In addition to the hatchet job John Solomon does on John Edwards today, a couple of days ago Solomon gave Hadassah Lieberman a pass in his story on politicans' wives working for lobbyists:
Democrats made ethics reform a major issue in last fall's congressional elections, but the ethics package the House approved earlier this month didn't address the issue and neither did the one proposed by Senate Democrats. Last week, however, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) proposed banning spouses of senators from lobbying any part of the chamber. The lone exception is for spouses who were lobbying at least one year before their husband or wife was elected.
Solomon lists a number of spouses who work for lobbying firms. The one he misses? Holy Joe's wife Hadassah, who works for Hill and Knowlton, a lobbying firm for Glaxo Smith Kline, a beneficiary of Lieberman legislation. More.
Joe Conason prominently reported on Mrs. Lieberman's lobbying activities in 2006:
Now Mr. Lieberman has long been known to cultivate the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, which provide jobs in his home state and contributions to his campaign fund. But he has literally been sleeping with one of their Washington representatives ever since his wife Hadassah joined Hill & Knowlton last year. The legendary lobbying and P.R. firm hired her as a "senior counselor" in its "health and pharmaceuticals practice."
. . . When a Senator’s wife works for one of the capital’s largest lobby shops—and others have—appearances tend to matter. In this case, something happened immediately that didn’t look very good.
Mrs. Lieberman signed up with Hill & Knowlton in March 2005. The firm’s clients included GlaxoSmithKline, the British pharmaceutical giant that manufactures flu vaccines along with many other drugs. In April 2005, Mr. Lieberman introduced a bill that would award an array of new government "incentives" to companies like GSK to produce more vaccines—notably patent extensions on other products, at a cost of billions to governments and consumers.
The funny thing is the Sunlight Foundation liked Solomon's story so much they started a research project. But for some strange reason, they limited it to the six politicians Solomon identified:
Here's an experiment occasioned by the excellent report by John Solomon of the Washington Post on spouses of members of Congress who lobby. Solomon identifies 6 lawmakers married to registered lobbyists (listed below). Is it possible, after reading the lobby disclosure reports that list these spouses (I've linked the results page in the Senate Office of Public Records page for each of them, making it easy to find the reports) to determine whether the member votes for the spouse's clients' interests?
Hey Sunlight! I got one for you. Joe Lieberman. See if you can get Solomon to write it up. I won't hold my breath on that one. Let me explain why. In the Edwards hit piece, the Sunlight Foundation decided to give Solomon what he wanted - a bullshit "concerned" quote:
Ellen S. Miller, head of the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, which studies public officials' real estate deals, said presidential candidates should go the extra mile by determining who they are doing business with, especially when "a substantial amount of cash is changing hands on the eve of his campaign."
Go the extra mile to do what? Wow! So I guess blind trusts are out then according to the Sunlight Foundation. Boy I sure wish they would practice what they preach. As long as we are going to be "nitpicky," maybe the Sunlight Foundation can explain to me why they never have said a word about Joe Lieberman's wife being a lobbyist for companies that benefitted directly from legislation sponsored by him? Could it be because the Chairman of Sunlight, Michael Klein, was a partner in a law firm that lobbied for Wyeth, one of the companies that benefitted from Lieberman's legislative favor to his wife's lobbying client?
I doubt very much that this had anything to do with it, but when Ms. Miller decides to play the stooge for a Solomon hitpiece, her organization best be, like Caesar's wife, beyond reproach. Let's face it, the Edwards story is complete bullshit and Ellen Miller knows it. But she decides she wants her name in the paper. The fact is she has a bigger conflict problem with her Chairman than Edwards does with the sale of his house.
This type of bullshit from "good government" groups undermines the real fight for good government.