#governmentcapture — Public Fediverse posts

RE: https://rssfeed.media/@abcfeeds/116413091256849533

It fills me with joy every time I see a government bail out private industry because the private industry lacks the willingness, capability or capacity to deliver the service that the government sold it*.

*it is a failure on two levels: capitalism and public policy both of which prioritise profit over investment, security and infrastructure.

#auspol #Capitalism #blamecapitalism #capturedgovernment #governmentcapture

RE: https://rssfeed.media/@abcfeeds/116413091256849533

It fills me with joy every time I see a government bail out private industry because the private industry lacks the willingness, capability or capacity to deliver the service that the government sold it*.

*it is a failure on two levels: capitalism and public policy both of which prioritise profit over investment, security and infrastructure.

#auspol #Capitalism #blamecapitalism #capturedgovernment #governmentcapture

RE: https://rssfeed.media/@abcfeeds/116413091256849533

It fills me with joy every time I see a government bail out private industry because the private industry lacks the willingness, capability or capacity to deliver the service that the government sold it*.

*it is a failure on two levels: capitalism and public policy both of which prioritise profit over investment, security and infrastructure.

#auspol #Capitalism #blamecapitalism #capturedgovernment #governmentcapture

RE: https://rssfeed.media/@abcfeeds/116413091256849533

It fills me with joy every time I see a government bail out private industry because the private industry lacks the willingness, capability or capacity to deliver the service that the government sold it*.

*it is a failure on two levels: capitalism and public policy both of which prioritise profit over investment, security and infrastructure.

#auspol #Capitalism #blamecapitalism #capturedgovernment #governmentcapture

The Bernhardt Group’s Lobbying for Antofagasta’s Copper and Nickel Mine on the Edge of the Boundary Waters, Q3 2025

The Bernhardt Group, the lobbying shop set up just down the street from the White House by Trump’s former Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, is now the sole firm lobbying for Antofagasta’s Twin Metals project on the edge of the Boundary Waters (as I noted back in July). The Group’s third quarter disclosure reports income of $110,000 for lobbying on “mine leasing issues” on behalf of Twin Metals. That’s more than double The Bernhardt Group’s Twin Metals Q2 2025 income ($40K), and toward the high end of what other clients pay per quarter.

Bernhardt’s firm has been lobbying for the Twin Metals project in both the House and the Senate and at the White House, the Department of the Interior, and, notably, DOJ. (I am a little surprised that there is no mention here of the Department of Agriculture.) At DOJ, The Bernhardt Group was likely helping to devise and coordinate the legal strategy that saw the federal government do an about-face, join forces with Twin Metals, and get the case before the DC Circuit put on ice.

It’s worth reading this latest disclosure in light of a piece by Brendan Bordelon, Amanda Chu, and Caitlin Oprysko that appeared a couple of days ago in Politico, about the reduced influence of non-Trump affiliated lobbying firms and the concentration of lobbying in one place: the presidency. The article offers a K-Street perspective on Congress’ abdication, the destruction of the administrative state, and the rise of a corrupt personalist regime.

The president and a handful of lieutenants have seized full control over policies once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies, including hyperspecific issues like tariff rates, high-skilled visa fees and funding freezes. Trump’s gravitational pull has forced CEOs to act as their companies’ top lobbyists, plying the president with gifts and concessions to secure their policy priorities. [emphasis mine]

Let’s pause here for clarification. These policies were not just “once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies.” They are lawfully the remit of Congress, but Congress remains supine or, worse, bent over and taking it. Meanwhile, the administration is ridding itself of all those pesky experts at the agencies and conducting sloppy and unlawful “reviews” of its own, as the Department of Agriculture recently did with the Rainy River watershed withdrawal.

Politico puts it more politely than I ever could, but the thrust of the reporting here is no less troubling. As Sam Bagenstos remarked yesterday, “per [Politico], the lobbyists are basically treating Article I as dead.”

The new dynamic has transformed the business of Washington influence, shutting out many veteran lobbyists and excluding even longtime experts from the most important policy fights in Washington. With Congress and the agencies often sidelined, outside lobbying firms and in-house specialists — many with decades of policy experience and cross-party relationships — are declining in importance….

The legislative branch is losing importance as Republicans — in charge of both chambers — take their cues from the White House to a degree that’s unprecedented in modern politics.

“Congress has basically taken itself out of the equation,” said Rich Gold, a Democrat who heads lobbying and law firm Holland & Knight’s public policy and regulation group. “There is a perception that Democrats have not fought back, and Republicans have basically ceded all their authority to the president.”

The same is true at federal agencies, which once operated more independently but are now closely responsive to the president himself.

From K Street’s point of view, there’s only one lever consistently worth pulling — and it sits in the Oval Office.

But rest assured: the lobbying world is adapting.

Despite the upheaval on K Street, Washington’s lobbying sector is on track to earn more money than in any year since 2010, adjusted for inflation — driven by corporations’ mix of enthusiasm and concern about what Trump is doing.

That revenue is flowing away from established firms with policy expertise and robust networks of cross-party contacts, and toward a handful of rising firms able to open the Oval Office door.

The Bernhardt Group is, of course, one such firm.

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#abdication #corruption #governmentCapture #governmentCollapse #kleptocracy #lobbying #personalistRegime #resourceHoarding #Water

The Bernhardt Group’s Lobbying for Antofagasta’s Copper and Nickel Mine on the Edge of the Boundary Waters, Q3 2025

The Bernhardt Group, the lobbying shop set up just down the street from the White House by Trump’s former Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, is now the sole firm lobbying for Antofagasta’s Twin Metals project on the edge of the Boundary Waters (as I noted back in July). The Group’s third quarter disclosure reports income of $110,000 for lobbying on “mine leasing issues” on behalf of Twin Metals. That’s more than double The Bernhardt Group’s Twin Metals Q2 2025 income ($40K), and toward the high end of what other clients pay per quarter.

Bernhardt’s firm has been lobbying for the Twin Metals project in both the House and the Senate and at the White House, the Department of the Interior, and, notably, DOJ. (I am a little surprised that there is no mention here of the Department of Agriculture.) At DOJ, The Bernhardt Group was likely helping to devise and coordinate the legal strategy that saw the federal government do an about-face, join forces with Twin Metals, and get the case before the DC District Court put on ice.

It’s worth reading this latest disclosure in light of a piece by Brendan Bordelon, Amanda Chu, and Caitlin Oprysko that appeared a couple of days ago in Politico, about the reduced influence of non-Trump affiliated lobbying firms and the concentration of lobbying in one place: the presidency. The article offers a K-Street perspective on Congress’ abdication, the destruction of the administrative state, and the rise of a corrupt personalist regime.

The president and a handful of lieutenants have seized full control over policies once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies, including hyperspecific issues like tariff rates, high-skilled visa fees and funding freezes. Trump’s gravitational pull has forced CEOs to act as their companies’ top lobbyists, plying the president with gifts and concessions to secure their policy priorities. [emphasis mine]

Let’s pause here for clarification. These policies were not just “once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies.” They are lawfully the remit of Congress, but Congress remains supine or, worse, bent over and taking it. Meanwhile, the administration is ridding itself of all those pesky experts at the agencies and conducting sloppy and unlawful “reviews” of its own, as the Department of Agriculture recently did with the Rainy River watershed withdrawal.

Politico puts it more politely than I ever could, but the thrust of the reporting here is no less troubling. As Sam Bagenstos remarked yesterday, “per [Politico], the lobbyists are basically treating Article I as dead.”

The new dynamic has transformed the business of Washington influence, shutting out many veteran lobbyists and excluding even longtime experts from the most important policy fights in Washington. With Congress and the agencies often sidelined, outside lobbying firms and in-house specialists — many with decades of policy experience and cross-party relationships — are declining in importance….

The legislative branch is losing importance as Republicans — in charge of both chambers — take their cues from the White House to a degree that’s unprecedented in modern politics.

“Congress has basically taken itself out of the equation,” said Rich Gold, a Democrat who heads lobbying and law firm Holland & Knight’s public policy and regulation group. “There is a perception that Democrats have not fought back, and Republicans have basically ceded all their authority to the president.”

The same is true at federal agencies, which once operated more independently but are now closely responsive to the president himself.

From K Street’s point of view, there’s only one lever consistently worth pulling — and it sits in the Oval Office.

But rest assured: the lobbying world is adapting.

Despite the upheaval on K Street, Washington’s lobbying sector is on track to earn more money than in any year since 2010, adjusted for inflation — driven by corporations’ mix of enthusiasm and concern about what Trump is doing.

That revenue is flowing away from established firms with policy expertise and robust networks of cross-party contacts, and toward a handful of rising firms able to open the Oval Office door.

The Bernhardt Group is, of course, one such firm.

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#abdication #corruption #governmentCapture #governmentCollapse #kleptocracy #lobbying #personalistRegime #resourceHoarding #Water

The Bernhardt Group’s Lobbying for Antofagasta’s Copper and Nickel Mine on the Edge of the Boundary Waters, Q3 2025

The Bernhardt Group, the lobbying shop set up just down the street from the White House by Trump’s former Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, is now the sole firm lobbying for Antofagasta’s Twin Metals project on the edge of the Boundary Waters (as I noted back in July). The Group’s third quarter disclosure reports income of $110,000 for lobbying on “mine leasing issues” on behalf of Twin Metals. That’s more than double The Bernhardt Group’s Twin Metals Q2 2025 income ($40K), and toward the high end of what other clients pay per quarter.

Bernhardt’s firm has been lobbying for the Twin Metals project in both the House and the Senate and at the White House, the Department of the Interior, and, notably, DOJ. (I am a little surprised that there is no mention here of the Department of Agriculture.) At DOJ, The Bernhardt Group was likely helping to devise and coordinate the legal strategy that saw the federal government do an about-face, join forces with Twin Metals, and get the case before the DC District Court put on ice.

It’s worth reading this latest disclosure in light of a piece by Brendan Bordelon, Amanda Chu, and Caitlin Oprysko that appeared a couple of days ago in Politico, about the reduced influence of non-Trump affiliated lobbying firms and the concentration of lobbying in one place: the presidency. The article offers a K-Street perspective on Congress’ abdication, the destruction of the administrative state, and the rise of a corrupt personalist regime.

The president and a handful of lieutenants have seized full control over policies once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies, including hyperspecific issues like tariff rates, high-skilled visa fees and funding freezes. Trump’s gravitational pull has forced CEOs to act as their companies’ top lobbyists, plying the president with gifts and concessions to secure their policy priorities. [emphasis mine]

Let’s pause here for clarification. These policies were not just “once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies.” They are lawfully the remit of Congress, but Congress remains supine or, worse, bent over and taking it. Meanwhile, the administration is ridding itself of all those pesky experts at the agencies and conducting sloppy and unlawful “reviews” of its own, as the Department of Agriculture recently did with the Rainy River watershed withdrawal.

Politico puts it more politely than I ever could, but the thrust of the reporting here is no less troubling. As Sam Bagenstos remarked yesterday, “per [Politico], the lobbyists are basically treating Article I as dead.”

The new dynamic has transformed the business of Washington influence, shutting out many veteran lobbyists and excluding even longtime experts from the most important policy fights in Washington. With Congress and the agencies often sidelined, outside lobbying firms and in-house specialists — many with decades of policy experience and cross-party relationships — are declining in importance….

The legislative branch is losing importance as Republicans — in charge of both chambers — take their cues from the White House to a degree that’s unprecedented in modern politics.

“Congress has basically taken itself out of the equation,” said Rich Gold, a Democrat who heads lobbying and law firm Holland & Knight’s public policy and regulation group. “There is a perception that Democrats have not fought back, and Republicans have basically ceded all their authority to the president.”

The same is true at federal agencies, which once operated more independently but are now closely responsive to the president himself.

From K Street’s point of view, there’s only one lever consistently worth pulling — and it sits in the Oval Office.

But rest assured: the lobbying world is adapting.

Despite the upheaval on K Street, Washington’s lobbying sector is on track to earn more money than in any year since 2010, adjusted for inflation — driven by corporations’ mix of enthusiasm and concern about what Trump is doing.

That revenue is flowing away from established firms with policy expertise and robust networks of cross-party contacts, and toward a handful of rising firms able to open the Oval Office door.

The Bernhardt Group is, of course, one such firm.

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#abdication #corruption #governmentCapture #governmentCollapse #kleptocracy #lobbying #personalistRegime #resourceHoarding #Water

The Bernhardt Group’s Lobbying for Antofagasta’s Copper and Nickel Mine on the Edge of the Boundary Waters, Q3 2025

The Bernhardt Group, the lobbying shop set up just down the street from the White House by Trump’s former Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, is now the sole firm lobbying for Antofagasta’s Twin Metals project on the edge of the Boundary Waters (as I noted back in July). The Group’s third quarter disclosure reports income of $110,000 for lobbying on “mine leasing issues” on behalf of Twin Metals. That’s more than double The Bernhardt Group’s Twin Metals Q2 2025 income ($40K), and toward the high end of what other clients pay per quarter.

Bernhardt’s firm has been lobbying for the Twin Metals project in both the House and the Senate and at the White House, the Department of the Interior, and, notably, DOJ. (I am a little surprised that there is no mention here of the Department of Agriculture.) At DOJ, The Bernhardt Group was likely helping to devise and coordinate the legal strategy that saw the federal government do an about-face, join forces with Twin Metals, and get the case before the DC District Court put on ice.

It’s worth reading this latest disclosure in light of a piece by Brendan Bordelon, Amanda Chu, and Caitlin Oprysko that appeared a couple of days ago in Politico, about the reduced influence of non-Trump affiliated lobbying firms and the concentration of lobbying in one place: the presidency. The article offers a K-Street perspective on Congress’ abdication, the destruction of the administrative state, and the rise of a corrupt personalist regime.

The president and a handful of lieutenants have seized full control over policies once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies, including hyperspecific issues like tariff rates, high-skilled visa fees and funding freezes. Trump’s gravitational pull has forced CEOs to act as their companies’ top lobbyists, plying the president with gifts and concessions to secure their policy priorities. [emphasis mine]

Let’s pause here for clarification. These policies were not just “once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies.” They are lawfully the remit of Congress, but Congress remains supine or, worse, bent over and taking it. Meanwhile, the administration is ridding itself of all those pesky experts at the agencies and conducting sloppy and unlawful “reviews” of its own, as the Department of Agriculture recently did with the Rainy River watershed withdrawal.

Politico puts it more politely than I ever could, but the thrust of the reporting here is no less troubling. As Sam Bagenstos remarked yesterday, “per [Politico], the lobbyists are basically treating Article I as dead.”

The new dynamic has transformed the business of Washington influence, shutting out many veteran lobbyists and excluding even longtime experts from the most important policy fights in Washington. With Congress and the agencies often sidelined, outside lobbying firms and in-house specialists — many with decades of policy experience and cross-party relationships — are declining in importance….

The legislative branch is losing importance as Republicans — in charge of both chambers — take their cues from the White House to a degree that’s unprecedented in modern politics.

“Congress has basically taken itself out of the equation,” said Rich Gold, a Democrat who heads lobbying and law firm Holland & Knight’s public policy and regulation group. “There is a perception that Democrats have not fought back, and Republicans have basically ceded all their authority to the president.”

The same is true at federal agencies, which once operated more independently but are now closely responsive to the president himself.

From K Street’s point of view, there’s only one lever consistently worth pulling — and it sits in the Oval Office.

But rest assured: the lobbying world is adapting.

Despite the upheaval on K Street, Washington’s lobbying sector is on track to earn more money than in any year since 2010, adjusted for inflation — driven by corporations’ mix of enthusiasm and concern about what Trump is doing.

That revenue is flowing away from established firms with policy expertise and robust networks of cross-party contacts, and toward a handful of rising firms able to open the Oval Office door.

The Bernhardt Group is, of course, one such firm.

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#abdication #corruption #governmentCapture #governmentCollapse #kleptocracy #lobbying #personalistRegime #resourceHoarding #Water

The Bernhardt Group’s Lobbying for Antofagasta’s Copper and Nickel Mine on the Edge of the Boundary Waters, Q3 2025

The Bernhardt Group, the lobbying shop set up just down the street from the White House by Trump’s former Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, is now the sole firm lobbying for Antofagasta’s Twin Metals project on the edge of the Boundary Waters (as I noted back in July). The Group’s third quarter disclosure reports income of $110,000 for lobbying on “mine leasing issues” on behalf of Twin Metals. That’s more than double The Bernhardt Group’s Twin Metals Q2 2025 income ($40K), and toward the high end of what other clients pay per quarter.

Bernhardt’s firm has been lobbying for the Twin Metals project in both the House and the Senate and at the White House, the Department of the Interior, and, notably, DOJ. (I am a little surprised that there is no mention here of the Department of Agriculture.) At DOJ, The Bernhardt Group was likely helping to devise and coordinate the legal strategy that saw the federal government do an about-face, join forces with Twin Metals, and get the case before the DC District Court put on ice.

It’s worth reading this latest disclosure in light of a piece by Brendan Bordelon, Amanda Chu, and Caitlin Oprysko that appeared a couple of days ago in Politico, about the reduced influence of non-Trump affiliated lobbying firms and the concentration of lobbying in one place: the presidency. The article offers a K-Street perspective on Congress’ abdication, the destruction of the administrative state, and the rise of a corrupt personalist regime.

The president and a handful of lieutenants have seized full control over policies once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies, including hyperspecific issues like tariff rates, high-skilled visa fees and funding freezes. Trump’s gravitational pull has forced CEOs to act as their companies’ top lobbyists, plying the president with gifts and concessions to secure their policy priorities. [emphasis mine]

Let’s pause here for clarification. These policies were not just “once considered the remit of Congress and experts at agencies.” They are lawfully the remit of Congress, but Congress remains supine or, worse, bent over and taking it. Meanwhile, the administration is ridding itself of all those pesky experts at the agencies and conducting sloppy and unlawful “reviews” of its own, as the Department of Agriculture recently did with the Rainy River watershed withdrawal.

Politico puts it more politely than I ever could, but the thrust of the reporting here is no less troubling. As Sam Bagenstos remarked yesterday, “per [Politico], the lobbyists are basically treating Article I as dead.”

The new dynamic has transformed the business of Washington influence, shutting out many veteran lobbyists and excluding even longtime experts from the most important policy fights in Washington. With Congress and the agencies often sidelined, outside lobbying firms and in-house specialists — many with decades of policy experience and cross-party relationships — are declining in importance….

The legislative branch is losing importance as Republicans — in charge of both chambers — take their cues from the White House to a degree that’s unprecedented in modern politics.

“Congress has basically taken itself out of the equation,” said Rich Gold, a Democrat who heads lobbying and law firm Holland & Knight’s public policy and regulation group. “There is a perception that Democrats have not fought back, and Republicans have basically ceded all their authority to the president.”

The same is true at federal agencies, which once operated more independently but are now closely responsive to the president himself.

From K Street’s point of view, there’s only one lever consistently worth pulling — and it sits in the Oval Office.

But rest assured: the lobbying world is adapting.

Despite the upheaval on K Street, Washington’s lobbying sector is on track to earn more money than in any year since 2010, adjusted for inflation — driven by corporations’ mix of enthusiasm and concern about what Trump is doing.

That revenue is flowing away from established firms with policy expertise and robust networks of cross-party contacts, and toward a handful of rising firms able to open the Oval Office door.

The Bernhardt Group is, of course, one such firm.

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#abdication #corruption #governmentCapture #governmentCollapse #kleptocracy #lobbying #personalistRegime #resourceHoarding #Water

Here’s the Deputy Secretary of the Interior Doing the Bidding of a Foreign Mining Company

On the very same day that the DC District Court of Appeals issued its per curiam opinion putting the Boundary Waters litigation on hold for 90 days, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Kate MacGregor issued this memo, re-instating the Jorjani M-Opinion.

That legal opinion misconstrues history, suppresses evidence, and twists logic to say that Twin Metals has a “non-discretionary” right to renewal of its mining leases on the edge of the Boundary Waters: put crudely, it says that a foreign mining company has more discretion than the United States government over the disposition of federal lands. The US government capitulates and cedes decision-making authority to a foreign conglomerate.

This is the very same legal opinion that led the agencies into a legal and ethical morass during Trump’s first term. (For context, follow this link; it will bring up about four pages of results. For some discussion of the legal opinion, see this, this, and this, at least for starters. The Jorjani M-Opinion was also one focus of my Boundary Waters FOIA litigation. Those public records are posted here.) It feels like we’re caught in a time warp, or some kind of loop.

We are returning to status quo ante, or at least ante Biden. Antofagasta obviously did not like its chances in the DC District Court, and with Doug Burgum’s help it managed to put the litigation on hold. Pete Stauber failed to sneak non-reviewable lease renewals for the Chilean company into the latest budget. But the mining company and its lobbyists were able to pull strings at Interior. Now they will have to undo, or find a way to work around, the twenty-year moratorium on sulfide mining in the Rainy River watershed put in place by the Biden administration.

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#ANTO #authority #corruption #cronyism #DougBurgum #FOIA #governmentCapture #KateMacGregor #kleptocracy #RainyRiverWatershed #selectiveEvidence #Water

David Bernhardt Sets Up His Own Shop to Lobby (indirectly) For Twin Metals

I missed this June Politico story about David Bernhardt breaking with Brownstein Hyatt and setting up his own lobbying shop at 1455 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, just a block away from the White House. The former Secretary of the Interior, who oversaw Trump’s first assault on the Boundary Waters, will now run the Twin Metals lobbying game.

The most recent Senate lobbying disclosures show Brownstein Hyatt filing a termination report on July 16, after collecting $110,000 for lobbying the Senate, House, and the Department of the Interior on behalf of Twin Metals in the second quarter of this year.

Just one day before that, on July 15, the Bernhardt Group LLC filed a new registration, to lobby — not directly for Twin Metals, but for Brownstein Hyatt “obo” (on behalf of) Twin Metals LLC. The Bernhardt Group has the same arrangement “on behalf of” other Brownstein clients, including Barrick Gold, USA Rare Earth, Bakelite, Denver Water, and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District.

In these cases, the Bernhardt Group LLC will lobby for a lobbying firm on behalf of the lobbying firm’s clients. I suppose “subcontractor” is the charitable term here.

Former Brownstein lobbyists with a Twin Metals track record, including Kate Gonzales, William McGrath, and Luke Johnson, will lead the Bernhardt Group’s lobbying effort for their former lobbying firm on behalf of Twin Metals. Their declared focus will be “mine leasing issues.” The Group billed $40,000 in the second quarter for its work.

In 2023, Bernhardt wrote a self-promoting book all about accountability and the “failing” administrative state. So it’s a little odd to see the former Secretary of the Interior’s new lobbying firm enclosed like a Matryoshka doll within another lobbying firm — an arrangement that should raise serious questions about public accountability and what people like Bernhardt call the DC swamp.

Maybe this is just another small reminder that David Bernhardt and the America First crowd were never talking about public accountability; they are complaining that sometimes the DC bureaucracy cannot be brought readily to heel.

For years, this crowd has worked behind the scenes to discredit the very idea of American government while exerting power within it and influence over it; now they are also dismantling the parts that stand in their way, so that their clients and cronies can strip, hoard, and sell our natural resources, our public lands, and other public goods.

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#administrativeState #corruption #deconstructionOfTheAdministrativeState #governmentCapture #governmentFailure #lobbying #lobbyingDisclosures #publicGoods #resourceHoarding