Watch How Fast Lobbyists Will Get Busy Lobbying Against Frank Wolf's Provision

According to an item in Al Kamen's "In the Loop" column from Thursday's Washington Post it looks like ole Frank Wolf (R-VA) may be spoiling the whole premise of Ken Silverstein's delightful book about Beltway lobbying. Turkmeniscam: How Washington Lobbyists Fought to Flack for a Stalinist Dictatorship, a book we've covered here with great affection in the past. According to Kamen, there'll be no more working for the bad guys... at least not if Wolf's provision that got approved by the House Appropriations Committee makes it all the way into law, something I'll believe when I see-- and after I examine the loopholes. Kamen points out that the provision "trims a lucrative client base for former presidents, members of Congress, top spies and senior political appointees. Those officials, as well as retired generals and admirals, would be barred from lobbying for certain unpleasant governments-- and any companies they own or control -- for 10 years after leaving federal office."

Which countries, exactly? It would apply to "any countries the State Department designates as a 'Country of Particular Concern' for severe human rights violations and religious persecution... so, as of now, Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan. Did you catch Saudi Arabia on that list? And China?

In 2007 Harper's published a piece by John MacArthur, The Vast Power of the Saudi Lobby. MacArthur notes that "The long and corrupt history of American-Saudi relations centers around the kingdom's vast reserves of easily extractable oil, of course. Ever since President Franklin D. Roosevelt met aboard ship in 1945 with King Ibn Saud, the special relationship with the desert kingdom has only grown stronger. The House of Saud is usually happy to sell us oil at a consistent and reasonable price and then increase production if unseemly market forces drive the world price of a barrel too high for U.S. consumers. In exchange we arm the Saudis to the teeth and turn a blind eye to their medieval approach to crime and punishment."

Although the Saudi ambassadors have had enough influence in Washington on their own-- especially when they have business partners like the Bushs in the White House-- to not even need lobbyists, it's estimated that they've spent something like $100 million to DC lobbyists since 2000. Hill & Knowlton, a heavy duty pack of corrupt mostly Republican lobbyists, has been working for them since 1982 (as well as for Kuwait, the BCCI, the Church of Scientology, the fracking industry and the tobacco industry). Principles include former Bush factotum and Rove partner Dan Bartlett, Bush and McCain aide Mark McKinnon, and former congressman and Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta. Another recipient of Saudi largesse is another of Washington's sleaziest and least trustworthy lobbyist firms, Qorvis (whose offices were raided by the FBI in 2004) and which specializes in representing rogue governments and brutal international pariah states and ruthless criminal billionaires from all over the world. Aside from the Saudis they also represent Koch Industries, Halliburton, the Bahrain "royal" family, Massey Energy, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the Sugar Association and Amazon.com. Considered among the worst of the worst, even inside the Beltway sewer system, Qorvis doesn't care if their employees are Democrats (like Matt Lauer and Rich Masters) or Republicans (like John Reid), just as long as they don't let ethics or patriotism get in the way of their efforts. The Saudis have rewarded them with over $60 million so far. Other particularly slimy K Street firms peddling influence for the Saudi "royal" family include the Gray Loeffler Group ($10.5 million), headed by ex-congressmen Ted Loeffler (R-TX) and William Gray III (D-PA); Patton Boggs (over $3 million), a ConservaDem firm best known for backing the worst of the international "free trade" assaults on American workers and staffed with half the right-wing Democrats you ever heard of from former Louisiana Senator John Breaux to a bunch of ex-congressmen named Boggs from the Louisiana bogs-- and they hire Republicans too, of course, like Benjamin Ginsberg, the architect of Bush's theft of the 2000 election in Florida; Burson-Marsteller (over $3 million) with household names like Mark Penn and Karen Hughes; Dutton & Dutton (over $3 million) once headed by Democratic power broker Fred Dutton, also known as "Fred of Arabia" and "Dutton of Arabia"; and Fleishman-Hillard (over $6 million).

Saturday Zaid Jilani published a piece in Republic Reports discussing how some of the most vile and contemptible former Democratic members of Congress-- lowlife scum like Blanche Lincoln (Blue Dog-AR) and Bud Cramer (Blue Dog-AL)-- had a conference to bitch about how there just aren't enough conservative Democrats anymore and how hard it is to find people easily bribed on their side of the aisle.

As Kamen noted, an earlier version of Wolf's bill had "a worldwide ban on such lobbying, but that seemed a bit too much for some members. The financial services bill, a must-pass measure, is headed for conference with a Senate version. We’ll see whether the Senate goes along. (Before panic sets in, it should be noted the bill is not retroactive.)"