davidson, james h

=<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-foodlobby-idUSBRE83Q0ED20120427">http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-foodlobby-idUSBRE83Q0ED20120427</a>James H. Davidson believes in the First Amendment. The former college newspaper editor turned lawyer turned Senate aide is now one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington.For two decades, Davidson has been the point man for the advertising industry in free speech issues. More recently his clients have also included food and beverage companies in alliance with advertisers. They have joined forces to lead the fight against the proposed government guidelines on sugar, salt and fat in food marketed to 2- to 17-year-olds.Davidson also says there is no proof that food marketing causes obesity, and without it, there is no legal basis for restricting the ads."The First Amendment protects this type of speech," he said.Other lobbyists pointed to the role of potentially unlimited political donations in explaining how industry has been able to so thoroughly defeat the proposed salt, sugar and fat guidelines.In 2009, Congress passed a measure proposed by Harkin and Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) to ask the FTC and three other agencies -- the CDC, the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration -- to draft voluntary nutrition standards for children's food marketing. The two senators were motivated by studies showing that children develop lifelong preferences from watching ads that target them with saltier, sweeter foods than adults.bs bio Davidson counsels companies and business associations on how they can achieve their goals regarding legislation before Congress or regulations before federal agencies.For more than three decades, Jim has effectively represented Fortune 500 companies and leading industry groups on issues involving taxation, agency regulations, government information policy, media regulation, privacy, regulation of advertising, health care, appropriations, and budget policy. Jim is also one of the nation's leading authorities on media and advertising law. In 2011, a coalition he directed prevented adoption by federal agencies of a new standard that would have barred advertising of most food products, including most cereals, whole wheat bread, and low-fat yogurt. Another coalition persuaded Congress not to tax certain types of advertising to help pay for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In April 2012, Reuters described Jim as “one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington” and “the point man for the advertising industry in free speech issues.”During his service on U.S. Senate staffs, Jim served as the chief counsel and staff director of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure, chief counsel of the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, and special assistant to Missouri Senator Stuart Symington. He was the principal Senate staff author of the federal Privacy Act, and of a major amendment to the Freedom of Information Act. While serving on Senate staffs, Jim was recognized in the book, Unelected Representatives: Congressional Staff and the Future of Representative Government.Following a decade of service on Capitol Hill, Jim formed Davidson & Company, a government relations firm that later merged with Polsinelli, one of the nation's top 100 law firms. Jim has served as an adjunct professor of law at the Washington College of Law at American University. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar, The Missouri Bar, the American Bar Association, and writes the “Eye on Washington” column for DTC Perspectives magazine. He is a frequent lecturer on media and advertising issues.==