Politico is reporting that this coming Tuesday the DC lobby firm Patton Bogg's will hold a fundraiser for presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
This comes as a bit of surprise given the historical roots of one of the named partners of the firm, Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., whose parents Thomas Boggs Snr. and Lindy Boggs both served as members of the House of Representatives for the Democratic Party. Lindy Boggs went on the become the US ambassador to the Vatican under President Bill Clinton.
Partisan politics aside, considering how volatile the issue of lobbyists has been in elections as of late I am little surprised (or maybe a little naive) that Romney would allow his campaign to so publicly align itself with an industry so disliked by the electorate.
Considering how volatile the issue of lobbyists has been in elections as of late I am little surprised (or maybe a little naive) that Romney would allow his campaign to so publicly align itself with an industry so disliked by the electorate.
While there isn't much polling on public trust levels of the lobbying industry, it is pretty common for the industry to rank below lawyers and used car salesmen when the public is queried on such things. After all, throughout history many lobby firms have done the dirty work for some not-so-popular corporations and organizations, whether that be big tobacco, big oil or weapons manufacturers.
Patton Boggs is a massive DC law firm with a lot of its work concentrated on lobbying US government agencies and elected officials on behalf of their clients. According to the Politico article, Patton Boggs clients over the years include: AT&T, Citigroup, Delta Airlines, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, LightSquared, Microsoft, the National Association of Broadcasters, Northrop Grumman, Royal Dutch Shell, Visa and Wal-Mart.
A search of the Senate Lobbyist database reveals other interesting clients Patton Boggs has done lobby work on behalf of:
In 2008 Patton Boggs was paid $360,000 by the oil exploration giant Hyperdynamics Corporation to lobby the US Senate and House of Representatives on oil interests the company has in New Guinea.
Patton Boggs was paid $120,000 in 2008 to lobby on behalf of the International Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association on the issues of tobacco taxation and the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.
In 2009, Patton Boggs was paid $240,000 to lobby on behalf of the Ad Hoc Water Exploration and Product Coalition to monitor, "Potential legislation that could affect federal oil and gas leasing policies that will hinder exploration for and production of oil and gas in the deep waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico." According to Patton Boggs website the Ad Hoc Coalition consists of "super-major oil companies, most headquarted overseas."
Las Vegas Sands Corporation paid Patton Boggs $300,000 in 2009 to lobby the US Senate and House of Representatives on, "Trade and travel investment policies with the People's Republic in China."
Cigarette manufacturer Vector Group paid Patton Boggs $170,000 in 2010 to do lobby work on the "Implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act and issues related to the manufacture and sale of tobacco products."
The Environmental Defence Action Fund has paid Patton Boggs $120,000 so far this year to work on "issues related to enactment of the RESTORE the Gulf Coast States Act of 2011."
The Patton Boggs Romney private fundraiser, organized by former Senate majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is set for Tuesday night (Sept. 25th) at the lobby firms headquarters in Washington, DC.