Max Baucus' Revolving Door
| Tue Nov. 10, 2009 6:15 AM PST
There was just one "no" vote on advancing a climate and energy bill among the Democrats on the Environment and Public Works Committee last week: Max Baucus. Now the Montana senator plans to claim jurisdiction over significant portions of the bill in his role as chair of the Finance Committee, starting with a hearing on the topic this morning.
Baucus, who has advocated for lower near-term emissions targets and provisions to lower the overall costs of a climate bill, is probably hearing from lobbyists of all stripes these days. But none are likely to have his ear like the dozen former staffers who are now lobbying on climate and energy policy for groups like the American Petroleum Institute, the Business Roundtable, Koch Industries, and the National Biodiesel Board. The Sunlight Foundation put together a chart illustrating the relationships between Baucus, his former staffers, and their clients.
Former Baucus staffers are now lobbying on behalf of clients who both support and opposed climate legislation. The includes four former chiefs of staff who have gone through the revolving door. Among them is former chief of staff David Castagnetti, who works for Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti and represents a number of groups who oppose the legislation or have sought to weaken it, like the American Petroleum Institute, the Business Roundtable, Edison Electric Institute, the Air Transport Association of America and Koch Industries.
Michael Evans, a former legislative director, now works at K&L Gates, and has clients ranging from the Environmental Defense Fund, which is staunchly pro-climate bill, to Peabody Coal, one of the largest coal companies in the country and a fierce opponent of carbon regulations. Former chief tax counsel Nick Giordano, now at Ernst & Young, lobbies for Boeing Co., Exxon Mobil, General Electric, National Biodiesel Board, the National Hydropower Association, and the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Ethics rules only require a one-year "cooling off" period before staffers-turned-lobbyists can approach their former bosses.
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Comments
Max Baucus' Revolving Door
Submitted by kartenleser (not verified) on Tue Nov. 10, 2009 9:15 PM PST.
Thank you for bringing this to everyone’s attention. There is to much of this activity going on in Washington. It is counter productive to having a positive outcome and Mr Baucus should step down. President Obama stated that not fixing our health care system will bring this country to bankruptcy. I have to wonder how fast getting it wrong will get us there.
Castagnetti Connections--Beyond Belief
Submitted by chris leery (not verified) on Mon Nov. 16, 2009 8:20 AM PST.
I agree. However there is more to the story about Davide Castagnetti--a quick web search revealed a lot. Castegnetti not only has lobbied against energy bills that would lessen climate change. Oh no.....in fact he also lobbied on behalf of the health care industry and convinced his former boss Max Baucus to water down the Senate version.
It is Castagnetti's connections that make him interesting. He has worked for liberals on the Hill, but thought nothing of throwing in his lot with conservative Bush Republicans and becoming a partner in a firm that covers both sides of the proverbial aisle. The young indealist Congressional aides become corpulent, over-fed business people looking to make a quick buck.
Here is the good stuff. Castagnetti's wife worked for John Kerry, Al Gore and was even in the Clinton White House(all three pols supported health care reform and climate change legislation). Castagnetii's sister-in-law is Mary Beth Cahill the Kerry '04 campaign manager(and fomer Clinton WH aide)...she hired her sister and Castagnetti to work on the Kerry campaign. She is also active with Emily's List the pro-choice group founded to elect women to Congress. She was also Chief of Staff to Teddy Kennedy--Mr. Health Care(note the heatlh care bill in the House did not support a woman's right to choose). Cahill is married to one Steve Champlin. He is a former Democratic staffer on the Hill and he has paired up with Ronald Reagan's chief of staff--Ken Duberstein. They have lobbied and lobbied to kill the health care reform bill(s). I wonder if John Kerry, Bill Clinton and Al Gore support the actions of their former employees. What would Teddy say???!???!?
The overarching point here is that this is always about money over principle--it stinks. These lobbyists throw their conviction to the wind for one more DC cocktail party and the opportunity rub elbows with the folks with the biggest wallets. It is depressing. It is about the payday---not change we can believe in.
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