Now that he’s an integral part of the president’s tax-fairness stump speech, you would think Warren Buffett wouldn’t need to spend millions of dollars lobbying Washington. Nevertheless, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out this week, one of the subsidiaries of his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., spent more than $1 million to lobby Congress to […]
For-Profit Colleges a New Lobby Force in Washington
April 16, 2012 By 3 Comments
Bridgepoint Education, a publicly traded company that runs for-profit colleges, spent $3.6 million on lobbying in 2011. That was more than five times the amount spent the year before. Bridgepoint was one of the companies behind a successful lobbying drive to weaken new rules for government education funding. (1) Like all the companies in the […]
Lockheed Martin’s Quid Pro Quo
April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Few industries demonstrate the potential payoff of influence spending more than defense contractors. Last year, Lockheed Martin spent $15.2 million on lobbying in Washington. Among industry contributors to political campaigns, it ranked first. According to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, the company has contributed almost $1.5 million in 2011-2012. Not surprisingly, Lockheed […]
Goldman Sachs Pours Millions into Washington Efforts
March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Just a decade ago, Goldman Sachs spent less than $1 million annually on lobbying in Washington. In the past two years, its lobby tab has been more than four times that. Goldman spent $4.35 million in 2011 and $4.6 million in 2010. In the current climate, with the firm combatting public distrust, government investigations and […]
Norquist’s National Lobby Expenditures Drop Again in 2011
February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Washington lobby expenditures of Americans for Tax Reform declined last year, for the third year in a row. The organization’s spending has dropped by more than 40 percent, from $1.2 million in 2008 to $680,000 in 2011. This might come as a surprise to many who see the group’s leader, Grover Norquist, as an […]
Google Lobby Tab Highest Ever
February 1, 2012 By 1 Comment
Sometimes a chart speaks volumes. Google’s lobby expenditures shot up dramatically in 2011. The company’s most recent report shows fourth-quarter spending of $3.76 million, its largest amount yet. Altogether, it spent nearly $9.7 million in 2011. Yet our bar graph doesn’t tell the whole story. Web companies won big last month in their successful effort […]
The Think Tank-Lobby Contra Dance
January 24, 2012 By 4 Comments
In the world of influencers, think tanks typically keep a distance from lobbying. Although they’re not legally prohibited from lobby activities, the Internal Revenue Code limits the percentage of resources they can devote to such efforts while maintaining their nonprofit status. (For more detail, see this IRS page.) We searched our records for 76 major […]
Fanjuls at Center of Sugar Lobby
January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Politics have always been complicated for the powerful Fanjul family, sugar barons who own Florida Crystals, Domino Sugar and other sugar operations around the world. They often lobby for big-government actions such as price supports, quotas and tariffs, while supporting candidates who run on small-government platforms. The Fanjul name hit the headlines again last week […]
