LOBBYING & LAW

From the K Street Corridor

Sat. Jul 5, 2008


Gun Owners Galvanized

Gun lobbying sources say that much of the political firepower of the 4 million-member National Rifle Association is aimed at defeating presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in November. The ammunition will include all forms of media outreach in crucial Rust Belt states where the NRA is strong—Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania—as well as some closely contested states in the South, such as Georgia and North Carolina.

Sources say that the NRA’s huge financial effort this year—estimated at almost $40 million for political races throughout the country—will raise questions about Obama’s stand on gun control and highlight the NRA’s strong support for the recent Supreme Court decision overturning a handgun ban in the District of Columbia.

The NRA hasn’t formally endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, but it is clearly worried about the impact of an Obama presidency on future Supreme Court appointments.

“Gun owners are galvanized in this country after the Supreme Court decision,” says NRA top lobbyist Chris Cox. —Peter H. Stone

A New Deadline to Dread

What’s the latest hubbub about on K Street? It’s LD-203, a new form, which congressional officials released last week, that lobbyists will use to report their campaign donations. Lobbyists have until the end of July to file under the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. The form has sections for contributions regulated by the Federal Election Commission; for “honorary” expenses linked to a lawmaker; for expenses for meetings or events where lawmakers were present; and for donations or gifts to presidential libraries. Craig Holman, legislative representative for Public Citizen, says that the “online form is user-friendly, and the instructions and tutorials … [are] easy to understand.” He predicts that “any confusion will quickly diminish after the first round of reporting.” Not everybody agrees that all will go smoothly. Foley & Lardner’s Cleta Mitchell, a leading expert on the process, points out that many lobbyists are scrambling to learn how to properly complete the form. —Eugene Mulero

T. Boone’s Solution

Fed up with the energy crisis debate, oil and gas tycoon T. Boone Pickens is poised to launch a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz to push his own solutions and to raise the issue even more prominently in the presidential race.

Sources say that in addition to underwriting the effort, which is to debut after the July Fourth holiday, Pickens will get help from the chairman of the DCI Group, Tom Synhorst, who is taking a leave from the lobbying giant to assist Pickens.

The ads are expected to focus on the need to expand several energy sectors, including natural gas and wind, in which Pickens has a financial stake.

At a recent energy conference in Houston, Pickens said he wants to force energy issues “into the campaign.” He has also indicated that he backs presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain. But Pickens has had tough words for both McCain and presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Pickens said that Obama has been “throwing around the ‘windfall profits’ tax like a piece of balsa wood.” As for McCain’s call for a gas-tax holiday over this summer, Pickens said: “What the hell is he talking about?”

Pickens’s media campaign follows McCain’s energy-related ad drive in battleground states in late June. “Energy is the issue of choice for the GOP,” says one McCain ally on K Street. —P.H.S.

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