Lobbying

The American Medical Assn., after 60 years of opposing any government overhaul of healthcare, is now lobbying and advertising to win public support for President Obama's sweeping plan -- a proposal that promises hundreds of billions of dollars for America's doctors. Of all the interest groups that have won favorable terms in closed-door negotiations this year, the association representing the nation's physicians may have taken home the biggest prizes, including an agreement to stop planned cuts in Medicare payments that are worth $228 billion to doctors over 10 years.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido said today that mayors from across the country have reached an agreement with key members of Congress that will likely take as much as $150 billion of the federal economic stimulus package that would have gone to states and route it directly to city governments. In his third lobbying trip since last month, Pulido joined a score of other mayors, including L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, in Washington on Wednesday to lobby key members of Congress to give cities a share of the funding.

In an unusual look inside Washington's lobbying culture, a sequence of letters published last week exposed how a conservative nonprofit advocacy group apparently tried to sell its clout in a legislative battle between FedEx and UPS. For a fee of $2.1 million to $3.4 million, the American Conservative Union offered to "strongly support" FedEx's position and "rally [the] grass roots," according to a June 30 letter from Vice President Dennis Whitfield to a top lobbyist for the package carrier.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) vowed Sunday to clear her name after the revelation of a wiretapped conversation in which she reportedly agreed to intervene in the federal investigation of two pro-Israeli lobbyists in exchange for help getting a coveted congressional post.

California Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson lives in St. Helena and calls city officials there by their first names. The Napa Valley town also is home to a vineyard owned by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and her husband. Yet the town spent about $150,000 during the first six months of this year on a Washington lobbyist, more than Philadelphia or St. Louis. St. Helena is just one of the cities, counties and states that have ramped up spending on lobbying as they look more to Washington for help in easing budget problems and getting a leg up on the competition in the scramble for federal funds.

The political wing of Planned Parenthood on Tuesday announced an unprecedented voter-mobilization effort targeting the young, often low-income women who rely on the group's clinics for gynecological exams, birth control and abortion. The nonprofit expects to raise at least $10 million over the next 10 months to recruit patients, as well as their friends and families, to lobby legislators and vote for candidates who support Planned Parenthood's agenda.

After sparring for two years over antitrust issues, Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. are preparing for the main event: a lobbying showdown over the fate of Yahoo Inc. Google, which has bulked up its presence in the nation's capital, has started raising concerns about the antitrust implications of Microsoft's proposed $44.6-billion takeover of Yahoo. Analysts said it could ask regulators to stop the deal.

If anyone has been the public face of the Las Lomas housing project, a controversial plan to build 5,500 homes in north Los Angeles County, it is Hillary Norton Orozco. A seasoned political operative who worked at Los Angeles City Hall a decade ago, Orozco has spent the last year drumming up support for the project by testifying at hearings, chatting up civic groups and meeting privately with members of the Los Angeles City Council.

Troubling images flash across the screen, showing black-clad terrorists, tsunami-flooded villages and the Chinese army. "Only the United States Air Force has the speed, power and vision to defend our nation for the century ahead," the announcer intones as an F-22 fighter jet flies over a snowy mountaintop. "U.S. Air Force, above all." There is nothing unusual about seeing military recruiting ads right now.

Santa Monica Mayor Herb Katz is lobbying for increased federal funding for a light rail project to connect East and West Los Angeles. The superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, David L. Brewer III, wants more federal dollars for No Child Left Behind Act mandates, financial aid to students and anti-gang programs.