Lobbying

Charges about the pervasive influence of lobbyists have been constant refrains in the 2008 race, but new reports that a company owned by John McCain's campaign manager received a $15,000 monthly stipend from a major mortgage firm at the center of the credit crisis are clouding the Arizona senator's effort to portray himself as a Wall Street reformer.

Although American corporations have been under intense financial strain in recent months, there is one category of spending they haven't cut back on: lobbying and campaign contributions to influence government policy. Even Wall Street interests appealing for government help have spent millions lobbying Congress -- some of them ranking among this year's biggest campaign donors. The U.S.

Four leading advocacy groups representing business, labor and retirees are starting a campaign today to press Barack Obama to enact comprehensive healthcare reform, upping the pressure on the president-elect to tackle the issue quickly after he takes office. In a letter to Obama, the Business Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, AARP and the Service Employees International Union urge that a healthcare overhaul be a priority in the administration's first 100 days.

The most recent federal disclosure forms offer a stark reminder of Microsoft Corp.'s mighty Washington presence: The software giant's lobbying tab of almost $2 million for the third quarter alone nearly equaled the amount that rival Google Inc. spent in the first nine months of the year. But Google already has spent more on lobbying this year than it did for all of 2007 as the Internet search company starts to emerge as a formidable player in D.C. lobbying.

With pension funds facing billions of dollars in shortfalls as markets plunge, companies including Ford and Verizon are pushing Congress to suspend portions of a 2-year old law they say could force them to make job cuts as they shift scarce money into ailing retirement pools. The lobbying effort aims to change a 2006 pension reform law as part of any economic stimulus plan in a lame-duck session of Congress that begins next week.

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday disregarded a strong recommendation to award a multimillion-dollar welfare-to-work contract to a new firm, instead ordering the bidding process to begin anew, giving a reprieve to a poorly rated company that spent $200,000 lobbying the county this year alone.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has opened an inquiry into the lobbying work of former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre and whether he violated city laws by failing to disclose those activities, several sources said. Cooley's Public Integrity Division, joined by investigators with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, also have been seeking information about any lobbying work by former city commissioner Leland Wong, who was sentenced last month to five years in prison.

An Afghan teenager who lost both legs to a cluster bomb helped persuade his country to change its stance and join nearly 100 nations in signing a treaty banning the weapons. Afghanistan was initially reluctant to join the pact -- which the United States and Russia have refused to support -- but agreed after lobbying by victims maimed by cluster munitions, including 17-year-old Soraj Ghulam Habib. The teen, who uses a wheelchair, met with his country's ambassador to Norway, Jawed Ludin, at a signing conference in Oslo.

Seeking to repair Congress' tarred image, the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed the toughest new ethics rules since the Watergate era. The legislation is aimed at reining in the influence of special interests by forbidding lobbyists and their employers from buying meals and gifts for lawmakers and paying for their junkets.

As a crutches-wielding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met with Los Angeles business leaders Friday to drum up support for his $12-billion healthcare reform package, it was clear that they appreciated his efforts. How they felt about his plan wasn't so clear. Most of the 15 executives gathered at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce near downtown were quick to compliment the governor and his efforts to remold the state's healthcare system. He's bold, some said.