Tag: pay to play

Mulvaney Backlash May Drive Political Money Changes

The following article by Kate Ackley was posted on the Rollcall website April 26, 2018:

Even lobbyists distanced their industry from remarks by the White House budget chief

Watchdog groups characterized Mick Mulvaney’s remarks as “brazen.” Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Advocates for tougher campaign finance regulations say comments from Mick Mulvaney seeming to describe a pay-to-play style of politics on Capitol Hill will boost their long-term effort to overhaul the rules and could benefit like-minded candidates in the midterm elections.

Mulvaney, the White House budget chief and acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told a group of bankers Tuesday that when he served in Congress, his office refused meetings with lobbyists who did not provide political contributions. Mulvaney, a Republican, represented a South Carolina district from January 2011 to February 2017, when he became director of the Office of Management and Budget. Continue reading “Mulvaney Backlash May Drive Political Money Changes”

Fox News blacks out Mick Mulvaney’s admission that he sold access to lobbyists

The following article by Judd Legum was posted on the ThinkProgress website April 25, 2018:

Money talks.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney during a House Appropriations Committee hearing, April 18, 2018. Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Last night the New York Times reported Mick Mulvaney, who simultaneously holds two top positions in the Trump administration, admitted to a group of bankers that, as a Congressman, he sold access to lobbyists.

“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress. If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you,” Mulvaney said. Continue reading “Fox News blacks out Mick Mulvaney’s admission that he sold access to lobbyists”

Mick Mulvaney’s confession highlights the corrosive influence of money in politics

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website April 25, 2018:

THE BIG IDEA: Mick Mulvaney said the quiet part out loud.

Mick Mulvaney, who runs the OMB and CFPB, testifies last week during a House Appropriations Committee hearing. Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday at the American Bankers Association conference in Washington. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”

Mulvaney, who represented South Carolina in the House from 2011 until President Trump appointed him as director of the Office of Management and Budget in 2017, told the 1,300 industry executives and lobbyists that they should push lawmakers hard to pursue their shared agenda. Continue reading “Mick Mulvaney’s confession highlights the corrosive influence of money in politics”

Zinke took $12,000 charter flight home in oil executive’s plane, documents show

The following article by Dean Harwell and Lisa Rein was posted on the Washington Post website September 28, 2017:

This story has been updated.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke rides a horse in the new Bears Ears National Monument near Blanding, Utah, on May 9, 2017. (Scott G Winterton/AP)

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke chartered a flight from Las Vegas to near his home in Montana this summer aboard a plane owned by oil-and-gas executives, internal documents show.

The flight, along with private flights during a trip to the Virgin Islands, could propel Zinke into the growing debate over the costs of travel by Cabinet secretaries, some of whom have chosen expensive charter jets and military planes at high expense to taxpayers over the cheaper option of flying commercial.

In June, Zinke and his staffers took a four-hour flight from Las Vegas to Kalispell, Mont., aboard a private plane owned by the executives of a Wyoming oil-and-gas exploration firm, aviation and business records show. Continue reading “Zinke took $12,000 charter flight home in oil executive’s plane, documents show”

Pro-Trump megadonor is part owner of Breitbart News empire, CEO reveals

The following post by Elise Viebeck and Matea Gold was posted on the Washington Post website February 24, 2017:

Conservative donor Rebekah Mercer has directed her family’s resources into an array of groups on the right. (Photo courtesy of the Media Research Center/Photo courtesy of the Media Research Center)

Breitbart News Network, the far-right media outlet that heralded President Trump’s rise and was once led by his top White House strategist, is owned in part by a wealthy conservative family that poured millions into propelling Trump into office, the company’s chief executive acknowledged Friday.

The site’s financial backing from the Mercers further cements the family’s status as some of the most influential financiers of the Trump era. The news comes as Breitbart has enjoyed a higher profile within the White House press corps.

The Mercers’ investment in Breitbart has been previously reported by The Washington Post and other news outlets, but the family’s role as partial owners of the organization has never been officially confirmed. Larry Solov, Breitbart’s president and CEO, shared the company’s ownership information with a panel of congressional journalists as part of a process to get Capitol Hill press credentials for Breitbart reporters.

Solov said that he is also an owner of the company. The largest share is owned by Susannah ­Breitbart, the widow of site founder Andrew Breitbart, who died in 2012. Continue reading “Pro-Trump megadonor is part owner of Breitbart News empire, CEO reveals”

At Trump’s southern White House, wealthy guests pay, play

The following article by Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times was posted February 18, 2017:

Photo: Vanity Fair

On any given weekend, you might catch President Trump’s son-in-law and top Mideast dealmaker, Jared Kushner, by the beachside soft-serve ice cream machine, or his reclusive chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, on the dining patio.

If you are lucky, the president himself could stop by your table for a quick chat. But you will have to pay $200,000 for the privilege — and the few available spots are going fast.

Continue reading “At Trump’s southern White House, wealthy guests pay, play”