October 28, 2009 12:56 AM UTC

Jane Norton (alleged) ties to corruption exposed in financials

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• by: Alan

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE: From the Colorado Independent:

Huttner also handed out a copy of the invitation for a Washington, D.C., Norton campaign fundraiser hosted by the candidate’s sister Judy Black and her husband Charlie Black.

The Blacks are part of the capital’s K Street lobbying elite. Judy Black’s clients include companies in the health care, oil and gas and banking industries. Charlie Black worked for tobacco, oil, and drug companies for decades, moving back and forth between leadership positions at lobbying firms and Republican political campaigns and organizations. Judy Black was national co-chair of the 2008 fundraising group “Women for McCain.” Charlie left the firm BKSH & Associates the same year to work as senior adviser for the McCain campaign.

“The fundraiser was hosted at The Monocle,” said Huttner, referring to the swank Capitol Hill restaurant known as a favorite site of lobbyist-lawmaker power lunches. “This is the place,” said Huttner. “It’s within steps of the Senate office buildings.”

Norton, he said, will not be working for the people of Colorado.

“She is the dream candidate of corporate lobbyists in Washington, D.C. They have undue interest in her campaign.”

Huttner renewed calls for Norton to sign a pledge to “fight the undue influences of special interests in Washington” and “reject any trips, gifts, campaign donations or economic benefits” that might come directly from or through her lobbyist relatives. The organization first asked Norton to sign the pledge when she announced her candidacy.

Original post follows.

At a press conference this morning, ProgressNow Colorado described how Norton’s first financial disclosures include corrupt DC lobbyists organized by her sister and brother-in-law, both of whom are DC lobbyists.  They revealed an invitation spearheaded by Norton’s relatives and the lobbyist money that followed.

The group also joined over 400 of its members in calling on former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton to sign the "Family Transparency Pledge" rejecting trips, gifts, campaign donations and benefits from relatives who are lobbyists.

"A puppet of corporate lobbyists in her family, Norton is the DC lobbyist’s dream candidate," noted Michael Huttner, Founder of ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest online progressive advocacy organization.  "It’s only been a month and already Norton has a record of surrounding herself with corrupt DC lobbyists."

Since the morning Norton announced her campaign, over 400 Coloradans have joined the call for Norton to sign the pledge.  She continues to refuse to sign it.

"We call on Jane Norton to stop placing DC special interests in Washington and sign the ‘Family Transparency Pledge’ today," stated Huttner.  "We believe that Norton needs to reject trips or economic benefits through her relatives who are lobbyists."

Norton has failed to sign the "Family Transparency Pledge":

I, Jane Norton, pledge to the People of Colorado, that I am committed to fighting the undue influence of special interests in Washington, DC.

Accordingly, I pledge that I will reject any trips, gifts, campaign donations or economic benefits that are provided to me through my relatives who are lobbyists by the companies that hire them to influence public policy.

Download a printable .PDF copy of the Pledge here:

http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/-/Family%20Transparency%20Pledge.pdf

Norton’s relatives who are lobbyists include:

Judy Black (Norton’s sister) is a DC lobbyist whose clients include those from the for-profit health care and medical device companies, oil companies, chemical companies and the banking industry. (Washington Post, June 10, 2004; U.S. Secretary of the Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database, 9/10/2009)

Charlie Black (Norton’s brother in law) head of BKSH & Associates is a DC lobbyist and made a lucrative career of representing foreign oil companies, tobacco companies, drug companies, auto companies and defense contractors. (Washington Post, 12/31/2007; Business Week, 7/19/2004) and evenZaire dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.(People’s Weekly World, 3/1/2008)  Black is so deeply entwined with tobacco companies he is known in Washington as "Mr. Tobacco."

The well-connected Black used BKSH & Associates to cash in on the homeland security consulting bonanza after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He was a consultant to Ahmad Chalabi, the CIA-connected Iraqi whose lies about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction promoted Bush’s preemptive war on Iraq. BKSH also coached Eric Prince, CEO of Blackwater USA, before he testified on his mercenary company’s massacre of scores of innocent Iraqis. (PWW)

A sample of Lobbyists in Norton’s Disclosures (amount date of donation):

Alex Castellanos $2400 on 9/29, a CNN talking head recently exposed for being a media buyer for America’s Health Insurance Plan’s (AHIP) during the health care debate, he was an adviser to Bush/Cheney 2004, and known for being the "father of the modern attack ad," was the creator of the race-baiting Jesse Helms "Hands" ad (Politico, 10/15/09; www.natmedia.com; Greg Sargent, The Plum Line, 10/15/08)

Kristen Chadwick $500 on 9/22:  She lobbies for the European Aeronautic Defense & Space Company (EADS). Her work for EADS came under scrutiny recently after it was revealed that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) had written letters to the Defense Department asking it to reconsider a contracting requirement seen as disadvantageous to EADS. Shortly thereafter, the Defense Department made the requested change, and EADS eventually won the $35 billion contract to manufacture the next generation of in-flight refueling tanker planes.(New York Times, 3/12/2008)

Rick Davis $2000 on 9/30, John McCain’s on-again-off-again 2008 campaign chief, was one of the Washington uber-lobbyists behind McCain’s political operation from Davis Manafort, who lobbied for Verizon and foreign governments, including some unregistered liaison work between Sen. McCain and a Russian oligarch (NY Times, 5/20/08; Washington Post, 1/25/08) Davis came under fire for his conflicts of interest as McCain’s 2000 campaign manager, since his clients SBC Communications Inc. and Comsat Corp. had mergers pending before Chairman McCain’s Senate Commerce Committee.(Politico, 7/11/07)

Frank Donatelli $1000 on 9/29, a former deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee and recently elected chair of GOPAC, now a lobbyist and director of federal public affairs McGuireWoods Consulting, where his past clients have included Anthem and Verizon (www.opensecrets.org;www.mwcllc.com).  McGuireWoods was part of the legal defense team for indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and was fined $4,500 by the FEC in 2005 on an unrelated matter for failing to file a quarterly report for its PAC in 2004 (Richmond Times Dispatch, 11/24/05, accessed via Nexis 10/26/09)

Benjamin L. Ginsberg $500 on 9/29, GOP election lawyer who led the Bush-Gore recount, and currently a lobbyist at mega-lobbying shop Patton-Boggs LLP (www.opensecrets.org; www.pattonboggs.com).  Ginsberg resigned from the 2004 Bush campaign after it was discovered that he had consulted with both the campaign and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, but maintained, after the Kerry campaign filed an FEC complaint, that his dual roles were legal. (Roll Call, 8/30/04)

Susan B. Hirschmann $1000 on 9/30, a former chief of staff to Tom DeLay, who went from Congress through the revolving door to become a lobbyist at Williams & Jensen, where her clients include AstraZenica, Pfizer, and Wyeth (www.opensecrets.org; www.williamsandjensen.com)  At DeLay’s office, Hirschmann had worked with Jack Abramoff’s office to arrange a famous trip to St. Andrews golf course in Scotland, with her husband travelling on Abramoff’s credit card (Washington Post, 12/20/06).  Hirschmann was one of the top two congressional staff members to take privately financed travel between 2000-2005, totaling $85,000 over a 26-month period (Washington Post, 6/9/06; Center for Public Integrity, 6/8/06)

Bob Livingston $500 on 9/10, the one-time successor to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Appropriations Committee Chairman, who resigned from the US House during the Clinton impeachment after allegations of extramarital affairs surfaced.  Livingston became a lobbyist within a week of leaving Congress, founding the Livingston Group, which earned over $9 million in lobbying income in 2008 (Times-Picayune, 8/13/09, accessed via Nexis 10/25/09;www.opensecrets.org).  A report in 2007 claimed that a third of his firm’s income came from foreign governments (NY Times, 10/17/07)  Livingston was once part of a team of investors that tried to open a restaurant with Jack Abramoff before scandal broke and the deal fell through. (Roll Call, 11/17/05)

Scott W. Reed $500 on 9/25, Bob Dole’s 1996 campaign manager and now a lobbyist and founder of Chesapeake Enterprises  (www.opensecrets.org), has lobbied and consulted with numerous clients, including the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, who hired Reed along with Charlie Black (Real Estate Finance Today, 7/17/00, accessed via Nexis 10/26/09).  Other clients included American Taxpayers Alliance, a group that ran attack ads to sway the 2002 Illinois Supreme Court elections in favor of a pro-US Chamber of Commerce justice candidate. (Forbes, 7/21/03) Reed inherited the Saginaw Chippewa tribe of Michigan as a client from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff after Sen. McCain launched an investigation into Abramoff’s activities. (The Hill, 5/8/07)

Ed Rogers $500 on 9/25, chairman of The BGR Group, which he founded with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, lists Citigroup, the Kurdistan Regional Government, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Raytheon among his clients.  Rogers was exposed engaging in a campaign to undermine Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, contradicting the official policy of the White House in Iraq (www.bgrdc.com; www.opensecrets.org; CNN, 8/24/07)

Norton has yet to disclose why she never registered as a lobbyist:

Norton refuses to explain why she never personally registered as a lobbyist, even though she was the head of "Government Relations" for a health insurance lobbying organization. The press yesterday to the company confirmed Norton headed "the lobbying arm" of the company. (Colorado Independent, 9/14/2009;Washington Times, 9/14/2009)

Between 1994 and 1999, Norton was the Director of Government Relations for the Medical Group Management Association, the public policy and lobbying arm of a for-profit health trade lobbying organization.  (Denver Post, December 19, 1999)  Yet an extensive search of state and federal lobbyist disclosure records has not found any lobbying disclosure records by Norton. (U.S. Secretary of the Senate Lobbyists Disclosure Database and Colorado SOS Lobbyist Database) The entire time, it appears that Norton never registered as either a federal or state lobbyist.

Cross-posted from ProgressNow Colorado