_ x
.
8. Alan Siegel and Irene Etzkorn,
Simple:
Conquering the Crisis of Complexity
(New York: Twelve, 2013), p. 22.
9. See Anthony Giles Heyes, “Expert Advice and Regulatory Complexity,”
Journal of Regulatory Economics 24, no. 2 (2003): 120; and Anthony Heyes, “Revolving Doors and Regulatory Complexity, or, Another Reason Why American Regulation Is So Darn’d Difficult,”
http://www.soc.uoc.gr/calendar/2000EAERE/papers/Pdf2/H4-Heyes.pdf
.
10. George LeMieux, interview with the author.
11. Promontory, “Careers,”
http://www.promontory.com/OurCareers.aspx
.
12. Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, “Former Regulators Find a Home with a Powerful Firm,”
New York Times, April 10, 2013.
13. Tim Carney, “Dodd-Frank’s Winners: Revolving-Door Regulators,”
Washington Examiner
, July 24, 2011.
14. Hogan Lovells, “Senior Counsel to U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Rejoins Hogan Lovells” (press release), March 7, 2011,
http://www.hoganlovells.com/newsmedia/newspubs/detail.aspx?news=1836
.
15. George LeMieux, interview with the author.
16. Robert Wenzel, “The Completely Disgusting Government/Crony Capitalism Revolving Door,” Economic Policy Journal (December 27, 2012).
17. “We’re about to receive legislation that could better be entitled ‘The Lawyers’ and Lobbyists’ Full Employment Act.’” Harvey Pitt, “The Ugly Truth About Financial-Regulatory Reform,” The Daily Beast, July 13, 2010.
18. Cass Sunstein, Simpler:
The Future of Government
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013) pp. 12, 35.
19. Silverglate,
Three Felonies a Day, p. xxxvi.
20. John Allison, interview with the author.
21. Joel A. Mintz, Enforcement at the EPA:
High Stakes and Hard Choices
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995).
22. Anthony Heyes, “Revolving Doors and Regulatory Complexity,” Discussion Papers in Economics 99/1, Royal Holloway University of London, Department of Economics, February 2000.
23. John Hofmeister, interview with the author.
24. Christine Simmons, “New Rules Create Jobs for Attorneys at Hedge Funds,”
New York Law Journal (December 28, 2012).
25. Senator Ron Johnson, interview with the author.
26. John Cochrane, “Three Kinds of Regulation,” The Grumpy Economist, January 2, 2012,
http://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2012/01/three-kinds-of-regulation.html
.
27. Richard Williams, “Regulatory Overload,” Mercatus Center, George Mason University, February 8, 2012,
http://mercatus.org/publication/regulatory-overload-0
.
28. Murphy & McGonigle, “Murphy & McGonigle Professionals,”
http://www.murphymcgonigle.com/Staff/?id=24
.
29 “Former Senior SEC Official Joins Murphy & McGonigle,” PR Newswire, February 22, 2011,
http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2011/02/22/PH51642
.
30. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, “FINRA Leadership,”
http://www.finra.org/AboutFINRA/Leadership/P127206
.
31. Securities and Exchange Commission, “Robert Colby, Deputy Director of Trading and Markets Division, to Leave SEC After 27 Years of Service” (press release), February 2, 2009.
32. Cooley LLP, “SEC Commissioner Roel C. Campos Joins Cooley” (press release and announcements), August 23, 2007.
33. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates, “Brian V. Breheny,”
http://www.skadden.com/professionals/brian-v-breheny
(accessed May 9, 2013); and “SEC Deputy Director Brian V. Breheny Joins Skadden as Partner,” October 4, 2010,
http://www.skadden.com/news-events/sec-deputy-director-brian-v-breheny-joins-skadden-partner
(accessed May 9, 2013).
34. Silverglate,
Three Felonies a Day
, p. 46. See chapter 2 of Silverglate’s book for examples.
35. Thomas Scully, interview with the author.
36. Peter H. Stone and Louis Jacobson, “Former Medicare Chief Soldiers on in Wake of Ethics Investigation,”
Government Executive, April 9, 2004.
37. Congressman Bruce Braley (website), “Braley Renews Push to Streamline Regulations, Hold Government Accountable,” April 15, 2013,
http://braley.house.gov/press-release/braley-renews-push-streamline-regulations-hold-government-accountable
.
38. Glenn Greenwald, “Obamacare Architect Leaves White House for Pharmaceutical Industry Job,”
The Guardian, December 5, 2012.
39. See Daschle’s account in
Getting It Done: How Obama and Congress Finally Broke the Stalemate to Make Way for Health Care Reform
(New York: St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books, 2010).
40. Chris Frates, “Lobbyists Call Bluff on ‘Daschle Exemption,’” Politico, July 26, 2010.
41.
Opensecrets.org
, “Myers, John,”
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lobbyist.php?id=Y0000045287L
.

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