Look at the Lobbyists Clinton and Wasserman Schultz Picked to Write the Democratic Party’s Platform

[think]

Look at the Lobbyists Clinton and Wasserman Schultz Picked to Write the Democratic Party’s Platform

Posted on May 26, 2016

This week, the leading Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, and the DNC chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, appointed professional influence peddlers with ties to weapons makers, hedge funds and Wal-Mart to the committee responsible for drafting the Democratic Party’s policy platform.

Lee Fang and Zaid Jilani of The Intercept report:

Wendy Sherman and Carol Browner, two of the representatives chosen by Clinton, work at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a “government affairs” firm that was created in 2009 through a merger with Madeleine Albright’s consulting company and Stonebridge International, a defense contractor lobbying shop.

The website for the company touts its ability to win favors and influence with government officials throughout the world on behalf of corporate clients, from shaping regulatory standards in the U.S. for a European automotive business to engaging “with the highest levels of the Saudi government.” H.P. Goldfield, vice president at the firm, is a registered lobbyist for the Saudi Arabian government.

The Albright Stonebridge Group did not respond to a request to provide a client list. But recent reports reveal that the firm has been tapped in recent months to work for Elliott Management, the hedge fund run by billionaire Paul Singer, one of the most prolific donors to Republican Super PACs....

Read more:
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/look_at_the_lobbyists_clinton_and_wasserman_schultz_picked_to_20160526

[aikoaiko]

1. K street constituency has to have a place at the table. They paid for it.

[radical noodle]

2. Carol Browner is an environmentalist n/t

[think]

6. Umm?

[radical noodle]

8. The longest serving Administrator

in the history of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

[truedelphi]

9. Even as fracking made the water in so many places undrinkable - so YEAH!

[h2][font color=red]YEAH! YEAH! EPA...
[/h2][/font color=red]

[radical noodle]

11. She served in the 1990s

Under President Obama, she has been director of the Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy.

We really need to stop beating up on good people without knowing who they really are.

[truedelphi]

18. I do know who she is. And I certainly dont' remember her putting out

Any warnings at all about fracking, even though those operations were heating up back then.

And if she has a cozy arrangement with Obama, maybe she could have scolded him out of some of his EPA's decisions. Like about how the Corexit his EPA managed to approve (through totally bogus testing) then went on to kill off most of the marine life in the Gulf and poison what it didn't kill.

And maybe she could have scolded him into having a sensible policy about fracking. After a person watches "Gaslands" and Gaslands II" then they begin to realize that it is Obama's EPA people who forced the middle level managers and researchers to stop looking into fracking. Prior to Obama having those researchers "cool it' there were EPA scientists who were beginning to identify the particular elements and molecules inside the fracking fluid so that people who had their health destroyed could actually take the Big Frackers to court. But Obama saw to it that the researchers stopped. (Or for that matter, Obama could simply issue a Presidential Executive Order that forbids companies from withholding the chemical formula of items that are killing people and the environment.

[think]

12. And how does that relate to her current work at AGS?

Coalition For Fiscal And National Security Boasts Deep Financial Ties To Military Complex

By Christina Wilkie & Paul Blumenthal - 12/07/2012 12:01 am ET | Updated Dec 07, 2012

WASHINGTON — The multi-million dollar lobbying campaign to fix the national debt opened a new front this week, when a group of retired foreign policy experts — many with longstanding ties to private equity billionaire Peter G. Peterson — launched an effort to influence the debate over defense spending and debt reduction.

The Coalition for Fiscal and National Security is chaired by retired Adm. Michael Mullen, and includes 14 other former high-ranking government officials. Four former secretaries of state — Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, George Shultz, and James A. Baker — are in the group, with three former defense secretaries and three former secretaries of the treasury.

The coalition is funded by Peterson’s family foundation and boasts a lineup of recognizable luminaries well out of the prime of their careers (the average age of coalition members is 79). All but one of the 15 coalition members has a personal financial stake in companies that stand to be affected by the group’s advocacy, raising the possibility of conflicts of interest.

The coalition is the latest Peterson-funded group advocating cuts to retirement and health care benefits. Peterson, a longtime proponent of cutting Social Security and Medicare in order to finance deficit reduction and low corporate tax rates, has spent nearly a half-billion dollars in the past five years spreading his austerity agenda by funding groups that include the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the Campaign To Fix the Debt, the Moment of Truth, and the Concord Coalition.

The Coalition for Fiscal and National Security advocates increasing government spending on cutting-edge military technology, boosting funding of non-military diplomatic outreach projects and lowering overall defense spending. Although short on specifics, the group identified potential sources of spending cuts as Defense Department employee health care and retirement benefits, and the military procurement process.

~Snip~

Kissinger and Albright each founded large international advisory firms — Kissinger Associates and Albright Stonebridge Group — after they left government. Meanwhile, former Secretary of State James A. Baker is listed as an expert in “cross-border transactions” at lobbying and law firm Baker Botts...

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/06/coalition-for-fiscal-and-national-security_n_2248011.html

Albright Stonebridge Group

"ASG is the premier global strategic advisory and commercial diplomacy firm. We offer perspectives honed at the highest levels of government and business, and insights informed by an unparalleled worldwide network."

The Albright Group, LLC now Albright Stonebridge Group, based in Washington, DC and headed by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, is "a global strategy firm that works with businesses and organizations to achieve their objectives, improve their returns, and enhance relationships with key stakeholders." The Group states that it meets the needs of its clients "with insight, innovation and integrity" and helps clients to

Broker agreements with governments and businesses
Find and build business relationships
Secure capital
Develop public-private partnerships
Identify and address political and regulatory risks
Enhance corporate responsibility and citizenship
Manage crises
Build strategic relationships with opinion leaders
Analyze privatization opportunities and offer strategic counsel for foreign investments[1]

Source:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Albright_Stonebridge_Group

http://dailysignal.com/2014/09/16/politically-connected-ties-link-embattled-government-bank-well-heeled-consultants/

[radical noodle]

13. It relates to her position on the Platform Committee

She was chosen for her knowledge about climate change.

Wendy Sherman also has a good background in science and international affairs and was instrumental in the Iran deal.

[truedelphi]

19. Great information. I almost

wish I hadn't read your post, given how I now have about thirteen days and counting to "get it out of my system." With "it" being all the information I now have about Hillary, Obama's failures and the fact that only one person now running has any interest at all in changing the quid pro quo operations in Washington.

[bjo59]

3. Our political system is theater of the absurd.

And the most absurd thing of all is that a candidate like Bernie Sanders shows up and still half of the people who vote in the Democratic primaries choose the corporate option to get behind for president. Farcical and tragic, by turns.

[Skwmom]

4. Hell, they write the trade agreements, etc. Why not the Democratic Party's Platform?

[radical noodle]

5. Wendy Sherman is a Senior Fellow

at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and helped negotiate the Iran deal.

[Octafish]

7. Power to the Corporate People!

https://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2016/02/25/help-us-track-which-democratic-superdelegates-are-lobbyists/

[Triana]

10. Election 2016 is between MONEY (Clinton/DNC) and PEOPLE (Sanders). US is an Oligarchy.

MONEY wins.

[rhett o rick]

15. The minions that serve the Wealthy don't understand that we will fight them and their

Big Money idols until we win.

[CobaltBlue]

16. Triana—Hopefully, Hillary’s voters are also getting some money.

[Eko]

14. Ah gawd.

Wendy Sherman is a horrible horrible person.
"Originally a social worker, Sherman began her career working to help battered women and the urban poor.[7]

As part of the neighborhood movement, she worked as a social activist, alongside activists like Geno Baroni and Arthur Naparstek on problems related to low-income housing.[8]

Sherman's early jobs were in partisan politics and social work. These included working as the director of EMILY's List, which provides money to pro-choice, female, Democratic political candidates.[6] She also worked as director of Maryland's office of child welfare and as the president and CEO of the Fannie Mae Foundation, an arm of Fannie Mae.[6]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Sherman

You guys got problems.

[randome]

17. Increasingly unhealthy problems.

It's embarrassing to watch sometimes.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[geek tragedy]

20. dudebros at the Intercept object to EPA head and negotiator for Iran deal

dudebros at The Intercept are pretty much going to root for Trump this year.

[okieinpain]

21. so bernie sanders isn't going to need their support. if he is the nom

bernie is going to raise the billion dollars that he will need for the general from 27 dollar donations. just asking.

[onenote]

22. Neither Browner nor Sherman are registered lobbyists

And they both bring a lot of expertise to the table.

For example, Sherman served in the State Department under multiple Secretaries of State. She played a key role in the negotiation of the Iran Nuke Deal. She managed Barbara Mikulski's campaign for US Senate, was a director of Emily's list.


Earlier in her career, she managed Senator Barbara Mikulski's first successful campaign for the U.S. Senate and served as Director of EMILY’s List. She was Chair of the Board of Directors of Oxfam America. She was appointed by Congressional Leadership to serve on the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation and Terrorism. She is a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and the Council on Foreign Relations.

In other words, she's a highly accomplished woman with significant understanding and experience in matters of foreign affairs. Which one of Bernie's appointees fills that role?