Political Influence on a Think Tank

Many posts have discussed the political role of think tanks, as well as the ways in which political figures try to influence media coverage.  Zaid Jilani, who used to blog for the Center for American Progress, addresses both issues, recalling what happened when he criticized the Obama administration's Afghanistan policy.

The post was one of the most successful things I had ever written to that point. It was featured by MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and the Congressional Progressive Caucus used it in their briefings to criticize Obama’s plan. I felt great — like I was actually doing the right thing about Afghanistan for once at an institution that had remained quiet or supportive of Obama’s policy there, which in my view was accomplishing little but more bloodshed.

But then phone calls from the White House started pouring in, berating my bosses for being critical of Obama on this policy. Obama’s advisor Ben Rhodes — speaking of a staffer who follows policy set by others for his career path — even made a post on the White House blog more or less attacking my chart by fudging the numbers and including both the Iraq and Afghan troop levels in a single chart to make it seem as if the surge never happened (the marvels of things you can do in Excel!).

Soon afterwards all of us ThinkProgress national security bloggers were called into a meeting with CAP senior staff and basically berated for opposing the Afghan war and creating daylight between us and Obama. It confused me a lot because on the one hand, CAP was advertising to donors that it opposed the Afghan war — in our “Progressive Party,” the annual fundraising party we do with both Big Name Progressive Donors and corporate lobbyists (in the same room!) we even advertised that we wanted to end the war in Afghanistan.

But what that meeting with CAP senior staff showed me was that they viewed being closer to Obama and aligning with his policy as more important than demonstrating progressive principle, if that meant breaking with Obama. Essentially, they were doing the same thing to us RT America is telling its American producers to do now — align with your boss, who is the president of the country.

Millennials

Pew reports:

The Millennial generation is forging a distinctive path into adulthood. Now ranging in age from 18 to 331, they are relatively unattached to organized politics and religion, linked by social media, burdened by debt, distrustful of people, in no rush to marry— and optimistic about the future.

They are also America’s most racially diverse generation. In all of these dimensions, they are different from today’s older generations. And in many, they are also different from older adults back when they were the age Millennials are now.

Pew Research Center surveys show that half of Millennials (50%) now describe themselves as political independents and about three-in-ten (29%) say they are not affiliated with any religion. These are at or near the highest levels of political and religious disaffiliation recorded for any generation in the quarter-century that the Pew Research Center has been polling on these topics.

...

These findings are based on a new Pew Research Center survey conducted Feb. 14-23, 2014 among 1,821 adults nationwide, including 617 Millennial adults, and analysis of other Pew Research Center surveys conducted between 1990 and 2014.

Governors and Credit-Claiming

At The New York Times, Timothy Egan says that California is doing well.

It’s unfair to give all credit for the Golden State revival to Jerry Brown. But the man, who will be 76 next month and was both the youngest and oldest governor of California, and who just announced a plan to run for a fourth term with an approval rating approaching 60 percent, deserves the lion’s share.

This article overlooks some important things.  By one measure, California has the highest poverty rate in the United States.  By another, it has one of the highest levels of inequality. The roads are bad and the schools are mediocre.  As the governor has acknowledged, unfunded liabilities are a big threat, and some cities have already gone bankrupt.

True, the state did not have a budget crisis last year.  But if Brown deserves the "lion's share" of credit, why are so many other states -- pursuing very different policies -- doing just as well?

Jerry Brown, Chris Christie and many of their fellow governors across the country are taking credit for the effects of a national economic recovery.

A few years ago, the effects of the Great Recession were causing huge fiscal problems for the states.  Demands for spending were up and revenues were down.

After several years of growth (albeit modest), the money iscoming into state coffers and the fiscal pressures are not as great. 

In California, Brown sees an improved fiscal situation and says his policies are responsible.  In Wisconsin, Scott Walker sees an improved fiscal situation and says his policies are responsible – even though his agenda is different from Brown’s.  (See his book Unintimidated.)  Ditto Chris Christie in New Jersey, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and Andrew Cuomo in New York.  Some states are in trouble (e.g., Illinois), but most governors of both parties are in good shape. 

Of course, if there is a downturn, these same governors will morph from heroes to goats, even though they aren’t any more responsible for recessions than for recoveries.

Lobbying the Ukraine Crisis

CNBC reports:

In Washington, Vladimir Putin's Russian government has all the usual tools of statecraft at its disposal—an enormous embassy compound on Wisconsin Avenue, a stately Beaux-Arts ambassador's residence on 16th Street, and even a Ministry of Foreign Affairs Twitter account: @mfa_russia.

But the Putin government also has less visible tools of influence in Washington: a battery of well-paid American public affairs experts and lobbyists, each helping to push the Russian government's line in the U.S. capital.

...

According to records maintained by the Justice Department, the Putin government exerts most of its behind-the-scenes influence in the U.S. through the public relations firm Ketchum, which documents show was paid more than $1.5 million in the most recent six-month reporting period for its work on behalf of Russia.

What does Ketchum do for that cash? Mostly distribute press releases, the documents say ... Ketchum is also charged with managing the Twitter account. One day after Russian forces apparently seized control of key sites in Crimea, that Twitter account instead focused on the Olympics, which had ended a week earlier. The account included this tweet: "If you could have attended any #Sochi2014 event, which would you chose?"

...
Ketchum has also hired high-powered subcontractors to work on the Russian account, including the law firm of Alston & Bird, which is the professional home of former senator and GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole and former Democratic congressman Earl Pomeroy, among others.

...
Another law and lobbying firm, Venable, has been hired by Ketchum to work on the Gazprom Export account. Venable is the professional home to former Democratic congressman Bart Stupak, among others. According to a 2010 engagement letter on file with the Department of Justice, Venable expected to be paid $28,000 per month plus any travel expenses incurred by the firm.

Ukraine is also lobbying, as Bloomberg reports:

Democrat Jim Slattery and Republican Vin Weber represented opposing parties for a decade in the U.S. House of Representatives. Today, the two former members of Congress are aligned in advocating for a western-leaning Ukraine.

The two ex-lawmakers were among the lobbyists paid more than $1 million last year to represent partisans in the Ukrainian conflict, Senate records show. It’s a familiar tactical move as a number of countries undergoing political upheaval, including Egypt and Libya, are turning to former elected and government officials to make their case in Washington.

National Sunshine Week

At The Washington Post, Kolby Itkowitz notes that National Sunshine Week begins on March 16.

So, to get us in the holiday spirit, let’s go back to 2009 when, for those of us who joust regularly with government officials for a morsel of information, hope and change still felt fresh and within reach, and the new Obama White House pledged unprecedented transparency.

...

Some agencies have taken transparency to heart. For others, it’s enemy territory. At the end of the year, the Sunlight Foundation called out the Departments of Commerce and Defense and Veterans Affairs as top offenders. (Education and EPA were the good guys in their review.)
So the White House is putting agencies on notice – publicly.

Todd Park, the administration’s chief technology officer, last week sent agencies a guidance memo (for the first time since 2009) that made public new metrics to use when writing their 2014 Open Government Plans — the third round of action plans intended to build a “presumption of openness” into everyday operations.

By April 1, around 100 departments must submit an outline that includes a “flagship initiative” described in the guidance as “at least one specific new transparency, participation or collaboration initiative that your agency is currently implementing.”

The notice also continues the White House missive that agencies reduce its FOIA backlog by 10 percent annually, a figure the Department of Justice boasts in its annual report that the overall government exceeded in 2012.

But one skeptical open government observer tells the Loop that some success on that front is because “agencies are playing fast and loose with the statistics.” Denying a FOIA request counts toward reducing backlog.

"I am proud to be an American and believe in disseminating the truth and that is why after this newscast I’m resigning.”

James Kirchick writes at The Daily Beast:

American journalist Liz Wahl just made Vladimir Putin’s enemies list.

Wahl, an American anchor for RT-America, a cable news network funded by the Russian government, stunned viewers Wednesday, when, at the end of her 5 PM broadcast, she announced her resignation from the channel.

...

“As a reporter on this network I face many ethical and moral challenges especially me personally coming from a family whose grandparents came here as refugees during the Hungarian revolution, ironically to escape the Soviet forces,” she told network viewers, immediately following a report claiming that the new Ukrainian government, which ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, is composed mainly of fascists and neo-Nazis. “I’m very lucky to have grown up here in the United States. I’m the daughter of a veteran. My partner is a physician at a military base where he sees every day the first-hand accounts of the ultimate prices that people pay for this country. And that is why personally I cannot be part of a network that whitewashes the actions of Putin. I am proud to be an American and believe in disseminating the truth and that is why after this newscast I’m resigning.”

Rejecting a Nominee

Byron York reports at The Washington Examiner:

Senate Democrats killed the filibuster for nominations because they wanted to be able to confirm the president's choices for top administration positions even if Republicans were united in opposition. From now on, Democrats ruled, nominations would be confirmed by a simple majority vote. With 55 Democrats in the Senate, and as few as 51 required for confirmation, the change virtually guaranteed success for the president's nominees.

But even a rule change was not enough to save the nomination of Debo Adegbile, the former NAACP Legal Defense Fund official who was the president's choice to head the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Seven Democrats -- Bob Casey, Joe Donnelly, Heidi Heitkamp, Chris Coons, Joe Manchin, Mark Pryor, and John Walsh -- abandoned Abegdile Wednesday in a vote to move forward with the nomination. (Majority Leader Harry Reid switched his vote to 'no' at the end, but that was just a procedural maneuver to allow for possible future reconsideration of the matter.) The final vote on Adegbile, including Reid's switch, was 52-47.

Five of the seven Democrats -- Donnelly (Indiana), Manchin (West Virginia), Pryor (Arkansas), Heitkamp (North Dakota), and Walsh (Montana) come from states that Mitt Romney carried.  

Casey represents Pennsylvania, an Obama state. But it was also the state of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner, who died at the hands of Mumia Abu-Jamal.  Adegbile worked on a legal brief in Abu-Jamal's defense.  Delaware is in the Philadelphia media market, which may also explain Coons's vote.