LAT: Lobbying Tab is $1.1B for Half a Year ("political stars aligned")

[DeepModem Mom]

Lobbying Tab Is $1.1 Billion for Half a Year

Special interest groups report expenditures for the first half of 2004. Chamber of Commerce and AMA top the list, with $39 million.

By Peter Wallsten, Times Staff Writer


...."A lot of business groups have been waiting for years, if not decades, for all the political stars to be aligned so they could get legislation passed on issues like medical malpractice," said Stephen Moore, who heads the Club for Growth, a leading business advocacy group.

"The overall issue of lawsuit abuses and bringing a stop to them will mean that the lobbying frenzy will be even more intense in 2005," Moore added.

So far in 2004, businesses and interest groups are paying their lobbyists at a record pace. This was the first year in which spending during the first six months topped $1 billion; businesses and interest groups spent about $963 million during the same period in 2003....

***

(The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Medical Association were top spenders, with a combined total of $39 million.)

Other big spenders on lobbying during the first half of 2004 included General Electric Co., which spent $8.44 million on various issues, such as Iraq contracts and broadcast policies, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which spent about $8 million on legislation
affecting Medicare, drug issues and other healthcare matters.

The two major mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the National Assn. of Realtors also spent millions of dollars....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lobby29dec29,0,1314503.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[UpInArms]

1. of the Corporations, by the Corporations and for the Corporations

should be the motto of our government.

:puke:

here's yahoo link (no registration required)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&e=5&u=/latimests/20041229/ts_latimes/lobbyingtabis11billionforhalfayear

If these fascist corporations would spend less lobbying and advertising, the cost of living in our country would diminish immensely.