by Lee Fang
Lobbyists are not only staffing
and financing
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, they’re also tipping the nomination
process in her favor by serving as so-called superdelegates to the Democratic
National Convention.
Bernie Sanders won the New
Hampshire Democratic primary by more than 22 percentage points and by doing so,
earned 15 delegates to Clinton’s 9. So it came as a shock to
many observers when Clinton, despite losing the second biggest rout in
state history, walked away with the same number of delegates.
That’s because Clinton had the
support of six New Hampshire unpledged delegates — better known as
superdelegates — consisting of prominent elected officials and members of the
Democratic National Committee, who have the same power as the delegates chosen
by voters. An Associated
Press survey found that superdelegates nationally overwhelmingly supported
Clinton.
There are 712 superdelegates
in all, which is about 15 percent of the total delegates available and 30
percent of the total needed to win the nomination.
If the nomination process is
close, superdelegates may effectively pick the party’s presidential nominee,
potentially overriding the will of voters.
The following individuals are
unelected, Clinton-supporting superdelegates who simultaneously work in the
lobbying industry:
Jeff Berman, well-known for
his delegate-strategy
work in the past, is being paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign to organize
her delegate-counting effort while himself being a superdelegate. A “top
lobbyist” at Bryan Cave LLP, Berman previously worked as
a lobbyist for the private prison company Geo Group and as a lobbyist helping
TransCanada build support for the Keystone XL.
Bill Shaheen is one
of the six New Hampshire superdelegates to endorse Clinton. Shaheen is a
prolific party fundraiser, and his law firm is registered to lobby local
officials in the state. The most recently available lobbying records show
that Shaheen’s firm is registered to lobby on behalf of the American Council of
Life Insurers and PainCare Centers, among other clients. PainCare has
faced increasing scrutiny
as local officials have noted that eight of the 10 most prolific opioid
prescribers in New Hampshire’s Medicaid program worked for PainCare. The flood
of prescription painkillers has fueled the heroin epidemic in the region, as
four out of five heroin addicts report beginning
their drug habit with opioids. Bill is the husband of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen,
D-N.H.
Joanne Dowdell, another New
Hampshire superdelegate, is the senior vice president for global government
affairs at News Corporation, the parent company of Fox News. Federal Election
Commission reports show Dowdell has contributed directly to multiple Democrats as well
as to the News Corp PAC, a company committee that splits
its donations between lawmakers of both parties. The News Corp government
affairs division works to lobby public officials and regulators.
Superdelegates Jill Alper, Minyon
Moore, and Maria Cardona are officials at Dewey Square Group, a lobbying
firm that is closely affiliated with the Clinton campaign and retained by the
Clinton-supporting Super PACs Priorities USA Action and Correct the Record.
Alper and Moore are Clinton advisers who have raised over $100,000 for her
campaign. Dewey Square Group, as we’ve reported,
was retained by the health insurance industry to undermine health reform
efforts in 2009, including proposals to change Medicare Advantage.
The firm has
previously worked to influence policy on behalf of Enron, Countrywide,
Citigroup, Coca-Cola, the U.S. Telecom Association and News Corporation.
Jennifer Cunningham is the
managing director of SKDKnickerbocker, a political consulting firm that
provides a variety of services, including advertising and direct lobbying of
public officials. In recent years, SKDKnickerbocker helped a coalition of
corporate clients lobby
the Obama administration on a tax cut for overseas earnings; lobbied for
weakened rules governing for-profit colleges; and helped a food industry
group undermine
Michelle Obama’s nutrition guidelines for foods marketed to children. Recent records show
that the firm is providing consulting work for Independence USA PAC, the Super
PAC backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.
Tonio Burgos, a fundraiser
for Clinton, is a lobbyist registered to
influence New York City officials. Burgos’ current client list includes
Verizon, Pfizer, and American Airlines.
Emily Giske, also a lobbyist
in New York City, is registered to work on behalf of Airbnb, Yum Brands (the
parent company of Taco Bell), Pfizer, and the Securities Industry and Financial
Markets Association, a trade group for Wall Street firms such as Goldman
Sachs, Fidelity, and Bank of America.
Although they make up only a
small proportion of the superdelegates, the presence of lobbyists in such a
potentially decisive role adds fuel to the critique that the Democratic
Party is influenced by monied special interests. In recent months, the DNC
quietly repealed rules
instituted by Barack Obama that banned lobbyists from donating to the
party.
Asked about the role of
lobbyists as superdelegates, DNC spokesperson Deshundra Jefferson referred us
to a blog
post on Medium by Patrice Taylor, the director of party affairs and
delegate selection. The post does not explain why professional influence
peddlers were designated as superdelegates. As many commenters have noted,
the post by Taylor also uses a distorted pie chart that minimizes
the share of superdelegates in the total number of party delegates.
Superdelegates were added to
the nomination process as a reaction to the chaotic 1980 Democratic convention,
in which supporters of Ted Kennedy attempted to challenge President Jimmy
Carter. The goal was to give the party elites more control. In 2008,
superdelegates flocked to Clinton over Obama, creating a similar
controversy over the possibility of subverting the democratic process.
The party has received
increasing scrutiny as many activists have decried what appears to be a system
designed to benefit establishment candidates, particularly
Clinton. MoveOn.org sponsored
a petition calling for the DNC not to allow the superdelegates to “deny
democracy.”
Update: After publishing this
story, we noticed several other Clinton-supporting superdelegates who work in
the lobbying industry. See the tweets below (and click here to
follow the links provided):
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