Who’s Lobbying Congress On The Bailout?

Their Former Employees

(CBS)  CBS News Investigative Producer Laura Strickler wrote this story for CBSNews.com with additional reporting from Sarah Fitzpatrick and Kim Lengle .

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Revolving Door Moves Fast Between Congressional Committees and Financial Institutions

Among the armies of well-heeled lobbyists pressuring Congress on the size and structure of the financial bailout this week are a number of familiar faces. CBS News found 21 former staffers from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and House Financial Services Committees are now lobbyists for financial firms. Their job? To lobby those in Congress who will shape the financial bailout. The former staffers now represent hedge funds, private equity firms, investment banks and the failed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Senate rules prevent former senior staffers from lobbying their old committees for one year.

It’s well known on Capitol Hill that a few years on a Congressional oversight committee can be cashed in for a lucrative K Street job, sometimes garnering up to $20,000 a month for a lobbying job. But the connection between the oversight committees and the companies they sought to rein in is striking.

A number of the staffers lobbied for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac since leaving Congress. The two mortgage giants have been told by their new oversight agency to suspend their lobbying activities in light of the government bailout. Over the last decade the Center for Responsive Politics notes the two companies spent $20 million on lobbying and political donations in part to resist regulation and stronger oversight.

Here’s just a few former Capitol Hill staffers turned lobbyists and what they have been doing since leaving their Congressional jobs according to records on the Legistorm website and Senate records:

Douglas Nappi has taken a few tours on both K Street and the Hill according to lobbying records. In 1999 he registered as a lobbyist for the New York Stock Exchange but notes his previous job was as “former counsel to the Senate Banking Committee.” From 2003 through 2005, Nappi served as the Republican chief counsel of the Senate Banking Committee according to Legistorm. Senate records show Nappi left the committee in early September 2005 and filed his first lobbying report less than three weeks later. Recently he lobbied for Freddie Mac and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority as well as Clayton Holdings described on its website as “an information and analytics company serving lenders, loan buyers and bond issuers, servicers and fixed income investors in mortgage-related loans and other debt instruments.”

Alexander Sternhell left his job as the Democratic Deputy Staff Director for the Senate Banking Committee in late December, 2007 and registered as a lobbyist a few days later representing clients such as Freddie Mac, Citigroup, Capmark Finance and Wachovia. Sternhell is now lobbying with a three person team which has already garnered $480,000 for their work in 2008 according to Senate records. Sternhell tells CBS News he is lobbying on the financial bailout “where appropriate.” While he is not permitted to lobby his former committee yet, he is free to lobby other members of Congress and all other Congressional committees.

Kristi Kennedy worked as the Legislative Director for Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) from 1999 through 2006. Sarbanes was one of the authors of the financial reform legislation known as Sarbanes-Oxley Act which is despised by many in the financial world. When Sarbanes left Congress, Kennedy did too. Within two months, Kennedy filed her first lobbying report according to Senate records and began lobbying for: Fannie Mae, the Financial Services Forum, Citigroup and Managed Funds Association according to Senate lobbying records. Today she says she is lobbying on the financial bailout package.

Lobbying reform advocates say the speed with which Hill staffers trade in their oversight responsibilities for lobbying jobs and press their new agenda with their former colleagues is troublesome.

“There should be a three year cooling off period so former staffers do not have these intimate relationships that they exploit for large paychecks,” says Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen who has actively pushed for more lobbying transparency and accountability.

One former banking committee staffer also found his way to a presidential campaign.

John Green was the Deputy Chief Clerk at the Senate Banking Committee until he left in 2004 to lobby for clients such AIG, Fannie Mae, Credit Suisse, AIG’s private equity investment partnership called Highstar Capital, Citigroup, Ameriquest Mortgage and dozens of other companies according to Senate records. In July, Green’s clients notified the Senate that he was no longer their registered lobbyist. His new job? According to Congressional Quarterly, he’s serving as a Congressional liaison for presidential candidate John McCain.

[bsb53]

are there any "earmarks" attached to this bill, if so, what & by whom

[giraffesnot]

Bring back stocks. Not the Wall Street kind, the kind where they stand with their stupid pinheads and wrists locked down in the town square. Is anybody making a golden parachute list of where these fat miserable greedy cats reside on the planet?

[countrygent5]

Today''s poll results:
30% of the American people support the bailout bill
45% of the American people oppose it.

Note that the bill has grown to something like 1000 pages.

Note that Congress is being pushed to vote on it really before they could have read it.

What is in this bill?

To which groups does the bill propose to give 20% of the net proceeds realized from the sales of the loans?
Which "community organizing" groups will benefit...and for whom are they working?
Are these groups bipartisan?

[starleo146]

I feel a revolution coming on and it is about time

[tucano2]

Questionable loans to Illegal Aliens as demanded by Democrats sunk a number of greedy spineless bankers; there is NO EXCUSE FOR AMERICAN CITIZEN TAXPAYERS TO SUPPORT THIS SELL-OUT PROPOSED BY MR BUSH AND MR PAULSON WHICH BENEFITS only GOLDMAN-SACHS. Those who made the mess have to clean up after their own selves - isn''t that what you learned from your own Mother?

[babooph]

And they wonder why the voter is against-the voters,unlike the congressmen can be manipulated by propaganda & get no cash-[unless the massive money back in tax refunds to the rich are considered]

[jkm1864]

These people should be tried for treason and hung. We have been ruled by the oligarch for way to long. I am fed up with the banks, weapons companies, insurance companies, oil companies, & the prescription companies ruling our lives. You Obama supporters you talk about change well I don''t see it yet. The change will come when americans get fed up just like thousands of others and clog up the phones lines yelling hell no. Where you doing that I know I was but I am sure You had your fat butt plopped down watching TV.. As a matter of fact turn that *** TV off if You haven''t figured it out that the TV is a propaganda machine for the elite then you are lost.

[beehive21-2009]

We are witnessing the Robber Barons of the 21 Century in action,wonder if they do pass it if they will be hung ?

[jd2408]

Sorry, I meant "freeze" credit.

[jd2408]

I believe Wall Street is blackmailing our Congress. I think they told Congress that if they did not buy out their bad debt they would freezer credit on Friday.

[alxmouse]

CASE IN POINT GWB 2004

[alxmouse]

I wouldn''t blame the lobbyists. I''d blame any Congressperson that would allow themselves to be swayed by anyone against the will of their districts or the best of intentions. I know it may seem naive that a politician may actually represent the better interest of the people he represents. But by definition that is their job. The true corruptive element is not the lobbyist but the institutional recitiveness of incumbents and the apathy of most voters to actually hold them in check.

[airboatboy1]

You know, this is really a corrupt government. I hope the whole system breaks down just to watch those crooks scramble like rats. Then see if a lesson is learned.

[slim1h2o]

CBS News found 21 former staffers from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and House Financial Services Committees are now lobbyists for financial firms. Their job? To lobby those in Congress who will shape the financial bailout.


These 21 lobbyists should be jailed immediaetly. Before they rob us hardworking Americans of yet another debt. Or tax increase.