LegiStorm

Biographical

Family:

Education

• Georgetown University Law Center - JD (1982-1986)

• Brandeis University - BA, English and opera (1977-1981)

  Activities and notes: Massachusetts College Republicans, chair; USA Foundation, co-founder

• Beverly Hills (Calif.) High School - Diploma

Employment History

• Greenberg Traurig LLP (Jan. 2001-2004)

  Lobbyist

• George Bush Presidential Transition Office (Jan. 2001)
  George Walker Bush

  Aide, U.S. Department of the Interior

• Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP (Dec. 1994-Jan. 2001)

  Lobbyist

• Citizens for America (1985-1986)

Associated Organizations

Board membership:

• U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council

  Trustee

Publications

• Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America’s Most Notorious Lobbyist (2011)

Lobbying and Foreign Representation

Listed as lobbyist by registrants:

• Greenberg Traurig LLP (2001-2004)
• K&L Gates LLP

Lobbied on behalf of:

• Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians
• American International Center
• Antonio B. Won Pat Guam International Airport
• Arkema Inc.
• Cherokee Nation Enterprises LLC
See more >>

Registered to represent foreign interests by:

• Greenberg Traurig LLP (2002-2003)
• Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP (1995-2000)

Caught Our Eye

• D.C. Council member-turned-felon is the latest lobbyist to disclose convictions

  Posted by Keturah Hetrick on April 11, 2022
  When former D.C. Council Member Michael Brown (Independent) recently registered as a lobbyist after years of inactivity, he joined the ranks of a growing handful of lobbyists with bribery and other certain convictions to their names. read more

• Posted by Katie Barrows on Sept. 23, 2013
  U.S. lawmakers traveled this August in record numbers for the post-Abramoff era, with travelers jetting to such far-flung locales as China, Tanzania and Israel. read more

• Posted by Garrett Snedeker on May 17, 2013
  Former Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) has scored his first official federal lobbying client with an American-based subsidiary to an Austrian pharmaceutical maker. read more

• Posted by Garrett Snedeker on Dec. 7, 2012
  Two former high-ranking Bush administration officials, one of whom served nearly a year in prison for involvement in the Jack Abramoff scandal, are lobbying for an indian tribe. And they just happen to be married to one another. read more

• Posted by Garrett Snedeker on June 26, 2012
  Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) has brought a former lobbyist and aide to Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) back through the revolving door this month onto her legislative team. read more

• Privately funded congressional trips hit new highs in 2011

  Posted by LegiStorm on Jan. 26, 2012
  Private interests spent a record amount to send members of Congress and their staff on trips on 2011, and the individual trips were longer and costlier than ever before.There were 1,600 privately funded congressional trips in 2011, worth a total of more than $5.8 million, the largest amount since ethics reforms were enacted in 2007 in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal. The total amount is the highest since 2005, when a record 4,917 trips were taken totaling $9.9 million. The record for money spent came in 2004, when 4,780 trips cost nearly $10.4 million. read more

• Posted by Jock Friedly on Jan. 9, 2012
  Ethics scrutiny of Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) trips may have prompted Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) to file details about a 2011 CBC trip in an almost timely manner, but she didn't report any of her other privately financed trips anywhere close to the legally required deadline. read more

• Caribbean trip organizer pleads guilty

  Posted by LegiStorm on April 18, 2011
  The organizer of privately sponsored Caribbean trips which spurred ethics investigations into several lawmakers, including Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), pleaded guilty to lying to investigators, The New York Post reported this weekend. read more

• Privately-sponsored congressional travel hits new low

  Posted by LegiStorm on March 1, 2011
  Lawmakers and their staff took fewer privately-financed trips in 2010 than any other year since LegiStorm started tracking the data, but the average cost of those trips rose to its highest point. read more

• Abramoff probe ends with another conviction

  Posted by LegiStorm on Feb. 11, 2011
  It seems the scandalous saga of Jack Abramoff has finally reached its end. read more

• Everyone was doing it!

  Posted by LegiStorm on Jan. 27, 2011
  "But everyone did it" may not hold up as a legal defense, but the argument of a former Hill staffer implicated in the Jack Abramoff scandal provides an interesting look at the workings of Capitol Hill in its wilder days.Fraser Verrusio, a former staffer to Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), is on trial for accusations he illegally acepted a free trip and tickets to the 2003 World Series and then lied about it in financial disclosures. read more

• It's all in the family for some in Congress

  Posted by LegiStorm on Aug. 30, 2010
  Recent events have shown that to some lawmakers, politics is a family business. read more

• To the victor goes the plane tickets ...

  Posted by LegiStorm on June 30, 2010
  Electoral victory earns the majority party many perks, and having travel paid for by others is one of them. read more

• Trip tally 2009: Israel and beyond

  Posted by LegiStorm on Feb. 24, 2010
  Despite last year's bitter partisan spats, it seems there was at least one area where Republicans and Democrats saw eye-to-eye -- free trips to Israel. read more

• Miami Beach party with lobbyists highlights a congressional travel loophole

  Posted by LegiStorm on Feb. 2, 2010
  A trip to South Florida by a dozen senators last weekend highlights a loophole in congressional travel regulations. read more

• Does everyone do it but nobody tells?

  Posted by LegiStorm on Oct. 16, 2009
  Former congressional aide Kevin Ring secured a hung jury in a corruption trial yesterday by claiming that showering gifts on members of Congress and their staff is the normal way of doing business in Washington. So how many precious gifts have been disclosed by congressional aides? Precious few, it turns out. read more

• Former congressional aide indicted in Abramoff scandal

  Posted by LegiStorm on Aug. 21, 2009
  The scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff continues to reverberate as another former congressional aide was indicted by a federal grand jury on public corruption charges. read more

• Copland latest guilty plea in Abramoff scandal

  Posted by LegiStorm on March 10, 2009
  In what has lately seemed like a near-weekly occurence, another guilty plea has been entered with the Jack Abramoff scandal. read more

• Aftershocks continue in Abramoff case

  Posted by LegiStorm on March 6, 2009
  About a month after his name was linked to the Jack Abramoff scandal, former staffer Fraser Verrusio was charged today for accepting a free trip from lobbyists in 2003. read more

• More news in the Abramoff scandal

  Posted by LegiStorm on Feb. 5, 2009
  The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal won't die. read more

• Former congressional aide pleads guilty

  Posted by LegiStorm on Dec. 12, 2008
  In what has become an all-too-common pattern this year, another former congressional aide pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy in the long-running Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. read more

• Abramoff scandal still reverberates in Washington

  Posted by LegiStorm on Nov. 21, 2008
  Nearly three years after lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and fraud, the scandal is still playing out on Capitol Hill. read more

• Former congressional aide indicted

  Posted by LegiStorm on Sept. 9, 2008
  Yesterday's indictment of Kevin Ring, a former legislative director to Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and colleague of disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, is further evidence of the need for accurate financial disclosures by members of Congress and their top aides. read more

• Foreign Gifts database on LegiStorm

  Posted by LegiStorm on May 12, 2008
  LegiStorm has launched a new database of all foreign gifts (whether tangible gifts or travel) received by members of Congress and their staff in the past decade.
  
  Our database covers from 1999 to the present. In that time, more than 450 gifts in all were reported having been received by congressmen and their aides by foreign governments. These gifts include tangible ones, such as a ceremonial sword, or travel, such as a ride in a military helicopter. Only gifts above what the law has determined to be "minimal value" is considered reportable. The Senate defines "minimal value" as $100, while the House and executive branch adjust the value by inflation. In 2008, the value for the House and executive branch was $335.
  
  Roll Call's Jennifer Yachnin had a story this morning on the subject of foreign gifts: "Even as new ethics restrictions have made it difficult for Members and staff to accept gifts — aside from token baseball caps or T-shirts — one area remains where lawmakers and their staffs can collect trinkets more or less guilt-free: foreign travel."
  
  Gifts and trips from foreign governments are easier to come by than ones provided by domestic interest groups because the ethics clampdown caused largely by the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal has not affected these rules. Foreign gifts are also governed by a separate law, the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act.
  
  Diplomatic protocol often requires the giving and acceptance of gifts. It could be considered rude to turn down a gift from a foreign country.
  
  Interestingly, despite dozens of tangible gifts reported by the Senate and hundreds to executive branch officials, only one House official - former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) - disclosed receiving gifts in the past five years. His largest gift was a $10,000 ceremonial dagger encrusted with precious metals and gems that was bestowed upon him by Morocco. While Hastert filed, his disclosures did not meet the legal requirement that they be filed within 60 days. Instead, they were all filed when he was leaving office and often covered items received years before.
  
  The lack of other House disclosures is odd, especially given that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other House official have made high-profile trips overseas. Yet their lack of disclosures suggests that they have not received the customary treatment accorded to others, including even some Senate aides. House officials claimed to Roll Call that they have received gifts, but no gifts other than Hastert's were worth more than minimal amounts. But they also acknowledged they have had only a dozen items appraised in recent years.
  
  The significance of the disclosures is that federal officials may keep any items that do not meet the reporting threshold. Items of greater value must be turned in to the government, or alternatively can be purchased by the recipient for the appraised value.