Unions, bundlers and special interests fund Obama's second inauguration party

[formerlurker]

Phone giant AT&T, which is locked a battle with smaller carriers for more wireless spectrum and other issues at the Federal Communications Commission, is one of the big corporate donors to appear on the list.

Its stake in a second Obama term is clear: it hired more than two dozen lobbying firms to influence Washington last year and spent more than $14 million on lobbying, according to its lobbying disclosure reports.

Likewise, Big Labor also has made a big impact on the inauguration. More than a half dozen unions are listed as benefactors to the inaugural parties. They include the Laborers International Union, the American Federation of Government Employees, the American Postal Workers Union, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

With record declines in membership, unions have been backing Obama as an ally in hopes of repelling Republican governor’s effort to reduce union influence in collective bargaining. They got a major win from the administration in October when the National Labor Relations Board ruled Boeing workers had the right to discussing union issues and organizing during work hours.

With more right-to-work initiatives spreading in conservative states, unions will be looking for more help from the administration in a second term, making their substantial investment in get-out-the-vote efforts in the November elections as well as their largesse to the Obama inauguration a good investment.

The Obama who took the oath in 2009 also frequently railed against Washington’s big money system, often singling out lobbyists and big fund-raisers as the source of the problem.

But his inaugural fund-raising rolls this time around are dotted with icons from that system. Employers from more than a dozen law firms that frequently do lobbying appear on the donor rolls, as well as a few more famous ex-lobbyists.

Take for instance Steve Ricchetti, a Democratic strategist who raised eyebrows when he left his lobbying firm just a few months ago to work inside Vice President Joe Biden’s operation in the White House. Ricchetti’s past lobbying clients included AT&T, drugmaker Eli Lilly, and GM, a fact that Republicans seized upon when his move to the administration was announced last spring. Now Ricchetti's name and largesse appear on the inaugural donors roll.

There’s also more than a dozen bundlers – those super fundraisers who bundle large amounts of donations for campaigns – from Obama’s past campaigns on the inaugural givers list, including hotel heiress Penny Pritzker, Atlanta attorney Pinney Allen and Chicago businessmen Rajiv Fernando and Fred Eychaner.

http://www.washingtonguardian.com/bankrolling-inaugural-bash

[NHSparky]

Most transparent administration.  EVAH.

This guy is making Warren Harding look like a saint.  Then again, it is the Chicago way.

[Karin]

I took down the flag yesterday from the big tall flagpole that sits in our yard, and also is the entrance to the village.  It's staying down for awhile.  Wrong?  Don't care. 

[Eupher]

I took down the flag yesterday from the big tall flagpole that sits in our yard, and also is the entrance to the village.  It's staying down for awhile.  Wrong?  Don't care. 

I have a 15' flagpole that I put in myself. Dug a 3 ft. plus hole in hard clay using nothing but a shovel. 360 lbs. of quikcrete went into that hole with the flagpole.

I buy the most durable 3x5 ft. American flag I can find and it generally lasts close to a year before the wind just tatters it to bits. Replaced it over the weekend, along with the US Army Retired flag that flies underneath it (though the Army flag is a lot less durable).

I like my flags flying.