Sen. Reid defends lobbyists: ‘They work for a living.’
Sen. Reid defends lobbyists: ‘They work for a living.’
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who helped pass legislation in 2007 to limit the influence of lobbyists, invited top lobbyists to join him for an inaugural brunch Monday where he pledged that he will still do plenty of business with them:
“And there’s nothing wrong with that,” said Reid. “And Obama will be meeting with them too.” When asked to clarify his remarks, given Obama’s promises to change that part of Capitol culture, Reid responded that lobbyists are part and parcel of the job.
“People should understand that lobbyists, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.” The Democratic leader’s sons and a son-in-law have worked as lobbyists.
Lobbying shops that have been previously dedicated to serving conservative interests are now turning bipartisan. “Barack is a bipartisan, nonpartisan type of guy,” said Morris Reid, BGR’s new managing director and a longtime Democratic operative. “It’s important for the lobbying business to take its cue from the White House and become a bipartisan shop.” But still, “there’s a collective griping,” said a Democratic lobbyist, questioning the continued dominance of Republicans on K Street.
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Uh, Harry – so do we! And it’s our GD money paying your salary and funding this country.
We really need to get rid of him.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:24 am“People should understand that unlawful combatants, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
The presence (or lack of) families has no relation with the ethics of what they do for a living.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:26 amKeep it up Harry. Your time is short, get ready to pack up your stuff in D.C. for your move back home when you get voted out.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:26 am“They work for a living.”
-ruining what once was the greatest nation on Earth.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:27 am“People should understand that casino operators, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
January 21st, 2009 at 10:32 amThey work for a living,undermining the will of the people. I believe we call that treason…
NO LOBBYISTS! We already have a government, thank you.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:34 amvery simple…….investigate REID
January 21st, 2009 at 10:35 amLobbyists don’t work for a living. They steal money and influence from people who DO work for a living.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:35 amI guess Harry didn’t get the memo. Change has come to Washington.
Lobbyists changing their party affiliation doesn’t count.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:38 amThe lobby system is votes for sale. It must be destroyed.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:39 am“They work for a living”
Card carrying members of AIPAC.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:40 am“People should understand that lobbyists, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid.
Every scam artist and criminal in the world is “someone’s father, mother, son, daughter”. Simply being human spawn doesn’t grant the privilege of trying to skew the ways of gov’t to whoever can afford to take Harry out to the nicest lunch.
Harry opens his mouth and it’s like yesterday never happened. Business as usual. He’s as tainted and useless as all things Bush. No trust for Harry. No hope that he can do the right thing. Getting a better Majority Leader, (low bar alert), would be a huge benefit to the country.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:40 amHarry, you are inadequate as Majority Leader, and comments like this, favoring lobbyists, and last week, words in opposition to Obama, don’t improve the prevailing opinion about you.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:44 amWhen Republicans win elections, they gloat and shut out the opposition. When Democrats win elections, they get all soft-hearted and bipartisan. This helps explain the mess we’re in.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:45 amrandi rhodes was reading something the other day,
lamenting all the out-of-work repugs… so sad…
so, ok, lobbying is included in the constitutional right to address and petition, but surely it is acknowledged widely how out-of-hand it all has gotten… especially the money… sinful…
January 21st, 2009 at 10:47 amI understand that much of what lobbyists do is important and useful. Say you’re a new Congressman from the sticks, and a bill comes across your desk that involves the environment and the textile industry. You don’t know much about either, so you want to ask environmentalists and the textile industry at large what their opinions on it are. You can’t go to every individual environmentalist group and every individual textile factory owner, so you ask the relevant lobbyists for each, and thereby get the opinions of those segments of society.
The problem comes when Congressmen are bending over to particular lobbyist segments and just giving them whatever they want. Even with good intentions, this can still happen when you don’t realize that there are other stakeholders, other sides to the story, and only end up talking to one side. It’s also a problem when lobbyists are private contractors rather than industry-wide representative organizations, and overcharge their clients based on what they believe they can “get for” them.
As with every complex issue, the problem isn’t the people, it’s the way the system is set up. Just putting black hats on one group and blaming them doesn’t solve anything (which is why it’s the Republicans’ favorite problem solving method). Congress does need access to people who can speak to the interests of broad segments of society and who are informed on those interests. But – they also need to make sure they’re listening to all of the interests involved, and that the people giving those opinions don’t have personal ulterior motives as well.
I’m not sure how to fix that, but it needs fixin’.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:50 amLobbyists and corporations gain far more access to elected officials than the common voter. Their campaign donations influence legislation.
The voter with limited access funds Congressional largess. It’s a disturbing cycle, one that Harry Reid should blow up, not defend.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:52 am“They work for a living.”
Thank you, Harry, for that wonderful bit of wisdom. Thanks also to your sons and son-in-law for their service. Please note that drug dealers and bank robbers and professional killers also work for a living. I’m not so sure if legislators like you work for a living or only do the bidding of their handlers.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:52 am“People should understand that lobbyists, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
Yeah. Like several of his sons and his son-in-law. What hypocracy. No wonder he is one of the weakest and worst “leaders” in congress. And not just because he caved in to the Bush Administration on issue after issue, but because he is the most unrespected members of the Senate. No wonder he only has a 51% approval rate in his home state of Nevada.
This turd needs to go.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:53 amHarry, the status quo is no long cool in DC, thus you are part of the problem. Time for Dem’s to seriously act to change who makes the decisions for us.
January 21st, 2009 at 10:53 amfrom http://therandirhodesshow.com/
Tough Times On The Right
8 years of hacks, cronies & kool-aid drinkers clear out their desks and hit unemployment. It’s your tree, people…..
.
All That Experience and No Place to Go
GOP Appointees Scramble for the Few Washington Jobs in a Tough Economy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/18/AR2009011802157.html?hpid=moreheadlines
January 21st, 2009 at 10:58 amThey BRIBE for a living!
January 21st, 2009 at 11:00 amReid misses the point of Obama’s change to the way government operates. Lobbyists benefit the fat cats, corporate and individuals. Average America can not affords this luxury.
The Congress elected officials have staff: let’s change the way they operate. Have them research and learn without the lobbying influence. Gee, staffs could work together to be informed. Yeah, I know, the lobbyists would then,ostensibly, direct their pitch to these middlemen. But, we are lost without real change here.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:00 amTHIS IS A PERSON THAT BELIEVES DEITIES ARE IN CONTINUAL PERPETUAL BABY MAKING ORGIES ON A FAR AWAY PLANET MADE OF GLASS AND GOLD AND SENDING THOSE BABY SPIRITS TO EARTH WHERE THEY CAN BE REINCARNATED.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:00 amIn a way he is right. There is a place for lobbyist in our form of government. There are lobbyists for good causes like the Sierra Club and other environmental groups just as there are lobbyists for business. The problem is with the corporate lobbyists who pretty much owned our government until Obama took his oath of office. I have nothing against Obama or Reid listening to corporate lobbyists as long as they don’t start writing legislation to meet their needs rather than the needs of “we the people”.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:01 amChange We Need Desperately: A new Senate Majority Leader, ASAP.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:01 amWhen is Harry Reid up for re-election? He needs to go ASAP…all he has done has capitulate to the Republicans – never forcing their hand on issues they threaten to filibuster – and is just NOT in any way, shape, or form, a LEADER.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:04 amYou have a point Bilbo, but to me, Harry Reid has proven to be a worthless and gutless MAJORITY leader for the Dems in the Senate. Not once did he throw down the gauntlet against the Republicans – he allowed their whining and complaining to neuter his leadership. Reid needs to be phased out.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:06 amlobbiest’s were around before raygun but until ronnie they were not allowed to pass money or gifts…….
January 21st, 2009 at 11:07 am(From Rolling Stones’ “The Chicken Doves”)
Dump Reid, appoint Feingold
Dump Pelosi, appoint Kucinich
..if you want real change, not lobbyist and waterboarding cheerleaders.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:21 amThey “work” for a living? That is absurd and obscene. Eff off, Reid.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:21 amoh, i’m crying a river for the lobbyists.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:23 amThe Mafia has family and work for a living also Harry…
…and they do harm to America just like the lobbyists do.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:28 amOther people that work for a living:
January 21st, 2009 at 11:31 amhitmen
mobsters
bank robbers
mercenaries
scam artists
Harry Reid
Tweedster Says:
When is Harry Reid up for re-election? He needs to go ASAP…all he has done has capitulate to the Republicans – never forcing their hand on issues they threaten to filibuster – and is just NOT in any way, shape, or form, a LEADER.
He’s up in 2010 and the Republicans are already working to get a strong candidate to run against him. I think the Democrats need to find a strong candidate to run against Reid in the primary. Otherwise, there’s a good chance we will lose that seat in 2010.
January 21st, 2009 at 11:57 am“People should understand that lobbyists, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
So wouldn’t the same apply to:
Meth producers
January 21st, 2009 at 12:25 pmHookers
Unlawful combatants and others at Gitmo
Osama Ben Laden
etc.
etc.
“People should understand that serial killers, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
January 21st, 2009 at 12:41 pm“People should understand that terrorists, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
January 21st, 2009 at 12:42 pm“People should understand that child molesters, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
January 21st, 2009 at 12:43 pm“People should understand that war criminals, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
January 21st, 2009 at 12:44 pm“People should understand that barbarians, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
January 21st, 2009 at 12:47 pmHarry can’t get off the gravey train. He’s just left over baggage waitin for his porter.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:49 pm“People should understand that Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Moammar Khadafi and Bashar al-Assad, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
January 21st, 2009 at 12:51 pmWHOA! I like Bilbo’s post in support of environmental and other non-corporate lobbyists, but I don’t have a hefty belief that Reid is specifically standing up for the non-corporate groups. This man really needs to go. This is the same person who defended Joe Lieberman as “not some right-wing hack” when Lieberman was spewing against then-candidate Obama.
Harry Reid is afraid of his own party in power and misses the days of curtain jerking for republicans.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:52 pm“People should understand that guantanamo detainees, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.”
January 21st, 2009 at 12:59 pmWhat a tone-deaf statement. Al-Qaeda terrorists work for a living too, we just don’t like what they do!
January 21st, 2009 at 1:00 pmThank you, Senator Reid, for justifying your own replacement.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:11 pmReid and Pelosi have ALWAYS been corporate stooges.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:17 pmI hope the spineless Reid goes off like an old fart!
January 21st, 2009 at 1:39 pmSo do bank robbers and hit men. That doesn’t excuse what they do.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:40 pmDemonstrating conclusively that Harry Reid needs to go. And, if what he (Reid) says is true, the guy I worked do hard to elect President is a flat out liar.
January 21st, 2009 at 1:49 pmI have to agree with TSP, Reid needs to go. I want him out.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:06 pm“People should understand that lobbyists, per se, are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter,” said Reid. “They work for a living.” The Democratic leader’s sons and a son-in-law have worked as lobbyists.
What a ridiculous repug response. harry you have to do better than that. lobbyist pay to undermined the peoples will.
you should be investigated because you are too chummy with lobbyist.
reid your time has come.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:49 pmI think Reid needs to be replaced. He comes across spineless most times, and just isn’t reading the same play book. Nope, we just wrestled our government away from the lobbyists – keep that door closed.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:50 pmThere he goes again. Reid uses a word he doesn’t understand: Work.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:25 pmSorry Harry but lobbyists are bottom feeders and have NO PLACE in government.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:52 pmAll lobbying firms should be outlawed or regulated until they disappear.
How do we get rid of Reid as Senate majority leader?
The guy is so close to being a republiCON, it’s not even funny. He needs to go waaaaay before his next election which I pray will be his defeat, too.
Reid, Pelosi – worst “leaders” of the Democratic Party. EVER.
January 21st, 2009 at 6:29 pmWhat a complete tool
January 21st, 2009 at 7:08 pmThere were 2,500,000 people at the inauguration. Only 17 missed work. Not on topic but a work thing…
January 21st, 2009 at 8:11 pmI understand that they’re mammals, and bipeds, too. I just don’t want them bribing Congress or writing legislation.
January 21st, 2009 at 8:13 pmLobbyists and their money create the most broken part of politics today. It may seem extreme but my belief is that lobbyists should be able to lobby with only words. Nothing of material value. Not with money. Not with gifts. Not with favors.
I’m talking down to the level of: that lobbyist can’t even babysit for that senator. Or even give him so much as a piece of gum.
Getting lobbyists’ money out of government completely is the only way politicians will work for us.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:16 am