Former Keystone pipeline lobbyist hired by Obama campaign

[wtmusic]

"President Obama's reelection campaign has hired a former lobbyist for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline as a top adviser.

The campaign said that Broderick Johnson, founder and former principal of the communications firm the Collins Johnson Group, would serve as a senior adviser for the campaign. Before founding the firm this spring, he worked for the powerhouse lobbying firm, Bryan Cave LLP, where his clients included Microsoft, Comcast and TransCanada, the company planning to build the $7-billion pipeline to carry crude from Alberta’s oil sands to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Johnson’s federal lobbyist filings indicate that TransCanada paid Bryan Cave at least $240,000 late last year and early this year for Johnson to work on supporting the “submission for a presidential permit for Keystone XL Pipeline.” He lobbied members of Congress, the filings show, as well as the administration and the State Department."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/10/former-keystone-pipeline-lobbyist-hired-by-obama-campaign.html

[RC]

1. Just another reason in a long and growing list of reasons to

Primary Obama.

[XemaSab]

10. The democratic party is owned

I'm feeling very, very, very over the whole scene these days.

[madokie]

12. Or to put you on ignore

Why are you here if everything is a reason to you to primary Obama. Either pay attention to what the man is actually able to do in spite of the opposition or find another place to spend your time as this old saw of primary Obama because you didn't get your pony is wearing mighty thin with me. :hi:
Thats what I think

[RC]

13. I am here because I am a Liberal. I voted for Obama because I liked what he was saying when he was

campaigning the first time. What I have a problem with is his continuing so many of bu$h the lesser policies. His appointing so many republicans, conservatives and bu$h hold overs to his Cabinet. His bailouts and supporting of the financial sector over "Main Street", i.e., "We the People, the 99%.
Do you really think OWS would have gained any traction if Obama was really governing from the Center or better yet from the Left or Liberal prospective?
His caving to the party of NO! Putting Social Security on the table up front instead of maintaining Social Security and Medicare were off the table and any bill that negatively impacted them would be subject to a veto. No COLA's his first two years, based on the bu$h administration's faulty math on what constitutes inflation for seniors. (impacts money in circulation)
His administration going after marijuana over states rights.

I voted for a Liberal. We got instead a Right of Center republican and sometimes not so lite at that.
Do not be confused about what is going on by comparing Obama (right of center) to the loons on the Right (charging over the cliff) that are bent on destroying this country. Obama is only better because he is to the Left of the opposition, but not far enough by far.

Obama is not doing all that much to rectify things, to get us out of this recession/depression. We are still sliding down hill economically. Where are Obama's plans for re-regulation of our financial sectors? His plans for a workable solution to get money circulating in the economy? To get our Living Wage Jobs back into this country. To raise taxes on those most able to pay them? To repair our crumbling infrastructure? (Jobs)

Right now he is in Campaign Mode. Is he repeating the tactics of his last campaign? Campaign for the Center, so he can govern front the Right again? I really believe he is.
Obama's defenders say he can't do much because of the republican loons and Congress blocking him? B.S., Where is Obama's bully pulpit? It has only been lightly used.

[Speck Tater]

2. As if Washington didn't already look like the Keystone Kops.

(for those too young to remember: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Kops )

[wtmusic]

3. Nice!

:thumbsup:

[HereSince1628]

4. THAT pipeline reduces uncomfortably the distance between Obama and the Kochs

For those of us struggling with Koch/A.L.E.C. agendas in our states,
this is much like rubbing salt in the wounds.

[wtmusic]

5. Well put. nt

[Nihil]

11. No it doesn't ...

> THAT pipeline reduces uncomfortably the distance between Obama and the Kochs

... it only affects the visibility of that (lack of) distance ...

Face it, he's now so confident of being handed a second term (due to the lack
of viable opposition) that he doesn't even need to disguise his agenda.

:shrug:

So much hope. So much disappointment. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

[proverbialwisdom]

6. On NPR host Michele Norris...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/nprs-michele-norris-steps-down-husband-broderick-johnson-gets-obama-job/2011/10/24/gIQAy7zrCM_blog.html

Posted at 12:46 PM ET, 10/24/2011
NPR’s Michele Norris steps down, husband Broderick Johnson gets Obama job

By Nia-Malika Henderson

National Public Radio’s Michele Norris will step away from her hosting duties as host of All Things Considered after her husband took a job with the Obama campaign. In a note posted on NPR’s web site (h/t PostPolitics producer Matt DeLong), Norris said that her husband, Broderick Johnson, will join the Obama team as a senior adviser. Norris will continue working at NPR “producing signature segments and features and working on new reporting projects.”

Johnson was also a senior 2008 adviser to the Obama campaign. Before that, he was a senior advisor for congressional affairs in the Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) presidential campaign and from 1998 to 2000, Johnson served in senior roles in the Clinton White House, according to an Obama release.

<...>

Norris’ connection to the Obama campaign will only fuel the ongoing storyline that NPR is a liberal mouthpiece and therefore should not be funded by taxpayers...
Full message from Norris below.

Hello everyone,

I need to share some news and I wanted to make sure my NPR family heard this first.

Last week, I told news management that my husband, Broderick Johnson, has just accepted a senior advisor position with the Obama Campaign. After careful consideration, we decided that Broderick’s new role could make it difficult for me to continue hosting ATC.

Given the nature of Broderick’s position with the campaign and the impact that it will most certainly have on our family life, I will temporarily step away from my hosting duties until after the 2012 elections.

I will be leaving the host chair at the end of this week, but I’m not going far. I will be wearing a different hat for a while, producing signature segments and features and working on new reporting projects. While I will of course recuse myself from all election coverage, there’s still an awful lot of ground that I can till in this interim role.

This has all happened very quickly, but working closely with NPR management, we’ve been able to make a plan that serves the show, honors the integrity of our news organization and is best for me professionally and personally.

I will certainly miss hosting, but I will remain part of the ATC team and I look forward to contributing to our show and NPR in new and exciting ways.

My very best,

Michele

[ehrnst]

7. Just a thought - yes, he's an insider. Obama should have some working for him.

The best hackers are the ones that the computer security companies want to hire.

Flame away - but the GOP seems to win the battle of messaging more often than not.

If he could get Frank Luntz working to sell a jobs bill, that certainly help to win the messaging arms race.

[wtmusic]

8. True about the hackers

but this is just a conflict of interest. It would be like a company hiring a hacker, and then trusting his advice to fight a worm he had developed.

[Vincardog]

9. WE would be winning the "battle of messaging" if we owned the media too