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Chyron Of The Day: MSNBC Claims Former Sen. Larry Craig ‘Lobbying Against Wolves’

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by Tommy Christopher | 1:44 pm, March 2nd, 2011

» 13 comments

On MSNBC Live Tuesday afternoon, Contessa Brewer interviewed National Journal congressional correspondent Major Garrett about the ways in which former members of Congress skirt lobbying rules. The jumping-off point was former Sen. Chris Dodd‘s recent hiring by the MPAA, and while the segment was insightful and informative, the highlight was the revelation that disgraced former Sen. Larry Craig, according to MSNBC’s chyron, “Lobbying Against Wolves.” Somebody call Kevin Costner, I smell a sequel!

Former Sen. Larry Craig, who famously promised to resign-then didn’t-his Senate seat over a sex scandal, is given as an example of a former legislator who picked up the lobbying baton pretty much right at that two year mark, lobbying for a bill that would remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list. Is Craig in the pocket of “Big Sheep’s Clothing?”

No, he’s working for Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, a group with the “don’t do me any favors” mission of “Improving wildlife habitat & hunting opportunity.” While “lobbying against wolves” is one way of putting it, the group is really lobbying for the trophy animals that the wolves kill for food. So that they can be killed by the “sportsmen” instead.

The report itself is a very insightful look at the way members of Congress, like Dodd, can essentially subvert the rule that forbids them from lobbying their former colleagues for two years after leaving the House or Senate. As Garrett points out, a group like the MPAA can reap the benefits of Dodd’s contacts and influence, just as long as he’s not a registered lobbyist, and doesn’t make the calls himself. Like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, the inside game finds a way.

Here’s video of the segment, from MSNBC:

The article that Garrett and Brewer were discussing is available to National Journal subscribers only, but here’s Garrett’s concluding paragraph, which perfectly sums up the effects (insidious and otherwise) of lobbying on our politics:

…voters drive the makeup of Congress, which drives the policy agenda.

But hundreds upon hundreds of smaller deals are cut beneath those currents. And that’s where lobbyists and former lawmakers carve out clout and redirect (or kill) policy ideas. The American Beverage Association, for example, boosted lobbying expenditures by 3,785 percent—from $140,000 one year to $5.4 million the next—during the health care debate to successfully kill a proposed tax on sugary soft drinks. Lobbyists, by drafting the help of former lawmakers, can save their industry clients millions or billions of dollars and, in the manner of Patton Boggs ($70 million in revenue in 2009-10), pocket a hefty profit along the way. As Dorgan and Bennett have shown, nothing could be more bipartisan.

CHris Dodd, Contessa Brewer, Kevin Costner, Larry Craig, MPAA, National Journal, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife

WCinWI

How is this a comment on media? You’re commenting on a story that was merely discussed on media. That’s a pretty loose definition of the concept.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

Sure, the chyron is rather simplistic, but it’s factually true. Those wishing to de-list the wolf are wanting to remove its protections so their numbers could be reduced, which is pretty anti-wolf.
Tommy Christopher

Magister said:
Sure, the chyron is rather simplistic, but it’s factually true. Those wishing to de-list the wolf are wanting to remove its protections so their numbers could be reduced, which is pretty anti-wolf.

I’m not really criticizing the chyron, I just thought it was funny. Of course, they’re anti-wolf.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

Tommy Christopher said:
I’m not really criticizing the chyron, I just thought it was funny. Of course, they’re anti-wolf.

I agree. It’s definitely simplistic, but hey, it fits on a chyron….

The largest private benefactor for the wolf reintroduction program is Ted Turner. He also has staff and facilities dedicated to bison and perhaps other animals about which I’m not aware, but they don’t serve wolf in his restaurants, so you could argue that he’s pro-wolf for altruistic reasons.

Nonetheless considering his lobbying and significant investments, it’d also be factually true if a chyron under his name said “Defender of Wildlife”, but that’d be equally as funny and would probably bring up images of the SuperFriends.

(“Wonder Twin Power… form of a beaver”)
BlueBunny

GOOD STORY TOMMY! THE GRAY WOLF IS A BEAUTIFUL ANIMAL! KEEP IT ALIVE! WITH THE MOVIE RED RIDING HOOD COMING OUT THE WOLVES COULD USE THE HELP!
OxyCon

Former Sen. Larry Craig, who famously promised to resign-then didn’t-his Senate seat over a sex scandal

Really? Taking a dump in a public restroom and making hand gestures under the stall constitutes a “sex scandal”? Even if Craig had held a handwritten sign under the stall that said “free hand jobs”, would that be a “sex scandal” if no actual sex took place? Or is the “sex scandal” that Craig might be gay?

Now you can call the guy a hypocrite and still have a somewhat arguable point, or call what the arresting officer charged him with as indecent, but where was the actual “sex” part of the “scandal”?
Kitsune

I’m not the sort of person most people here who’d support the wolves would get along with politically, but hell, I support the wolves, and can’t support someone lobbying to have them taken off the endangered list when they’re still struggling.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Hogan/179500970 Stephen Hogan

OxyCon said:
Really? Taking a dump in a public restroom and making hand gestures under the stall constitutes a “sex scandal”? Even if Craig had held a handwritten sign under the stall that said “free hand jobs”, would that be a “sex scandal” if no actual sex took place? Or is the “sex scandal” that Craig might be gay?

Now you can call the guy a hypocrite and still have a somewhat arguable point, or call what the arresting officer charged him with as indecent, but where was the actual “sex” part of the “scandal”?

He was accused of, and plead guilty to, soliciting sex from an undercover officer. Thus, the ‘sex’ in ‘sex scandal’.
OxyCon

Stephen Hogan said:
He was accused of, and plead guilty to, soliciting sex from an undercover officer. Thus, the ’sex’ in ’sex scandal’.

Uh…no. The plea he signed was for “Disorderly Conduct”. But nice try though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig#2007_arrest_and_consequences
http://www.facebook.com/people/Stephen-Hogan/179500970 Stephen Hogan

OxyCon said:
Uh…no. The plea he signed was for “Disorderly Conduct”. But nice try though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig#2007_arrest_and_consequences

Fair enough. He plead guilty to disorderly conduct in a plea deal. However, he was still accused of soliciting sex from an undercover officer.
OxyCon

Stephen Hogan said:
Fair enough. He plead guilty to disorderly conduct in a plea deal. However, he was still accused of soliciting sex from an undercover officer.

Therefore, as I asked before, “What sex scandal?” Craig wasn’t masturbating, or engaged in any other kind of sex act. He was merely, supposedly, giving hand signals that only gay men who troll public bathrooms would understand.
chicgoods7

===== http://www.chic-goods.com/ =====

===== http://www.chic-goods.com/ =====
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joseph-Glackin/100000892011713 Joseph Glackin

Love you cafeteria style law’n'order jokers. Craig got busted and pled guilty. End of story. It is despicable how the Congress to K Street shuttle rapes the public, and how both sides do it. As bad is the Pentagon to MIC ladder. Today’s general is tomorrow’s buyer for a defense supplier, and the general he does business with was his aide, and owes him for his stars. Nice work if you can get it.
The list goes on. Dodd, Craig, Lott, Molinari…………. The only answer is to bar members of congress from ever receiving compensation for lobbying after leaving office. the old “appearance of favoritism” argument.