Democrats tap top Obama lawyer to counter Darrell Issa

House Democrats are hiring a top attorney from President Barack Obama’s National Security Council to help lead their charge against Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the committee, has tapped David Rapallo, an experienced congressional investigator, to be the Democratic staff director for the oversight panel, which will be the center of attention for a wide range of investigations when Republicans take control of the House.

It’s a job familiar to the University of California-trained attorney: He spent 11 years as a minority subcommittee director, later serving as Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman’s chief investigative counsel on the oversight committee. Rapallo was also general counsel on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

“With this committee set to face many serious challenges in the next Congress, I am confident that David’s vast experience in oversight and investigations will be pivotal to our success. I am proud to announce David’s appointment today and [to] welcome him back to the committee,” Cummings said in a statement.

The hiring of Rapallo shows that Democrats are serious about countering Issa’s aggressive oversight agenda and want experienced investigators on hand to deal with the Republican majority.

But the new focus on oversight and investigations is extending well beyond the Capitol. On K Street, lobbying shops are also moving quickly to inject new talent into their ranks to guide corporations and clients through the investigation process.

For example, Chicago-based SNR Denton announced that outgoing Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) will join its white-collar and government investigations practice as a partner. Several K Street sources said lobbying firms are scurrying to hire top D.C. hands to position themselves as key resources for oversight and investigations.

And this all comes as Issa’s staff is working behind the scenes to carefully assemble an investigation schedule, which is set to include probes into everything from the Food and Drug Administration to corruption in Afghanistan.

The action on all these fronts in the days before the 112th Congress opens shows that oversight has suddenly become a hot topic in Washington, and it’s forcing the White House, House Democrats and the influence industry to take notice.

Republicans have begun to lay out their hearing schedule, which will include investigations into how regulation affects job creation; inquiries into Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the foreclosure crisis; and an examination of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s failure to come to agreement on the cause of the crisis. Issa also wants to investigate WikiLeaks disclosures.

(source:politico.com)

David Cameron vows to tackle 'secret corporate lobbying'

David Cameron today claimed that "secret corporate lobbying" was undermining public confidence in the political system.


In a speech at the University of East London, which he also used to attack Gordon Brown personally over his handling of the MPs' expenses controversy, the Conservative leader said he would force ex-ministers to wait two years before they are allowed to take a job lobbying government.


Cameron said lobbying was an issue that "has tainted our politics for too long".


He went on: "We all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisers for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way. In this party, we believe in competition, not cronyism.


"So we must be the party that sorts all this out. Today it is a £2bn industry that has a huge presence in parliament. The Hansard Society has estimated that some MPs are approached over 100 times a week by lobbyists.


"I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics. It arouses people's worst fears and suspicions about how our political system works."


Under the current rules ex-ministers have to wait a year after they leave office before they can take a job lobbying government. Cameron said he would double this quarantine period and force ex-ministers to wait two years.


Ex-ministers also have to seek the advice of the advisory committee on business appointments if they want to take a private sector job in the first two years after they leave office.


Cameron said he would make rulings from the committee binding, not advisory, as they are now. He also said that ex-ministers who defied the committee would lose part of their ministerial pension.

Source:guardian.co.uk/

CLIMATE CHANGE-US: Citizens Back Action, Despite Lobbying Surge

WASHINGTON, Dec 3 (IPS) - As both Washington and the international community come gradually closer to taking substantive action on climate change at a high-level conference in Copenhagen, a side effect of this progress has been a parallel increase in the intensity of campaigns opposing such action – which may be a factor in the slight dip in the U.S. public's concern about climate change.

The number of U.S. respondents who believe greenhouse gas emissions will lead to global warming dropped from 71 to 51 percent between 2007 and 2009, according to a poll released by Harris Interactive Wednesday. This drop is deeper, though similar, to the results of other polls released in the past several weeks.

Despite the decrease, a majority of the U.S. public still remains staunchly behind efforts to combat climate change. A poll released Thursday by WorldPublicOpinion.org, and commissioned by the World Bank, found a majority in the U.S. – and 13 of the other 14 countries surveyed - are willing to pay more for energy and other products as part of this effort.

A large reason for the decline that recent U.S. polls have found in the size of this majority may be the increasing political polarisation that has swept Washington since last fall's presidential campaign, and particularly the shift further right by many Republicans.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released last week found the percentage of Republicans that believe climate change is happening has decreased from 76 to 54 percent over the last three-and-a-half years, while the percentage of the general U.S. population that believes it is happening merely dipped from 80 to 72 percent.

The Pew Research Center for People & the Press likewise found, in October, that the number of Republicans who believe there is "solid evidence" has halved from 62 to 35 percent since 2007.

Legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was not even a remote possibility with President George W. Bush in office – nor with the Republican-controlled Congress of much of the past two decades. But when President Barack Obama entered the White House with substantial Democratic majorities in both houses, climate change action became a real possibility in the U.S.

While some rejoiced, a large number of businesses and interest groups seem to have felt the time was right to panic. Over 460 business and interest groups began lobbying Congress on climate change in the 12 weeks prior to the House passing their version of climate legislation in June, according to analysis of lobbying records by the Center for Public Integrity.

This means the number of companies and organisations lobbying on climate issues jumped from 760 companies at the end of 2008 to 1,150 in June, they say.

This number includes a variety of interests, but 200 of the 460 were manufacturers and their advocacy groups and another 130 were power companies and utilities. The amounts spent on lobbying are not public information, but it is clear there has been a surge in new advocacy groups and campaigns in the past year.

The American Petroleum Institute-led coalition Energy Citizens, for example, was launched in August and, in October, unveiled a seven-figure ad campaign in states whose senators are thought to be swing votes on climate legislation.

New pro-legislation groups, like the environmental-labour coalition Blue-Green Alliance, have formed as well, but these are seen as largely arising to counter the newly-energised opposition effort. It is also true that environmental groups and other advocates of climate action have been lobbying for climate action for years, long before domestic action was a realistic possibility.

While it may be a factor, it is doubtful whether the decrease in the U.S. public's belief in climate change is completely attributable to an increase in opposition to climate legislation, cautions the Natural Resource Defense Council's Michael Ono.

He concedes though that "the closer we get to action the harder the opposition is going to work to stop it" and that this has been the case so far as regards the actions that have been taken under the Obama administration.

The main point he takes from the polls, though, is that "despite the efforts of the opposition, the majority of Americans still want climate action".

Global Support Holding Strong

The Word Bank-commissioned poll shows this U.S. majority joining up with majorities in a range of countries. In addition to the majority of U.S. consumers, a majority in Japan, France, India, Mexico and Kenya – among others – would all be willing to pay a monthly amount equal to one percent to one-half of a percent of their country's GDP per capita.

Russia was the lone country where the majority opposed this financial climate action, while Vietnam and China had, by far, the largest majorities in favor. Bangladesh's was third.

Like the World Bank poll, a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll released at the end of October also found more U.S. respondents in favour of the possibility of paying more in exchange for lower greenhouse gas emissions – 48 versus 43 percent.

Somewhat puzzling at first glance in the Bank's poll, though, are the numbers on whether respondents feel their country should contribute to efforts to "help poor countries deal with climate-induced changes".

Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh are the most eager to help – with 98, 96 and 93 percent feeling their country should help. Bangladesh is considered one of the countries most exposed to the dangers brought by climate change, especially rising sea levels.

The poll's authors offer an interpretation: "Especially noteworthy was the high level of public support in less developed countries to act in solidarity, aiding other countries that are not unlike themselves."

Only 54 percent of U.S. respondents believe their country should contribute to these international efforts to help climate change-affected poor countries, surpassed only by Russia's 50 percent.

In terms of U.S. support of climate action and the science and projections underlying it, a rather whopping 14 percent of the U.S. population believes climate change will never "harm people substantially". The next closest country was Japan, at four percent.

In contrast, an EU survey released Wednesday found Europeans view climate change as the world's second most pressing concern, after it was replaced briefly by the economic recession in last year's poll.

Source: ipsnews.net/