Media: Democracy as Jefferson Intended

The lobbying list for Q1 just came out today.  I think lobbying is the number one abuse of government in the United States, at least the way it was intended to work.

I pored through the filings to see if there were any trades behind the numbers and did a hit on CNBC’s Street Signs today to discuss.  Below is the video followed by some details on lobbyist spending from opensecrets.org…

Here are the numbers:

AT&T reported spending more than $6.8 million on lobbying during the first three months of 2011. That’s up 33 percent from the first quarter of 2009.

United Technologies reported spending nearly $6 million on lobbying during the first three months of 2011. That’s up more than 220 percent from the first quarter of 2009, when the company reported spending a comparatively modest $1.86 million on federal lobbying efforts.

And Comcast reported spending more than $5.7 million on lobbying during the first quarter of 2011. That’s twice as much as the company spent during the first quarter of 2009.

Rounding out the top 10 list of biggest spenders on lobbying during the first three months of 2011 are:

• ConocoPhillips, which spent about $6.2 million on lobbying
• Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which spent about $5.6 million
• AARP, which spent $5 million
• Verizon, which spent about $4.8 million and
• the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which each spent $4.57 million

Source:

Lobbying on Guns, Abortion, Labor Spikes During New Congressional Session (opensecrets)