Lobbyists Use Campaign-Style Opposition Research to Turn Tables on Rivals

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photo credit: glyn lowe photoworksIf a lobbying campaign is war, then opposition research is the equivalent of elite special forces.

K Street deploys all sorts of quiet, behind-the-scenes tactics and troops to influence legislation and policy. The most clandestine and high-risk is the use of political-style operatives to dig up dirt on foes.

“Oppo” can discredit, distract and neutralize an opponent. That can be particularly dangerous when the target is a sitting member of Congress. Leave too many footprints, and the effort can boomerang.

Perhaps that’s why former Missouri state lawmaker John Hancock, president and CEO of the Strategy Group for Research, won’t discuss any of his K Street clients. He doesn’t have to because his type of work isn’t covered by lobbying disclosure laws. But the former lobbyist says it’s a growing part of his business.

“Digging in trash cans, we don’t do that,” Hancock said. “We’ve taken some of the principles on the research side that we have traditionally applied to political campaigns and made them available to the government relations industry.”

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Levin: US Gov’t Buying Up Billions Of Rounds Of Ammo, Preparing For Societal Collapse (+audio)

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerOn Friday’s night broadcast of his radio show, Mark Levin speculated that the federal government is stockpiling ammunition to ensure the rule of law in the event of a total societal and economic collapse.

On Feb. 8, Investor’s Business Daily editorial writer Andrew Malcolm penned a piece about the Department of Homeland Security amassing what he called “sufficient firepower to shoot every American about five times –including illegal immigrants,” or more than 1.6 billion bullets.

“I’m going to tell you what I think is going on,” Levin said. “I don’t think insurrection. Law enforcement and national security agencies — they play out multiple scenarios. They simulate multiple scenarios. I’ll tell you what I think they’re simulating: the collapse of our financial system, the collapse of our society and the potential for widespread violence, looting, killing in the streets, because that’s what happens when an economy collapses.”

“I’m not talking about a recession,” Levin continued. “I’m talking about a collapse when people are desperate, when they can’t food and clothing, when they have no way of going from place to place, when they can’t protective themselves. There aren’t enough police officers on the face of the Earth to adequately handle a situation like that.”

The conservative talker and author of “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America” based his hypothesis on his time in the Reagan Justice Department.

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Brennan Sidesteps Query on Drone Kills in U.S.

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Photo Credit: meeshypants In written answers to Senate Intelligence Committee questions released Friday, CIA director nominee John Brennan would not say whether the U.S. could conduct drone strikes inside the United States — only that it did not intend to do so.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has placed a hold on Brennan’s nomination pending an answer to the question of when the government can use lethal force to target a U.S. citizen within the United States. Brennan, as the top White House counterterrorism and homeland security adviser to President Barack Obama, has guided administration policy on the use of drones on foreign battlefields.

Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked Brennan in written follow-up questions to his Feb. 7 confirmation hearing, “Could the administration carry out drone strikes inside the United States?”

Brennan answered, “This administration has not carried out drone strikes inside the United States and has no intention of doing so.”

Nor did Brennan answer who precisely makes final determination within the administration about whether a U.S. citizen who is targeted for death as a suspected terrorist is actually a senior operational leader of al-Qaida, or if that person poses an imminent threat. Those are two of the standards outlined in a Justice Department legal opinion for proceeding with a targeted killing against a U.S. citizen.

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Video: Surveillance Camera Captures The Dramatic Moment When A Security Guard Used An AR-15 To Fend Off Armed Hold Up

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Photo Credit: WJBK-TVDramatic surveillance footage out of the Detroit area shows the heart-stopping moment when a gun-wielding couple stormed into a tax business and started shooting — and a security guard pulled out an AR-15 and drove them away.

The security guard suffered a non-life-threatening wound to the leg and the suspects got away, but otherwise no one was seriously injured in the shootout.

It happened Thursday at a converted home business in Inkster, Mich. A man and woman armed with handguns showed up at the door and announced a holdup, despite the security vehicle parked outside, WJBK-TV reported. The receptionist had gone up to greet them, with the business owner sitting in a chair in the corner. Surveillance footage shows the male suspect pointing a gun at the receptionist’s head, and the security guard scrambling in the back office for the rifle.

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Feds OK First Burial Of A Veteran’s Same-Sex Spouse In A National Cemetery

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Photo Credit: The U.S. Army The government has cleared the first burial of a same-sex spouse of a veteran in a national cemetery, but it’s far from certain how easy it will be for other gay military couples to win the same benefit.

Who gets buried where is one of the practical decisions that the federal government is grappling with following repeal of the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy.

At first glance, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki’s decision to grant burial to a same-sex spouse in Oregon represents a big departure from past federal policy. In 2004, the VA warned the state of Massachusetts that burying the same-sex spouse of a veteran in a state veterans’ cemetery could lead to the federal government taking back nearly $12 million in grant money.

Then in 2008, the National Cemetery Association published a directive stating that individuals in same-sex civil unions or marriage are not eligible for burial in a national cemetery or state veterans cemetery that received federal money. Those directives were based on the language of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines a spouse as a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife. The law is being challenged before the Supreme Court.

Then along came retired Lt. Col. Linda Campbell and her spouse, Nancy Lynchild. Campbell, with help from Oregon officials, pressed the VA to allow Lynchild to be buried at the VA’s Willamette National Cemetery.

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Graham: Obama Knew of Benghazi Threat, Acted ‘After Everybody Was Dead’

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President Barack Obama was aware of two IED attacks on the Benghazi consulate in Libya in the months leading up the the Sept. 11 attack that killed U. S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three others, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham claims.

The South Carolina Republican said James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, told him the president was informed of attacks in April and June, Fox News reports.

The June attack blew a hole in the perimeter wall of the Benghazi compound, and the two strikes were reportedly part of dozens of incidents in the region that are considered warning signs of the deadly attacks in September.

Graham criticized Obama for a White House statement saying the president did not talk to Libya’s leader until the evening of Sept. 12, a day after the embassy was attacked.

“(He talked) after everybody was dead,” said Graham, suggesting Obama could have made a difference if he’d been involved earlier, but “you got a commander in chief who is absolutely disengaged. You got the secretary of State never talking to the secretary of Defense.” Graham’s disclosure came after several Capitol Hill hearings in which several top administration officials, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed they were not aware of the security problems at the Libyan compound.

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Critics Slam Taxpayer-Funded Political Attack: National Cancer Institute Funds Study Calling Tea Party Tobacco-funded AstroTurf

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Photo Credit: Free BeaconCritics of a new study on the Tea Party movement that was funded by a federal agency are lashing out at what they see as improper taxpayer funding for academic work with an overtly political message.

The study in question purports to show that the Tea Party movement was created by and works to advance the interests of the tobacco industry.

Its critics have rejected the study’s findings and expressed particular concern that taxpayer funds were used to support “politically motivated attacks,” in the words of one Tea Party-aligned congressman.

The study, conducted by three academics at the University of California San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, claims that the Tea Party was actually created in the 1990s by conservative groups fighting anti-tobacco policies with money they had received from tobacco companies.

“Rather than being purely a grassroots movement, the Tea Party has been influenced by decades of astroturfing by tobacco and other corporate interests to develop a grassroots network to support their corporate agendas, even though their members may not support those agendas,” the study states.

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Eric Holder: Homeschool Ban Doesn’t Violate Fundamental Rights

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I read an article written by Michael Farris, the founder and chair of HSLDA – the Home School Legal Defense Association. In it he discussed the case made by government lawyers representing Attorney General Eric Holder during the court hearing for the Romeike family. You may remember the Romeike’s sought political asylum in the United States due to Germany’s persecution of homeschooling families. A federal district court judge granted the Romikes asylum here against the wishes of the Federal government. The government appealed that decision to the Board of Immigration appeals and won. HSLDA appealed to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals where the case (Romeike v. Holder) will be heard.

Farris outlined three arguments made by the U.S. Department of Justice lawyers which should be of concern to American homeschooling families:

He said the first argument in essence is that a government isn’t violating anyone’s rights if homeschooling is banned altogether.

“First, they argued that there was no violation of anyone’s protected rights in a law that entirely bans homeschooling. There would only be a problem if Germany banned homeschooling for some but permitted it for others.

Now in reality, Germany does permit some people to homeschool, but it is rare and in general Germany does ban homeschooling broadly—although not completely. (Germany allows exemptions from compulsory attendance for Gypsies and those whose jobs require constant travel. Those who want to stay at home and teach their own children are always denied.)…”

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Legislation Repealing ObamaCare Tax Paid By Small Business Reintroduced

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller A bipartisan coalition of congressmen introduced legislation Friday calling for the repeal of the Health Insurance Tax (HIT) on fully-insured premium markets imposed by ObamaCare.htm” rel=”tag” target=”_blank”>Obamacare.

The tax is expected to primarily fall on small businesses and the self-employed, who are the main purchasers of fully-insured premiums. According to an earlier study, not repealing the tax could cost also cost between 125,000 and 249,000 jobs by 2021 and raise the cost of employer-sponsored insurance by 2-3 percent, a cumulative cost of nearly $5,000 per family.

“The [p]resident’s Health Care law is full of hidden tax increases. Beginning in 2014, millions of American small businesses will be subjected to a new health insurance tax (HIT) coming at a cost over $100 billion. This tax will close many small businesses and kill jobs once implemented,” Louisiana Republican Rep. Charles W. Boustany, a co-sponsor of the measure, said in a statement.

The bill, titled “The Jobs and Premium Protection Act,” is also sponsored by Democratic Utah Rep. Jim Matheson.

“We commend Representatives Boustany and Matheson for rising above the political gridlock and showing bipartisan support for small businesses and the Americans they employ,” said Jim Anderson, vice president of government affairs of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors. “We look forward to working together with all members of Congress to ensure this important bipartisan legislation is passed.”

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Panel Calls Reparative Therapy For Homosexuals A Human Rights Violation

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Photo Credit: Life Site NewsTherapy to help people change unwanted same sex attraction should be banned and labeled a human rights violation, according to a panel of advocates at the Church Center, a gathering place of left-wing groups near the United Nations.

Although the event was advertised as “the first ever UN discussion on the legalities, ethics, and science behind the movement promoting [efforts to change sexual orientation],” it was held off UN property, sponsored by non-governmental organizations, and did not feature representatives of any UN member states.

Researcher Rebecca Jordan-Young of Barnard College said she was “deeply in agreement with the premise of this meeting, that sexual orientation change efforts are in fact a human rights violation and a problem,” while cautioning the audience against relying too heavily on science to back that position.

“We don’t really know how sexual orientation develops,” Jordan-Young continued, adding “there’s a pretty strong trend among people who support human rights and civil rights for gay and lesbian people, to think of sexual orientation as something that’s fundamentally biologically driven…I want to suggest that we don’t want to peg our human rights efforts on that.”

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