Lobbying

SourceWatch Tracks the Pro-War Lobby and Vets for Freedom

by John Stauber — August 15, 2007 - 9:37am
  • Topics: Citizen Journalism, Right Wing, Iraq, Front Groups, Terrorism, Third Party Technique, U.S. Congress, Lobbying, Public Relations, War / Peace

    • SourceWatch citizen journalist Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a dogged and prolific investigator of the pro-war lobby. AI began digging into the pro-war front group Vets for Freedom in June 2006. AI's research exposing the neoconservative agenda and Republican operatives behind VFF has been used by scores of journalists. Just do a Google search for "Vets for Freedom" and you'll find AI's work in our SourceWatch article right at the top of your returns, next to the VFF's own website.

    Pro-war funding appears plentiful for VFF as it gears up to lobby Congress in September. Here's some of the latest from AI and the VFF article on SourceWatch:

    Vets for Freedom and VoteVets Are "Valuable Public Relations Tools" for Politicians

    by John Stauber — August 14, 2007 - 9:07am

    The Associated Press examines two dueling partisan lobby groups composed of military veterans, "valuable public relations tools" for politicians in the debate over the war in Iraq. VoteVets "has spent about $850,000 this year on political ads. ... Its board of advisers includes ...

    Main Source: 
    Associated Press, August 14, 2007

    Beverage Industry Tries to Bottle the Opposition

    by Diane Farsetta — August 6, 2007 - 3:59pm

    With increasing criticism that "bottled water has misleading labels and is of inferior quality to municipal water systems," and the governments of San Francisco and Salt Lake City prohibiting city agencies from buying bottled water, the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and the American Beverage Association (ABA) have ramped up their PR.

    Main Source: 
    PR Week, August 6, 2007

    UK Committee to Research U.S. Lobbying Rules

    by Bob Burton — July 30, 2007 - 7:57pm

    The U.K Public Administration Committee, which has launched an investigation into the lobbying industry, will visit Washington D.C. in October to research the U.S. system for regulating lobbying.

    Main Source: 
    PR Week, July 25 2007

    New Participatory Project: Following Rupert Murdoch's Money Trail

    by Bob Burton — July 25, 2007 - 5:06am

    Some of the major shareholders of the Dow Jones company, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, are agonizing over whether to accept a takeover bid from Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate, News Corporation. With steady traffic to the Murdoch-related articles in SourceWatch, it would be good to include details of the donations he and his companies have made to U.S. politicians.

    Main Source: 
    Sourcewatch article on Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation

    Logging Lobbyist Joins Politicians Pulp Mills Tour

    by Bob Burton — July 25, 2007 - 4:42am

    A lobbyist for the Australian forestry company Gunns will travel with a delegation of Tasmanian politicians visiting pulp mills in Brazil, Chile and Finland.

    Main Source: 
    The Mercury (Australia), July 25, 2007

    Bush's Pro-War Front Group, 'Vets for Freedom', Rallies with Republican Senators

    by John Stauber — July 17, 2007 - 10:28am
  • Topics: Astroturf, Activism, Iraq, Front Groups, Lobbying, U.S. Government, War / Peace

    • Vets for Freedom (VFF), the well-funded pro-war lobby group, is cranking-up its PR campaign on behalf of President Bush's war in Iraq with a news conference held July 17th in the US Capitol. A slate of pro-war Republican Senators including Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl, Lindsey Graham, along with former Democratic (now independent) Senator Joe Lieberman, all participated with Pete Hegseth and other VFF lobbyists.

    In June 2006, I reported that:

    Citizen journalists on SourceWatch have been investigating and exposing the many Republican connections and the partisan pro-war political agenda behind Vets for Freedom,

    Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton and Big Tobacco

    by Bob Burton — July 3, 2007 - 1:05am
  • Topics: Labor, Lobbying, Politics, Public Relations, Tobacco

    • Mark Penn, CEO of the global PR firm Burson-Marsteller (B-M) and president of the polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates (PSB), feels misunderstood.

    Penn was recently in the news when several union officials expressed concern that Democratic Presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton had hired him as a "key strategic adviser," even though B-M has a specialist unit that advises clients on defeating union campaigns. Not surprisingly, Clinton's campaign shrugged off the criticism, insisting that he is a "vital member of our team." In an email to Atlantic Online, Penn wrote that that he had "never personally done such [anti-labor] work" and insisted that he has "strong personal sympathies with the labor movement." (Why someone who proclaims their pro-labor sympathies would even head up a PR firm that runs an anti-labor unit went unexplained.) Even if one accepts Penn's explanation at face value, it left me wondering who he had worked for.

    A little digging reveals that, for well over two decades, both Penn and his opinion polling company have advised the tobacco industry on how to counter the campaigns of the tobacco control movement. Based on internal tobacco industry documents, it is clear that Penn and his colleagues have little personal sympathy for those promoting policies that put public health ahead of the interests of the tobacco industry.

    Inquiry Into UK Lobbying Industry

    by Bob Burton — June 28, 2007 - 2:30am

    The U.K. Parliament's Public Administration Committee is set to launch an inquiry into the lobbying industry.

    Main Source: 
    PR Week, June 21, 2007
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