Apple Hires Former Senate Staffer as New Lobbyist in Washington

[darkplanets]

Then make a change and help get money out of politics

http://www.wolf-pac.com/

Preferably before it's too late.

That's only one part of the problem.

Ideally, we also wouldn't have such gerrymandered districts, and we'd also have term limits. They way things are currently districted, it's hard for any real change to occur, money aside -- most places are locked one way or another, which is why there's only a handful of places with swing voting.

If you want to kill some time and cringe for a bit, play these games:
Jigsaw puzzle
Pretend you're a politician! (Note: Bias present here)

 

[KdParker]

Am I the only one who feels the world would be a better place if we just went scorched earth on DC? So many leaches on society would just go up in smoke.

Not really.

There would just be another group (probably more corrupt) to take its place.

 

[s2mikey]

I have to disagree with you on this point. Lobbyists themselves are not necessarily or inherently corrupt but can be corrupted depending on the circumstances.

And yes, a cynical look would be to consider this buying a politician or buying a degree of preferential treatment with upcoming legislation.

A more realistic look however involves considering every angle. True Apple does what it can to minimize the amount of taxes that they pay (as does the majority of people within a given tax system with examples from not only the U.S but other countries as well), but the reason for having a lobbyist is to argue for special interests and to influence legislation legally (ideally). This is happening with Special portions of the population, other special interest groups, government organizations, companies that wish to do business with the government, religious organizations...etc.

Lobbyists are a necessary part of this system because it provides the representatives of this government with a better understanding of the constituency and also provides for a better form of legislation.

That is just my opinion though.

So - you are FOR laws being written to please those who pay the most campaign funds for taxes to be made extra low or non-existent for the themselves? Alls lobbyists do is whine for the uber-rich so they end up off-shoring profits and evading taxes whenever possible. There are NO lobbyists for middle or working class people. Not a single one.

Yeah, we all try and lower our taxes too but guess what? When you are a poor sap on a W2 based payroll...you dont quite have the same options as Apple or whatever other trillion dollar company has. Not even close.

And - "understanding their constituency"? Really? Did you just get to Earth recently? Just saying.... Ummmm the only thing politicians DONT do is cater to their voting base. They cater to the high-bidder and its NOT you and me. They pander to the worker bees so they get elected but then as always they serve their campaign funders. Its that simple.

 

[RedCroissant]

So - you are FOR laws being written to please those who pay the most campaign funds for taxes to be made extra low or non-existent for the themselves? Alls lobbyists do is whine for the uber-rich so they end up off-shoring profits and evading taxes whenever possible. There are NO lobbyists for middle or working class people. Not a single one.

Yeah, we all try and lower our taxes too but guess what? When you are a poor sap on a W2 based payroll...you dont quite have the same options as Apple or whatever other trillion dollar company has. Not even close.

And - "understanding their constituency"? Really? Did you just get to Earth recently? Just saying.... Ummmm the only thing politicians DONT do is cater to their voting base. They cater to the high-bidder and its NOT you and me. They pander to the worker bees so they get elected but then as always they serve their campaign funders. Its that simple.

Wow. I guess my post COULD have been read that way, but that’s not what I meant. Lobbyists are not all high-powered people working for millions of dollars and large multi-billion and multi-national corporations.

That’s because lobbyists work for special interest GROUPS primarily. Those special interest groups are any groups that have special interests and choose t pay someone to lobby state/federal legislatures for beneficial laws. You don’t think there are lobbyists for Senior citizens groups, veterans groups, disabled veterans groups, medical research groups as well that rely on charitable donations to pay for the lobbyists that way, along with religious organizations lobbying for favorable religion-inspired laws, union organizations, farming co-operatives, private schools, charter schools, the immigrant community…etc.

Yeah, I totally just arrived here and have absolutely no clue about this whatsoever. The weather’s not too bad actually considering what I heard about global warming on my other planet. Kind of humid, but mostly ok. Luckily I’ve been able to convert to breathing through my lungs instead of through my eyes. Plus, now I can use my eyes solely for observing the environment and adjusting accordingly. How silly of me to reveal my alienness by posting in a thread on MacRumors. I just decided to post on this story because I had a “feeling” that I should.

Not all politicians are corrupt and neither are all lobbyists. You’re simply focusing on the multi-national groups that get the most attention and forgetting about all of the other organizations that lobby as well.

 

[miniyou64]

Not all politicians are corrupt and neither are all lobbyists.

It's mutually exclusive to have understanding of what government is and to not be a "corrupt" politician.

 

[RedCroissant]

It's mutually exclusive to have understanding of what government is and to not be a "corrupt" politician.

I just think that the other posts in this thread have a completely cynical view of government without the possibility of revision based on what little exposure the posters have to government.

Am I saying that the system is perfect? No, I am not. But I am aware of the challenges that at least our government faces with a large and very diverse population and I know that this government enacts great legislation that often goes overlooked due to the "big" stories of large corporations hiring lobbyists.

The only other proposals here to "fix" the government is to get rid of the current system. That is not a fix in and of itself.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Not really.

There would just be another group (probably more corrupt) to take its place.

Thanks,
Keith

I don't see how that's possible. The most corrupt people in the US would all be wiped out - I don't think we have ~1K people (fairly arbitrary number to cover people at the top of all three branches) even as corrupt to replace them with. I'm thinking of the most corrupt, evil, individuals I know personally, and all of them would make great replacements for anyone in DV.

 

[jimbobb24]

As the government and its lawless greed consume everything, everyone with power (the rich, corporations, NGOs) will need a lobbyist just to survive. I just wish I was rich enough to get one so I could push for the government to stay out of my business and regulate my competitors.

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I just think that the other posts in this thread have a completely cynical view of government without the possibility of revision based on what little exposure the posters have to government.

Am I saying that the system is perfect? No, I am not. But I am aware of the challenges that at least our government faces with a large and very diverse population and I know that this government enacts great legislation that often goes overlooked due to the "big" stories of large corporations hiring lobbyists.

The only other proposals here to "fix" the government is to get rid of the current system. That is not a fix in and of itself.

I think you mean realism. The wide eyed love affair with government pretty much died when we discovered public choice economics. We have the data and we have run the models. Government actors behave just like any other agent except with no good incentives - they spend other people's money, they are not accountable for their actual actions (if they pass a horrible law the damage they can do is order of magnitudes greater than any consequence they suffer), and thy are unrestrained by normal human forces, and get to impose their will by force. Unsurprisingly they tend to act as amoral as such a scenario makes them. If we randomly selected our representatives we would most likely by chance find a group of people more able to give us good governance.

 

[RedCroissant]

As the government and its lawless greed consume everything, everyone with power (the rich, corporations, NGOs) will need a lobbyist just to survive. I just wish I was rich enough to get one so I could push for the government to stay out of my business and regulate my competitors.

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I think you mean realism. The wide eyed love affair with government pretty much died when we discovered public choice economics. We have the data and we have run the models. Government actors behave just like any other agent except with no good incentives - they spend other people's money, they are not accountable for their actual actions (if they pass a horrible law the damage they can do is order of magnitudes greater than any consequence they suffer), and thy are unrestrained by normal human forces, and get to impose their will by force. Unsurprisingly they tend to act as amoral as such a scenario makes them. If we randomly selected our representatives we would most likely by chance find a group of people more able to give us good governance.

Strange, but ok. So Apple is not regulated in any way and has the government doing its bidding as far as their competition goes? You’d think with that kind of influence that OS X would have greater market share in the public sector as well as the private. I still see nothing but Windows machines authorized for government use and still see the majority of universities and schools purchasing licenses from Microsoft. Sure, they have iMacs (like at ASU) in every classroom, but they’re also running Windows via VMWare Fusion.

No, I don’t mean realism. If I did, I would have said as much.

I guess it was my mistake to post something reasonable in a thread filled with people who only focus on one corporation and one lobbyist and apply what they believe to be the problem based on their biases and make broad generalizations about the entire government. It’s not realistic at all. It is pure cynicism and it’s ridiculous.

Please provide a link to the data and models.

 

[davidhunternyc]

It's disgusting how normal it is these days to be proud that you are a lobbyist. A lobbyist is someone trying to influence congress by giving money to member of congress for favors that benefit their interests. Congress is supposed to make decisions for and by the people, not for and by corporate interests. This is why members of Congress get a salary. Then members of Congress double dip by taking money from corporate lobbyists? This should be illegal. Apple, like every other company that sends lobbyists to Washington should be ashamed.

 

[RedCroissant]

It is just becoming more and more obvious that people have absolutely no idea what a lobbyist is and what they do. Either that, or they know what a lobbyist is when they work for a large corporation whose policies are either abhorred by or questioned by the person posting.

It seems that this thread is redefining lobbyist as: representative of a large corporation or very rich organization sent to influence the local/state/federal legislature with money and bribes so that the organization that they represent can benefit from current or future legislation. Lame.

a lobbyist is simply a representative of a group/organization..etc in the area of the legislature that the group wishes to influence. Sometimes it’s D.C., and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes lobbyists use strategies other than money (or the opportunity to make money)to influence legislation.

Taking money directly from corporate lobbyists or ANY lobbyist with the intent to modify existing or future legislation due to that payment, which is known as a bribe, IS illegal.

Yes, some lobbyists find other creative ways to influence legislation and I am not saying that I agree with that. However, a lot of other lobbyists don’t do that. AND, you might be surprised to hear that there might even be some lobbyists doing things in unethical ways to benefit the middle class. How crazy would that be?

 

[KdParker]

I don't see how that's possible. The most corrupt people in the US would all be wiped out - I don't think we have ~1K people (fairly arbitrary number to cover people at the top of all three branches) even as corrupt to replace them with. I'm thinking of the most corrupt, evil, individuals I know personally, and all of them would make great replacements for anyone in DV.

I think we have more than enough people that are corrupt enough (if not more).

Power corrupts even the smallest amount does.

 

[crackbookpro]

Apple - this is the most disgusting thing you have ever done since putting glass on the back of a phone(iPhone 4).

Silly ignorant move... I thought you were a business with ethics & integrity. You disgust me, and this is disgusting.

 

[bawbac]

Trying to when court battles honestly is not working.
Time to grease the palms of the politicians.

Sickening that Apple is now as bad as Monsanto Inc.

 

[IbisDoc]

Well if the Republican Party wasn't "brain-dead with a gun to its head by the tea-baggers, maybe he's consider a pubbie!

#beholdentotheteabaggers

Wanna bet?

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Do you really think there is a difference? Like the existence of presidents, sides exist purely for bemusement of the 'slaves' (the people). Apple, MS, Google know there isn't a difference and that's why the corporation hires who can get the job done. All the same.

There's a huge difference. That's why Cook hired a Democrat.

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Cook also met with Speaker Boehner last year. If Mitt Romney were president, Cook would have no qualms hiring a Republican lobbyist, his personal political leanings notwithstanding. Corporations tend to follow the crowd in political matters. They just want to defend themselves, rather than advance a particular partisan agenda. Tim Cook is as happy to sell an iPhone to a Tea Party Republican as he is to any Democrat. $650 is $650, regardless of the political affiliation of the customer.

In the real world, that event is considered a "token meeting".

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It's not even a story, really. At least it's not another thread about bird games. Hey ARN, macbirdrumors.com is still available!



While I enjoy your stereotype and roll my eyes at you...It's actually a smart move to hire a well networked Dem. She's well connected with the few Dems left who actually care about jobs, regulations and tax revenue on-shore. Who better to try to convince them Apple's way isn't quite like those other corporations ways.

I'm not trying to make a political statement per se. I see it as a smart (maybe, possibly, backhanded move) [

In other words, who better than a fellow Democrat to succumb to Tim's reality distortion field.