A Quick Look at the Defense Lobbyists
By Charlie Edelen IV
This article originally appeared in the 2014 edition of the Peace Economy News. To receive the 2016 print edition of our annual newsletter when it comes out this summer, please sign up below.
It’s pretty well known that the gears of Washington DC stay greased by a well-oiled lobbying machine. However, how much do we know about the many lobbying firms that slide legislation through committees, and the faceless lobbyists they employ? Probably not much, and the lobbying underarm of government would prefer to keep it that way. Thankfully, we have OpenSecrets.org as one of our few resources to track the flow of money from large defense and aerospace corporations to lobbying firms’ bottom lines.
Let’s take a look at the top five defense contractors, how much they spend on lobbying, what firms they hire, and how much overlap there is between them. All the numbers I’m reporting on here are found at Opensecrets.org, and are the numbers in 2013.
Northrop Grumman spent $29.4 million spread among 14 lobbying firms; Boeing spent $15 million among 15 firms; Lockheed Martin spent $14.35 million on 26 firms; General Dynamics spent $11 million on 27 firms; Raytheon spent $7.6 million on 14 firms. Keep in mind, this is only in 2013.
Now take a look at a handful of cherry-picked firms, their revenue in 2013, and just a few of their clients:
Some of these numbers may look underwhelming. But what is truly amazing is the sheer number of companies, cities and other organizations these firms represent. As kings of the mountain, Podesta Group lobbied for 139 different organizations. DLA Piper – who brings in significantly less revenue – still represented 59 organizations. It isn’t surprising that so many large military corporations share the same lobbyists. While they do sometimes compete against one another for large contracts, all in all they have a self-interest in making sure there’s more contracts.
Which lobbying firm raked in the most corporate cash in 2013? Patton Bogg LLP at $39.76 million. They’re followed by Akin, Gump et al at $33.73, who is followed by Podesta Group. After that, there’s dozens more who made over $10 million. The lobbyist firms and their minions will certainly keep the contracts coming.
