Once again we wonder why our government has not adopted another War69.com amendment that would abolish lobbying in any of our governmental levels.
Are Senators stupid? Why can’t the merits of the proposed law or case be enough for them to decide on whether to vote yea or nay? Why is lobbying allowed? What kind of a person would become a lobbyist? Who lobbies for the American middle class? Who represents our interests with millions of dollars? Certainly not the media. Why don’t our senators and representatives use a simple rule for voting on legislation, does the law benefit a majority of Americans, that should be the most crucial standard for our elected leaders. Yet the train keeps on rolling and for most Americans we are left off it.
Who will stop this gravy train of excess?
MikeFrancesa.com truly wishes Obama is everything the media and his supporters have said he is. Because if Obama is truly this revolutionary, transformational candidate, he will do everything in his power to abolish lobbying in our government.
Yet, surprise, his Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, violates Obama’s rule that you can’t work for his administration for two years if you have worked for a lobbyist:
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — George Mitchell, President Barack Obama’s special Middle East troubleshooter, was chairman of a law firm that was paid about $8 million representing Dubai’s ruler in connection with a child-trafficking lawsuit.
The DLA Piper law firm did legal and lobbying work on the case, which alleged that Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al- Maktoum and another official used children kidnapped from other countries to ride as jockeys in camel races. The firm lobbied federal agencies, members of the U.S. House and about two dozen Senate offices, including those of Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2006 and 2007, according to Justice Department foreign-agent disclosures.
Mitchell, 75, who isn’t a registered lobbyist, didn’t lobby either on this issue or for Dubai generally. DLA Piper partner Bill Minor said in an e-mail that Mitchell, a former Democratic senator from Maine, mainly focused on growth and management at the firm of almost 4,000 attorneys and 65 offices worldwide, and high-profile projects such as an investigation of steroid use in Major League Baseball.
If you believe that George Mitchell, as chairman of DLA Piper, did not get involved in the above case, then I have a bridge to sell you. It should not matter, the company he worked for was involved in lobbying, that should disqualify him from a position in the Obama administration based on President Obama’s rules.