DRAIN THE SWAMP?: Lobbyists still found in Trump's Transition Team
29 replies, posted
[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/18/lobbyists-remain-involved-in-trump-transition-despite-pledge-to-remove-their-influence-2/"]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/11/18/lobbyists-remain-involved-in-trump-transition-despite-pledge-to-remove-their-influence-2/[/URL]
[QUOTE]Lobbyists are continuing to advise Donald Trump’s transition planning, despite the president-elect’s pledge to rid the process of their involvement.
A Trump spokesman said earlier this week that Vice President-elect Mike Pence and transition executive director Rick Dearborn were “making good on President-elect Trump’s promise that we’re not going to have any lobbyists involved with the transition efforts.”
But some lobbyists remain involved in the transition operation and others are advising as informal consultants, two people with knowledge of transition planning said.
David Bernhardt, who is leading the transition’s Interior Department issues, filed a termination report with the Senate on Friday that ends his representation of a lobbying client, Westlands Water District. The filing indicates he is staying on the transition, as Westlands was his only lobbying client in the most recent quarter of the year, lobbying records show. Bernhardt is a partner at the law-and-lobby firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
Earlier this week, a lobbyist who is a close aide to Pence, Josh Pitcock, filed paperwork terminating his status as a federal lobbyist.[/QUOTE]
Of fucking course, This was planned.
Edit: this has started the era of Dark Lobbyists
So this was pointed out the other day by a facepuncher. How if they're technically registered as a federal lobbyist, they can't lobby, but if they aren't they can lobby as much as they want.
I predict Trump's Administration will be all about the illusion of being a great country. North Korea Lite.
Of course there won't be any lobbyists. Why have any when they're the ones in power. :downs:
Oh look, he lied again. Shocking.
The swamp got replaced with another swamp that is more dirty than the last.
Lobbying should just be outright banned. It does nothing but breeds corruption and undermine the country.
[QUOTE=jordguitar;51398324]The swamp got replaced with another swamp that is more dirty than the last.[/QUOTE]
Trump swamps are the best swamps
Well, firstly, you've got to start somewhere.
Secondly - if anyone thought that a new president (whoever that is) meant "no more corruption", they're going to be in for a disappointment.
[QUOTE=Jouska;51398354]Lobbying should just be outright banned. It does nothing but breeds corruption and undermine the country.[/QUOTE]
How dare people uh.. talk to their representatives?
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;51398014]So this was pointed out the other day by a facepuncher. How if they're technically registered as a federal lobbyist, they can't lobby, but if they aren't they can lobby as much as they want.
I predict Trump's Administration will be all about the illusion of being a great country. North Korea Lite.[/QUOTE]
his transition has been about the illusion of being inclusive to all americans while hes staffing the fed with white supremacists so ya probably
[QUOTE=Jouska;51398354]Lobbying should just be outright banned. It does nothing but breeds corruption and undermine the country.[/QUOTE]
Lobbying from for-profit groups or groups connected to corporations should be banned. Humanitarian groups and the such, non-profit groups, should be allowed to lobby. Money should be kept out of political decisions as much as it can.
[QUOTE=jordguitar;51398324]The swamp got replaced with another swamp that is more dirty than the last.[/QUOTE]
They promised to drain the swamp and filled it with raw sewage really.
I think my favorite part of these threads is the part where none of the Trump people show up to try to justify it, or even acknowledge it period.
[QUOTE=Maegord;51399031]I think my favorite part of these threads is the part where none of the Trump people show up to try to justify it, or even acknowledge it period.[/QUOTE]
A lot have gotten brave since a lot of "liberals" were banned by Toxx but yeah they only occasionally crawl out of the woodwork to drop an ambiguous sentence and then they book it.
[QUOTE=Maegord;51399031]I think my favorite part of these threads is the part where none of the Trump people show up to try to justify it, or even acknowledge it period.[/QUOTE]
I would like to see them defend some of Trump's cabinet choices tbh
[QUOTE=ph:lxyz;51398436]Secondly - if anyone thought that a new president (whoever that is) meant "no more corruption", they're going to be in for a disappointment.[/QUOTE]
Did you miss the part where fixing corruption was a fairly major point of Trump's campaign? For someone who was so adamant about fixing corruption he's off to an extremely rocky start.
[QUOTE=Maegord;51399031]I think my favorite part of these threads is the part where none of the Trump people show up to try to justify it, or even acknowledge it period.[/QUOTE]
Confirmation bias, it is easy to ignore and/or dismiss facts and indications, or else they may have to change their views and maybe realize they spouted nonsense, who would want to do [i]that[/i] ?
[QUOTE=LTJGPliskin;51398731]Lobbying from for-profit groups or groups connected to corporations should be banned. Humanitarian groups and the such, non-profit groups, should be allowed to lobby. Money should be kept out of political decisions as much as it can.[/QUOTE]
The difficulty becomes how simple it is to sidestep such distinctions.
Nonprofit groups can lobby, corporations can't. So, a corporation funnels funds into an officially separate (but functionally cooperative) nonprofit group. Now they're lobbying legally.
[QUOTE=Alice3173;51399328]Did you miss the part where fixing corruption was a fairly major point of Trump's campaign? For someone who was so adamant about fixing corruption he's off to an extremely rocky start.[/QUOTE]
Trump was very optimistic to think he could do anything about that.
As soon as someone become president, if they weren't already aware of the gory details, they soon find out about the geopolitically strategic energy ties between the US and Saudi Arabia and they learn not to rock the boat. That's just [b]one[/b] issue. The political class is full of people with ties to the status-quo. It's clear to me that part of the reason Obama prevented drilling in Alaska (other than to look like he's helping to save the environment) was to make sure that Trump doesn't meddle with the US's special relationship with the Saudis by originating petroleum from home and breaking the dollar-oil agreement. If the US breaks that agreement, the Saudis could punish the US by restricting oil exports and waging economic warfare.
[QUOTE=ph:lxyz;51401872]Trump was very optimistic to think he could do anything about that.
As soon as someone become president, if they weren't already aware of the gory details, they soon find out about the geopolitically strategic energy ties between the US and Saudi Arabia and they learn not to rock the boat. That's just [b]one[/b] issue. The political class is full of people with ties to the status-quo. It's clear to me that part of the reason Obama prevented drilling in Alaska (other than to look like he's helping to save the environment) was to make sure that Trump doesn't meddle with the US's special relationship with the Saudis by originating petroleum from home and breaking the dollar-oil agreement. If the US breaks that agreement, the Saudis could punish the US by restricting oil exports and waging economic warfare.[/QUOTE]
It's debatable whether he ever intended to really "drain the swamp" in the first place considering the president of Citizens United was his deputy campaign manager.
Anyone who thought trump would do anything to get rid of lobbyists and fix corruption in the first place is at best naive and at worst has a screw loose
Seriously how did anyone fall for that
[QUOTE=killerteacup;51402551]Anyone who thought trump would do anything to get rid of lobbyists and fix corruption in the first place is at best naive and at worst has a screw loose
Seriously how did anyone fall for that[/QUOTE]
To be honest was expecting Trump to hide it, not doing a very good job if it was immediately found out.
I also want the Trumpsters to cry figuring out they got conned hard time.
"He said he would drain the swamp
And he gave us a quagmire instead"
[QUOTE=OmniConsUme;51402560]To be honest was expecting Trump to hide it, not doing a very good job if it was immediately found out.
I also want the Trumpsters to cry figuring out they got conned hard time.[/QUOTE]
Everyone keeps saying "Oh the Trump voters will finally come to their senses and realize that they've been had!"
But a vast majority of them won't. They'll blame it on the Democrats, the blacks, the Jews, ANYBODY but themselves, and they'll keep voting Republican as they pound our country into oblivion.
The American Experiment had a long run, but has ultimately proven to be a failure.
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;51402615]The American Experiment had a long run, but has ultimately proven to be a failure.[/QUOTE]
Just. Stop. It's not over by a long shot, we are in for a wild 4 years, it is not over, your mentality for the past few days is been extremely radical.
[QUOTE=OmniConsUme;51402882]Just. Stop. It's not over by a long shot, we are in for a wild 4 years, it is not over, your mentality for the past few days is been extremely radical.[/QUOTE]
I think he's pretty disgruntled.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;51401804]The difficulty becomes how simple it is to sidestep such distinctions.
Nonprofit groups can lobby, corporations can't. So, a corporation funnels funds into an officially separate (but functionally cooperative) nonprofit group. Now they're lobbying legally.[/QUOTE]
actually all lobbying groups are non-profit anyways because they obviously aren't producing anything or providing services.
I want to be smug about him already being corrupt and incompetent but I really was hoping to be proven wrong.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;51401804]The difficulty becomes how simple it is to sidestep such distinctions.
Nonprofit groups can lobby, corporations can't. So, a corporation funnels funds into an officially separate (but functionally cooperative) nonprofit group. Now they're lobbying legally.[/QUOTE]
Could do something like banning all lobbying from corporations or groups altogether, only allowing it from private citizens. Then you could also make it illegal for anyone who would directly profit monetarily off what they're lobbying for to lobby on a subject like that. (Ie: CEO/executive/shareholder of an ISP lobbying against net neutrality.) It would be imperfect at best but I think it would at least be an improvement over what we currently have.
Can someone explain why lobbying is legal in the first place? I'm genuinely curious, because it sounds like straight-up corruption and bribery.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.