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Manufacturers Trade Group Releases Lobbying Funder Names |
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Written by Chelsey Drysdale
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
WASHINGTON – After losing several appeals, the National Association of Manufacturers released the names of 65 companies that provided significant funding to the trade group for first-quarter lobbying activities.
NAM tried to keep the names secret, but ultimately lost an appeal to the Supreme Court for a stay against disclosing the names. A new lobbying law requires trade groups and coalitions to divulge names of members that give more than $5,000 in a quarter for lobbying activities.
The failure to comply was $250,000 in fines and up to five years in prison.
In its April 30 amended report, NAM provided a Web site link to funders’ list. It also revealed first-quarter lobbying expenditures of more than $2.2 million.
Donors included the American Petroleum Institute, AT&T Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Northrop Grumman, Clorox and U.S. Steel, among others. Individual contributions or their specific lobbying activities are not specified.
In the first quarter, the group lobbied patent reform, taxes, trade agreements, climate change, energy-related legislation, transportation, tort reform, high-speed Internet deployment, health and immigration reform.
NAM lobbied Congress, White House, U.S. Trade Representative's office and the Defense, Treasury and Commerce departments, among many others.
NAM, with about 11,000 members, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the lobbying law, and is still appealing an April 11 decision by a federal judge who rejected its argument that a provision violates First Amendment rights.
A federal appeals court and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the group's requests for stays.
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