Hutchison, KB Sen

wiki

Environmental record

In 2006, Hutchison received more campaign contributions from members of large oil and gas corporations than any other member of Congress.^[33] In 2005, Hutchison voted against prohibiting oil leasing in Alaska'sArctic National Wildlife Refuge, and has supported legislation promoting drilling in the refuge in 2002 and 2003. In 2005 she also voted against including oil and gas smokestacks in the Environmental Protection Agency's mercury regulations.^[34][35] In 1999, she voted to remove funding for renewable and solar energy, although she has more recently stated she supports the development of alternative energy sources.^[36]According to the League of Conservation Voters environmental scorecard, Hutchison received a rating of zero — the lowest possible score — in the 104th Congress.^[37] However, they have since upgraded her to a grade of 18% in the 110th Congress^[38]

reasonable on guns after bailling? but 86d DC gun law

WASHINGTON -- Two recently retired senior Republican members of Congress have joined lobbying firms as senior advisers, offering their years of experience on Capitol Hill to help clients navigate the political and regulatory landscape.

Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) will join the firm Bracewell Giuliani, where former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is a partner. Former Republican House member Cliff Stearns (Fla.) has also joined a lobbying and public affairs firm, APCO Worldwide. Hutchinson retired in 2012, while Stearns lost a Republican primary election by about 1% of the vote in the 2012 election.

Hutchinson's husband, municipal bond lawyer Ray Hutchinson, already works at Bracewell Giuliani, and firm chairman Patrick Oxford was a campaign manager for a number of Sen. Hutchinson's political campaigns.

A press release by the firm said Hutchinson will be"a senior counsel" at the firm, where she will "advise clients in banking, energy, telecommunications and transportation." Hutchinson knows these sectors well. Over ten years in the Senate, Hutchinson rose to occupy the top Republican spot on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

For a retired senator to move to a law firm after leaving the Senate is common -- the pay is usually in the mid-six figures, and it's a way to make the most of a career's worth of contacts. But for Hutchinson, who said in 2011 that she was considering a run for president, the move could prove awkward should she choose to pursue a candidacy.

By Juliet Eilperin

As Congress and the administration gear up for the fight over possible new curbs on U.S. greenhouse gas emitters this year, oil refining powerhouse Tesoro Corp. is expanding its Washington office.

The San Antonio, Tex.-based Fortune 100 company announced Monday that is has just hired Jamie Moore, a former senior aide to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison(R-Tex.), as director of federal government affairs. Moore will focus on representing Tesoro before Congress and the executive branch, according to company officials. He joins Stephen H. Brown, vice president and counsel for federal government affairs.

"Jamie brings tremendous familiarity with the issues facing our industry and a wealth of legislative experience developed over eight years of working in Senate Republican leadership circles," said Stephen Brown, Tesoro's vice president and counsel for federal government affairs.

At least no one can say independent oil refiners aren't doing their part to create jobs during this tough economic time.

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"Both senators from eight states of the 'Toxic 20' states -- Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi -- supported a resolution by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., to repeal the health-protective mercury and air toxics standard."

Tesoro’s politics

Tesoro tried to hijack Washington policy by contributing $90,000 to a Tim Eyman initiative to give a one-third minority of state legislators the ability to block legislation. Tesoro was the initiative’s second-biggest funder.
In California, Tesoro spent $1.5 million in 2010 to fund a campaign to weaken the state’s environmental protection laws, and the firm worked to recruit other oil companies to join this effort. As then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said at the time, “Today, Valero and Tesoro are in a conspiracy. Not in a criminal conspiracy, but a cynical one about self-serving greed.”
In March 2011, Tesoro CEO Greg Goff went on record opposing any effort by the US EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change.
Tesoro has sought to benefit from the revolving door between government and industry.Jamie Moore, Tesoro’s Director of Federal Government Affairs, worked as senior policy adviser to former Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for eight years. During that period, he assisted with formulating the Energy Policy Act of 2005, that exempted oil and gas companies from certain requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act and gave $2.8 billion in tax breaks to the fossil fuels industry. Hutchison was one of the biggest beneficiaries of campaign contributions from Tesoro’s PAC in the 2010 election cycle, even though she had already announced her retirement. Hutchison retired in 2012 and joined a lobbying firm in 2013 that has represented Tesoro.

Moore has joined Tesoro Corp. as its new director of federal government affairs. Moore worked for eight years as a senior policy adviser to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas). There, he worked on several pieces of energy legislation, including the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/lobbying-hires/75589-lobbying-world#ixzz2ysm6VB8A

Tea Party-Backed Senate Candidate Once Tried to End Scholarships for Minority Students

SUBMITTED BY Brian Tashman on Thursday, 1/27/2011 2:54 pm

After Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced her retirement after she was declared a top target of Tea Party activists, the race for the Republican nomination became even more crowded and contentious. Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams immediately became a Tea Party sensation and last week resigned from the Railroad Commission in order to be a full-time candidate.

The American Spectator today features a glowing profile of Williams, saying that “something about him says ‘Don’t mess with Texas.’”

Williams even won the endorsement of Tea Party leader Sen. Jim DeMint, who’s Senate Conservatives Fund lifted a number of far-right candidates like Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell to victory in GOP primary contests.

But Williams first garnered the support of the Party’s far-right when he unsuccessfully tried to block scholarships for minority students when he worked at the Department of Education under President George H. W. Bush. TheNew York Times reported in 1990 that Williams caused uproar when he tried to prohibit “colleges and universities that receive Federal funds from offering scholarships designated for minority students.”

:{Michael L. Williams, the Education Department's Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, said yesterday that "race-exclusive" scholarships, or those based on ethnic origin, were discriminatory and therefore illegal.

College administrators and scholarship fund directors reacted with alarm, saying the decision could reverse decades of efforts to increase the enrollment of members of racial and ethnic minorities who have been historically underrepresented in colleges.

"We were shocked by this decision," said Richard F. Rosser, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, which represents 815 institutions. "We have been making enormous efforts to increase the numbers of minority students in our colleges and universities, and this has necessarily required a great deal of financial aid."

Neither Rosser nor anyone else contacted yesterday could say how many institutions, or what percentage of total financial aid to minority students, might be affected by the new enforcement policy. But the practice of setting aside money to attract qualified minority students and make college more affordable for them has been widespread for at least 20 years.}:

Ultimately, then-Secretary Lamar Alexander (now a Republican Senator from Tennessee) stopped Williams from implementing his policy, including his attempt to block the Fiesta Bowl from setting “aside $100,000 for a fund for minority scholarships.” As Williams happily notes in his campaign’s biography, he succeeded Clarence Thomas in his position at the Education Department.

In a Republican primary in Texas where each candidate has to demonstrate their right-wing credentials, Williams may try to use this case to his advantage.

FILED UNDER

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/tea-party-backed-senate-candidate-once-tried-end-scholarships-minority-students#sthash.Z1xUuEJy.dpuf

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position Lobbyist

bio

Lisa Jaeger is a lobbyist for Bracewell & Giuliani who specializes in cases involving climate change litigation and the Clean Air Act, specifically in her ability to work on “revisions” on behalf of industry clients, and to “challenge” the law in ways that benefit business clients.

Lisa Jaeger previously worked for Bracewell & Patterson before spending four years in the George W. Bush administration EPA as a Deputy General Counsel and then Acting General Counsel. She returned to lobbying with Bracewell & Giuliani afterwards, where her clients are almost exclusively companies directly or indirectly tied to the coal or oil industries.

Jaeger’s political ties stem back to her position as a legislative assistant with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), and as associate director of the office of cabinet affairs in the George H. W. Bush White House. Lisa Jaeger also has teaching experience at Catholic University and Johns Hopkins University.

EVIDENCE

With the George W. Bush administration EPA, Lisa Jaeger worked to weaken environmental laws after it became clear Congress would not write new legislation. Jaeger claimed that the Bush administration was "a champion on the environment."

From 1999-2000—prior to joining the EPA—Jaeger’s clients through Bracewell & Patterson included Enron, BP, Shell, Valero, the Industrial Refiners Coalition, and the Council of Industrial Boiler Owners (CIBO).

At present with Bracewell & Giuliani, Lisa Jaeger continues to serve the CIBO, as well as Texas refiners Tesoro and Valero (who fought California's climate law through 2010 Proposition 23), Southern Company, Dynergy, Waste Management, and the privately-held agribusiness giant, Cargill. On behalf of these clients, Jaeger fought to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from classifying coal ash as hazardous, even though it contains high and concentrated levels of known neurotoxins and carcinogens, such as arsenic, mercury, and lead, as well as radioactive elements. Jaeger has met with officials from EPA, the White House’s Council of Environmental Quality, and the Office of Management and Budget on behalf of CIBO.

In January, 2009, Jaeger was quoted in Electric Utility Week*, claiming that coal ash regulation “has been positive,” and discouraged federal regulation of the waste. Elaborating, Jaeger said, “Ash management facilities have an excellent safety and environmental record and are subject to a schedule of routine inspections, maintenance and record-keeping.” This statement occurred just three weeks after the Tennesee Valley Authority Kingston fly ash impoundment failed, spilling over one billion gallons of toxic waste (100 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill) into the Emory River. Close to two years after the disaster, the area remains heavily polluted. (See EPA pictures and maps of the disaster).

Lisa Jaeger also represents both Valero and Tesoro, the Texas-based oil refinery companies that combined have spent over $5.5 million to supportProposition 23, which would suspend California’s global warming law. This would delay progress on greenhouse gas reductions and clean energy implementation until state unemployment stays below 5.5% for a full year, something that has only happened three times in the last 40 years.

* “TVA sludge spill tarnished coal’s outlook; new federal coal-ash requirements likely”

Cathy Cash and Mary Powers, Electric Utility Week, January 12, 2009

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Bracewell & Giuliani - Lisa Jaeger info

OpenSecrets - Lisa Jaeger lobbyist profile

Smoke Screen: How Bush Insiders Distorted - and Still Influence - America's Debate Over Climate Change (CREW Report)

Implu - Lisa Jaeger lobbying disclosure forms

QUOTES

"Any alleged Clean Air Act authority for EPA to regulate carbon dioxide is just that: alleged."

-Mother Jones, Decmember 14, 2009

“Ash management facilities have an excellent safety and environmental record and are subject to a schedule of routine inspections, maintenance and record-keeping.”

-“TVA sludge spill tarnished coal’s outlook; new federal coal-ash requirements likely”

Cathy Cash and Mary Powers, Electric Utility Week, January 12, 2009

"The [George W. Bush] administration has been a champion on the environment."

-National Public Radio, April 3, 2007

http://www.polluterwatch.com/polluter-info/147

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