Lobbying 101: Inside one company’s efforts:BellSouth whistleblower

[cal04]

For a rare glimpse at how Washington really works, look at a 21-page spreadsheet which lays bare how lobbyists for one company wined and dined Congress at Washington's priciest restaurants. The sheet shows hundreds of lunches and dinners, provided to 54 senators and representatives and dozens of staff over a 10-month period. All paid for by lobbyists for telecom giant BellSouth.

Vicki Taylor, an administrative assistant at BellSouth's Washington office for 16 years, provided the document to NBC News. She's been on leave since she leaked the document.
“I thought it was just obscene,” Taylor says, “this amount of money getting spent.”
Many of the members and staff appear to have violated ethics rules, which limit gifts and meals to $50 or a total of $100 a year. “There are rules that are getting broken,” Taylor says. “And there's nobody that polices this kind of thing.”

BellSouth says this is raw data and not evidence of wrongdoing. They are by no means the only company lavishing entertainment on politicians. And by some standards, these meals are small potatoes. Some lobbyists provide trips, tickets to concerts and ball games, and rides on corporate jets. Melanie Sloan heads Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“If it's on the lobbyists' tab, that's because the lobbyist has an expectation they're going to get something out of this,” she says. Among the companies spending the most overall on lobbying: Altria, Northrup Grumman and General Electric, the parent company of NBC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10912575/

[Selatius]

1. I can't believe this wasn't outlawed decades ago

You'd have thought the movements of the 1960s would be successful in compelling government to come clean. Now it's going to take another movement to legally label all of this as outright bribery with a ban on all special interest money. It should be taxpayer subsidized, not run on private cash. The only money involved in politics should be the people's money and no other.

[bostonbabs]

2. this is a story that MSM wilL cover

"free meals" and "ticKets"...so what. they will convince people that this is THE WHOLE STORY.

[chat_noir]

3. Blunt and Frist staff members

Aides to some of Capitol Hill's most prominent lawmakers are recorded on the spreadsheet as having had multiple meals that went above the annual limits. These include Brian Gaston, chief of staff to acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Jim Hippe, legislative director to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.; and Jimenez. Gaston called his listing inaccurate, and Hippe could not be reached. A spokeswoman for Frist said, "We will review this situation to make sure we are in compliance."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/nation/epaper/2006/01/01/a2a_bellsouth_0101.html

Surprised? I didn't think so.

:evilgrin:

[chat_noir]

4. Is this what they are after?

BellSouth Lobbies Powell's FCC To Undo Internet's Openness
Proposal Would Extend Baby Bell Monopolies to Broadband


November 4, 2004

BellSouth has asked FCC Chairman Michael Powell to overturn critical commission safeguards that have been important to the Internet's role as a democratic medium. In a 27 October 2004 letter (PDF) to Powell, BellSouth's chief lobbyist petitioned to have the agency set aside two critical rules. First, giant "Baby Bell" phone companies would be given full control over the "last-mile" of broadband Internet delivery, permitting them to favor their own Internet content. Since they would no longer be "common carriers" under BellSouth's plan, they could effectively discriminate against all competing and unaffiliated content. In addition, these phone networks would no longer offer ISP choice, permitting companies like BellSouth or Verizon to extend their monopolies into the broadband market.

BellSouth suggests that these longstanding guarantees of open access and common carriage should be "quickly swept aside." The company promises that it will use its additional monopoly profits to make broadband available to more consumers. Quoting President Bush, who claims that the "proper role for the government is to clear regulatory hurdles," BellSouth fails to acknowledge how these FCC policies have played a vital role in supporting the Internet's ability to foster all kinds of unfettered content and competition.

Powell has already awarded the cable industry a policy for broadband that permits it to cut off ISP competition and bring to broadband the monopoly power cable operators have long wielded in the multichannel video arena. For cable, control over Internet content to the home is also key. But the FCC faces a serious legal battle over its cable ruling, from companies such as Earthlink, Brand X (a small ISP), and groups including the ACLU, Consumer Federation, Consumers Union, Media Access Project, and CDD. BellSouth is clearly pushing for quick FCC action that would help undermine any favorable court decision that sought to protect the Internet.

The phone lobby has also embarked on a campaign to undermine policies that now safeguard the Internet's "open" architecture, as evidenced in its latest deregulatory-minded website, disingenuously named The Future … Faster.

http://www.democraticmedia.org/news/washingtonwatch/bellsouth.html