A company controlled by the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain accused Alcoa Corp. of a 15-year conspiracy involving overcharging, fraud and bribery.
A suit in federal court in Pittsburgh by Aluminum Bahrain BSC alleged that Alcoa steered payments for an aluminum precursor ingredient to a group of tiny companies abroad, in order to pay [...]
Entries from February 2008
February 28, 2008
WSJ: Alcoa Faces Allegation By Bahrain of Bribery
February 28, 2008
Washington Post: House Democrats Hold Plan for Ethics Office
House Democrats abruptly pulled an ethics reform proposal from consideration yesterday after widespread opposition surfaced from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle a day before a scheduled vote on the plan.
The proposal, months in the making, would create a new Office of Congressional Ethics run by a bipartisan group of six non-lawmakers with the [...]
February 28, 2008
Legal Times: Lobbyists on the Campaign Trail
The debate over the influence lobbyists have over presidential candidates continues to rage.
The latest salvo comes from the Center for Public Integrity’s “Buying of the President 2008″ project. The group is citing the “Kerry Precedent” — Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 decision to release a list of nearly 200 meetings with lobbyists that dated back to [...]
February 28, 2008
Legal Times: Foley Hoag Minds Its Health Practice
Kelly Childress, the former health policy advisor to Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Mich), has joined Foley Hoag’s Washington federal health care practice.
Working primarily with the House Energy and Commerce Committee, she handled matters pertaining to health insurance reform, biomedical research, Medicare, Medicaid, and FDA regulation. Stints with Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and the American Heart Association [...]
February 28, 2008
Politico.com: Suite Talk: Sprint Nextel lobbyist retires
Bob Foosaner has a large footprint in the telecom industry. He played a critical role in the merger between Nextel and Sprint. Well before that, he won lobbying battles that changed the face of the industry.
Foosaner is retiring from his position as Sprint Nextel Corp.’s senior vice president and regulatory officer at the end of [...]
February 28, 2008
Politico.com: Vote on ethics reform bill tabled for now
With the biggest change in congressional ethics rules in more than a decade set for a vote on Thursday, House Democratic leaders were forced to postpone the debate in the face of internal dissent and a surprise counterproposal from Republicans.
Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) promised the ethics measure would be taken up on the [...]
February 28, 2008
Politico.com: A hangup about robocalls
Back in 2004, Fannie Mae executive Shaun Dakin quit his job and boarded a bus to Cleveland to volunteer for John F. Kerry’s presidential campaign. “I wanted to do something that would make a difference,” he recalls.
But midway into working the phone banks for Kerry, Dakin became disillusioned. “People would say, ‘I’m sick of these [...]
February 28, 2008
House GOP Conference Statement: House Republican Ethics Reform
The result of months of deliberations, the House Republican ethics reform proposal will do more to clean up Congress than the Democrats’ toothless reform, which only adds bureaucracy to an already stalled ethics process. Specifically, the House Republican proposal offered today by Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-TX) will:
February 27, 2008
WSJ: McCain Stands Ground Against Charges of Finance Mischief
John McCain’s presidential campaign hit back at the Democratic National Committee today for accusing the Arizona senator of violating campaign finance laws regarding his recent letter to the Federal Election Committee withdrawing from the public financing system.
McCain
The DNC filed a FEC complaint Monday, arguing that McCain cannot withdrawal from the system — which offers [...]
February 27, 2008
Yahoo News: Lobbying Revenue Jumps 9%
The economy may be looking browbeaten these days, but at least one sector is still thriving: the lobbying industry. According to this week’s report by, last year, the 25 biggest lobbyist firms reported across-the-board increases in revenue–a 9% jump. Topping the charts was Patton Boggs, which broke new earnings records at $42.7 million.
“2006 was the [...]
