lobbying

New Yorkers got important insights into who spends the most to influence state and local budgets, legislation and policies last week. The annual report of the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG), which oversees lobbying activities in the state, documented the spending of the wealthy and powerful as they sought to influence the laws you live with.

Long-time lobbyist for the Retail Council of New York, Ted Potrikus, will tell us about his new book, “Lobbying 101: What Is It, Exactly, That You Do?” about his experiences as a lobbyist in Albany.The book takes the reader through a three-decade career as a lobbyist in New York State to show why, despite its bad rap, the practice is indeed a critical component of sound public policy.

Under New York’s Constitution, legislation approved by both the Senate and Assembly must be delivered to the governor for her approval before the end of the calendar year. Under those rules, the Chamber that approved the legislation first “controls” when the legislation is sent to the governor. The governor then has 10 business days to sign or veto the legislation. If the governor vetoes the legislation, the Legislature can override her action with two-thirds majority votes in each house.

In "Tax the Rich!" (The New Press) Morris Pearl, the millionaire chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, and Erica Payne, the organization’s founder, take readers on an insider’s tour of the nation’s tax code and show how the rich (and the politicians they control) structured the tax code to make themselves even richer. They explain how to un-rig the economy through the tax code to reverse America’s ever-growing and dangerously destabilizing concentration of wealth and power. Morris Pearl joins us.

New York Congressman Antonio Delgado has just wrapped up a district work period. The 19th District Democrat briefed reporters Monday. And while he spoke…

Sheldon Whitehouse represents Rhode Island in the U.S. Senate. He has served as a federal and state prosecutor, business regulator, courtroom litigator,…

Despite the gloom over many upstate New York businesses, there has been one very bright light – its lobbying industry. For decades, New York’s lobbying…

The state’s ethics commission released the top spending lobbyists to try to influence state government during the 2015 legislative session, and found that…

Gary Hart is an American politician and a former Colorado senator, serving in Congress from 1975 to 1987.His new book, The Republic of Conscience, is a…