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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

LOBBYING: Big health flexes its lobbying muscle. Democracy quiversIn finance as in health, public interest is tamed by unaccountable corporate interest. It was meant to be the other way round

Big health flexes its lobbying muscle. Democracy quivers

In finance as in health, public interest is tamed by unaccountable corporate interest. It was meant to be the other way round

No American who voted for Barack Obama last November could have been in much doubt that he supported healthcare reform, that it would include a public scheme, and that he would make it a priority of his presidency. So why is the fate of the bill to realise his campaign promises now in such doubt, and why does it no longer, according to polls, command support from a majority of Americans?

The answer tells us a great deal not just about American politics, but about our own. The most determined, coherent and organised voices in any contemporary political debate are those of the corporate sector and its allies. It can afford the PR and advertising to change the terms of public discourse and it well knows that lies and half-truths – for example, that the NHS leaves the old and chronically ill to die, that 40% of British cancer patients don't see an oncologist, that Edward Kennedy would be left untreated in Britain for his brain tumour – can sow doubt in people's minds even if they are easily disproved. The corporate sector can also intimidate and compromise elected politicians.

In the first three months of 2009, healthcare companies donated $5.4m to the political funds of members of Congress, 60% of it to Democrats. Over the past six years, Max Baucus, head of the crucial Senate finance committee – which has not so far looked kindly on Obama's proposal for a public insurance option – has received $3.9m from the health industry. Though Baucus said in June that he would refuse further such contributions while the bill was going through, he still takes donations from lobbyists who represent healthcare firms.

Against such lobbying muscle, democracy is overwhelmed, as the former US labour secretary Robert Reich argued in his book Supercapitalism. Washington crawls with corporate money, and a politician or public official may turn out to be just a future lobbyist making contacts. According to Reich, more than 30% of retiring Congress members – as many Democrats as Republicans – become lobbyists. More than half the senior officials of Bill Clinton's 1993-2001 administrations became corporate lobbyists, including his deputy chief of staff.

In Britain, too, we are increasingly familiar with corporate donations to political parties, and with ministers, officials and aides becoming "consultants", "advisers" or company directors. Former health secretary Alan Milburn became a director of Covidien, a healthcare product provider, and adviser to Bridgepoint Central, a venture capital firm involved with financing private health firms. Patricia Hewitt, another former health secretary, became "special consultant" to Alliance Boots and adviser to Cinven, a private hospital and healthcare group. Sally Morgan, a Tony Blair aide, was subsequently a director of Southern Cross, the UK's largest care home operator, and an adviser to Lloyds Pharmacy. Is it any surprise that the arguments for greater private-sector involvement in the NHS get a better hearing in Westminster and Whitehall than most voters would wish?

Also, former home secretary John Reid is a consultant to private security firm G4S. Stephen Byers, a former trade and industry secretary, has advised Consolidated Contractors, a multinational oil and construction company. Anji Hunter, another Blair aide, later became director of communications for BP. Sir Michael Barber, head of Blair's public services "delivery unit", is now an "expert partner" with McKinsey. Sir Kevin Tebbit, Ministry of Defence permanent secretary until 2005, later joined the boards of two companies that make helicopters for the MoD.

In office, they and others may honestly claim they are acting in the public interest. But, to a remarkable extent, politicians now identify the public interest with the corporate interest. Taking on powerful corporations is a thankless task at the best of times; to do so when a corner of your mind must know the implications for your future career prospects requires exceptional courage and determination.

Whether present Labour ministers look forward to richly remunerated positions in the financial services industry I cannot say, but Jonathan Powell, Blair's former chief of staff, now works for Morgan Stanley. Given an unprecedented opportunity, ministers have utterly failed to bring the industry to heel. They have tolerated, with weak protests, the return of multimillion-pound bonuses for bankers. They have not acted on proposals to separate risk-taking investment banks from retail banks handling savings and mortgages.

Peter Mandelson let it be known that, during his week in charge, he would lobby the European commission to modify a directive forcing hedge funds to maintain higher levels of capital, cap debts and disclose more information.

As Reich puts it, "Democracy and capitalism have been turned upside down." Our democratic institutions do not regulate capitalism; rather, market institutions regulate democracy, setting the limits of the possible.

The point of democracy is to tame unaccountable concentrations of power. Yet, while governments are under constant scrutiny, banks can wreck the economy (and then demand taxpayer bailouts), supermarkets can kill town centres, oil companies can pollute the planet and, it seems, there is little we can do about it.

The failure to contain corporate power – or even, apparently, to want to do so – is New Labour's greatest failure. Mandelson can talk all he likes about trying to get more state schoolchildren from poor homes into university, but he remains – as his easy socialising with the Rothschilds and their set shows – intensely relaxed not only about the wealth of the filthy rich but also about their unaccountable power.

Now that nationalisation has been rejected, even as an aspiration, the left has no language and no ideas for dealing with corporate power.

For the sake of the 47 million Americans who lack health insurance, and the millions more who find their policies do not cover the most serious conditions, we should hope Obama gets his way. But there is no cause for complacency on this side of the Atlantic. As the chairman of the British Medical Association council put it in a letter to this paper yesterday, while Obama tries to move America towards the British system (albeit by a mere fraction), we risk "marching steadily away from a system of free, state-provided healthcare" towards the US model. The price of democracy is eternal vigilance against the encroachment of corporate interests.

Fuente:
Difunde , comenta  libremente  este artículo
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Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en "Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" de la ONU
Diplomado en "Gestión del Conocimiento" de la ONU
 
www.consultajuridica.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
www.respsoem.blogspot.com
Teléfono: CEL: 93934521
e-mail: rogofe47@gmail.com
CONSULTAS, ASESORIAS Y CURSOS A NIVEL NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL PARA EMPRESAS, OTEC-OTIC,UNIVERSIDADES .CENTROS DE ESTUDIOS EN LIDERAZGO; RSE ; LOBBY; CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL; ENERGIAS RENOVABLES; EMPRESA FAMILIAR
Santiago- Chile

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNETHICAL with 21ST Century Ethics Issues

$105.00

enroll now!

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNETHICAL with 21ST Century Ethics Issues

Provided By: Los Angeles County Bar Association

Approved for CLE credit in: AK, AZ, CA, IL, ME, MO, ND, NY

This expert panel will discuss cutting edge legal ethics and related issues of importance to entertainment, media and intellectual property practitioners, including: advance conflict of interest waivers (including joint representation of companies and talent); "subject matter" conflicts; changing firms, lateral hires & screening; avoiding conflicts when representing multiple parties & interests; ethical issues in negotiations.
 Agenda

  • advance conflict of interest waivers
  • "subject matter" conflicts
  • changing firms, lateral hires & screening
  • avoiding conflicts when representing multiple parties
  • ethical issues in negotiations


  •  CLE Credit Information


    Click on the state abbreviation to find the CLE Credit Information for your state.



    This program is has been approved for credit in AK, AZ, CA, IL, ME, MO, ND, NY



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     Panelist Biographies


    Aton Arbisser

    Chairman of the Litigation Department
    Kaye Scholer LLP

    Aton Arbisser is the Chairman of the Litigation Department of Kaye Scholer LLP's Los Angeles office and part of the firm's Antitrust and Products Liability groups. LESS Mr. Arbisser's practice encompasses a broad range of complex litigations. He has been nationally recognized for his successes in defending pharmaceutical companies in product liability cases and related consumer class actions. In the PPA products liability litigation, co-chaired the PPA joint defense team on experts and science issues, defeated a class action seeking refunds on millions of dollars of product containing PPA that had been withdrawn from the market, won the first-in-the-nation PPA trial, O'Neill, et al. v. Novartis Consumer Health, Inc., JCCP-4166 (L.A. Super. Ct. Jan. 22, 2004), and then successfully argued the appeal from the jury verdict for Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. Both the Daily Journal and the National Law Journal selected this verdict as one of the "Top 10 Verdicts of 2004." Mr. Arbisser was also recognized as one of California's leading practitioners in the Antitrust field and is cited in the Who'sWhoLegal: California 2009 publication.


    James Ham

    Principal
    Pansky Markle Ham LLP


    Wendy Peterson

    General Counsel
    Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP

    Ms. Peterson is General Counsel to the Firm. As General Counsel, Ms. Peterson handles all internal legal matters for the Firm. Prior to joining the Firm in 2002, Ms. Peterson was General Counsel of Wynn Oil Company, a manufacturer of automotive additives and provider of service contracts, and Assistant General Counsel of Parker-Hannifin Corporation's Seal Group, a manufacturer of rubber and engineered plastic products. From 1993 to 2000, Ms. Peterson was Assistant General Counsel of Wynn's International, Inc., a publicly-held corporation traded on the NYSE. From 1995 to 2000, Ms. Peterson also served as Corporate Secretary to Wynn¿s International. From 1985 to 1993, Ms. Peterson was a corporate and securities law attorney with O'Melveny & Myers. At O'Melveny, Ms. Peterson's practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt financings, SEC compliance and general corporate law advice.


    Gary Williams

    Professor of Law
    Loyola Law School

    Gary Williams was staff counsel for the Agricultural Labor Relations Board from 1976-79 and staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California from 1979-85. Williams was appointed assistant legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California in 1985, a position he maintained until joining the Loyola Law School faculty in 1987.


    F. Jay Dougherty

    Professor of Law
    Loyola Law School

    During law school Jay Dougherty was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, a staff member of the Columbia Law Review and editor of the Columbia Journal of Arts & the Law. His legal career began in the Entertainment Department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York, where his work included representation of Broadway composers and authors. His interest in the motion picture area led to positions at the Motion Picture/Television/Music Departments of Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, the legal departments at United Artists Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and the Business Affairs Department of Morgan Creek Productions. After a corporate takeover of MGM, Dougherty moved to the Legal Department of Twentieth Century Fox, where he became senior vice president of production and worldwide acquisition legal affairs. Before joining the Loyola faculty, Dougherty served as assistant general counsel for Turner Broadcasting System, responsible for Turner Pictures. He also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Law Center for ten years.



     Pricing Information

    $105.00

    enroll now!

    THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNETHICAL with 21ST Century Ethics Issues

    Fuente:
    Difunde , comenta  libremente  este artículo
    .
    Saludos
    Rodrigo González Fernández
    Diplomado en "Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" de la ONU
    Diplomado en "Gestión del Conocimiento" de la ONU
     
    www.consultajuridica.blogspot.com
    www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
    www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
    www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
    www.respsoem.blogspot.com
    Teléfono: CEL: 93934521
    e-mail: rogofe47@gmail.com
    CONSULTAS, ASESORIAS Y CURSOS A NIVEL NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL PARA EMPRESAS, OTEC-OTIC,UNIVERSIDADES .CENTROS DE ESTUDIOS EN LIDERAZGO; RSE ; LOBBY; CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL; ENERGIAS RENOVABLES; EMPRESA FAMILIAR
    Santiago- Chile

    Craigslist Legal Scrutiny/Lawyers Advertising on Craigslist

    Craigslist Legal Scrutiny/Lawyers Advertising on Craigslist

    Provided By: Legal Talk Network

    Approved for CLE credit in: AK, AZ, CA, IL, ME, MO, ND, NY

    Recently the popular online advertising site, Craigslist was in the spotlight after a medical student was accused of killing a Boston masseuse who advertised on the site. Law.com bloggers and co-hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams welcome Attorney Edward Wes, Outside Counsel for Craigslist and David Ardia fellow at the Berkman Center and director of the Citizen Media Law Project, to talk about regulations on online advertising sites and what is being done to monitor illegal activity on these sites.

    Solo and small-firm practitioners have discovered that Craigslist has been a great source for generating business, but are challenged by a growing number of lawyer ads and individual state's advertising rules. Host J. Craig Williams welcomes Attorney Susan Beecher, a solo practitioner out of Kent, Washington and Attorney William Hornsby, counsel in the American Bar Association's Division for Legal Services, to look at the upside and downside of advertising on Craigslist and the legal ethics issues surrounding advertising on these free online sites.


     Agenda

  • talk about regulations on online advertising
  • what is being done to monitor illegal activity on these sites.
  • look at the upside and downside of advertising on Craigslist
  • legal ethics issues surrounding advertising on these free online sites


  •  CLE Credit Information
    Fuente:
    Difunde , comenta  libremente  este artículo
    .
    Saludos
    Rodrigo González Fernández
    Diplomado en "Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" de la ONU
    Diplomado en "Gestión del Conocimiento" de la ONU
     
    www.consultajuridica.blogspot.com
    www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
    www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
    www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
    www.respsoem.blogspot.com
    Teléfono: CEL: 93934521
    e-mail: rogofe47@gmail.com
    CONSULTAS, ASESORIAS Y CURSOS A NIVEL NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL PARA EMPRESAS, OTEC-OTIC,UNIVERSIDADES .CENTROS DE ESTUDIOS EN LIDERAZGO; RSE ; LOBBY; CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL; ENERGIAS RENOVABLES; EMPRESA FAMILIAR
    Santiago- Chile

    LAWYERSCHILE: Vault Releases 2010 Law Firm Rankings

    Vault Releases 2010 Law Firm Rankings

    Vault-tag The much-vaunted Vault law firm rankings were released today for 2010. The rankings are notable because they are based entirely on associate votes. They rank firms on five characteristics -- overall prestige, departmental prestige, regional prestige, diversity and quality of life.

    Ranked number one for the seventh year in a row is the New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The remainder of the top 10 are... [MORE]

    Sphere: Related Content

    Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 18, 2009

    Fuente:
    Difunde , comenta  libremente  este artículo
    .
    Saludos
    Rodrigo González Fernández
    Diplomado en "Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" de la ONU
    Diplomado en "Gestión del Conocimiento" de la ONU
     
    www.consultajuridica.blogspot.com
    www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
    www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
    www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
    www.respsoem.blogspot.com
    Teléfono: CEL: 93934521
    e-mail: rogofe47@gmail.com
    CONSULTAS, ASESORIAS Y CURSOS A NIVEL NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL PARA EMPRESAS, OTEC-OTIC,UNIVERSIDADES .CENTROS DE ESTUDIOS EN LIDERAZGO; RSE ; LOBBY; CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL; ENERGIAS RENOVABLES; EMPRESA FAMILIAR
    Santiago- Chile

    LAWYERSCHILE: Patry Returns to Blogging, and to a Debate

    Patry Returns to Blogging, and to a Debate

    William Patry is back to blogging and already finds himself in a back-and-forth debate over whether copyright law inhibits innovation and props up antiquated business models.

    Patry is a prominent copyright lawyer who works as senior copyright counsel for Google and wrote a seven-volume treatise on copyright law. As we reported here at the time, Patry announced in February that he was discontinuing his popular blog, The Patry Copyright Blog, which he launched in 2005. Last week, he launched a new blog, Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars, tied to the release of his new book of the same name, to be published on Sept. 3 by Oxford University Press.

    The debate is with Ben Sheffner, author of the blog Copyrights & Campaigns, over the lessons to be learned from the music-industry trials over peer-to-peer file sharing. Patry actually invited Sheffner to the debate, believing he would serve as a "perfect counterpoint" to the views Patry expresses in his book. "I spoke to him about doing a kind of tag team on some of the issues raised, and he has generously agreed. I hope our constructive differences can help set a civil tone."

    In its simplest form, their debate turns on the "Internet view" of copyright... [MORE]

    Sphere: Related Content

    Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 18, 2009

    Fuente:
    Difunde , comenta  libremente  este artículo
    .
    Saludos
    Rodrigo González Fernández
    Diplomado en "Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" de la ONU
    Diplomado en "Gestión del Conocimiento" de la ONU
     
    www.consultajuridica.blogspot.com
    www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
    www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
    www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
    www.respsoem.blogspot.com
    Teléfono: CEL: 93934521
    e-mail: rogofe47@gmail.com
    CONSULTAS, ASESORIAS Y CURSOS A NIVEL NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL PARA EMPRESAS, OTEC-OTIC,UNIVERSIDADES .CENTROS DE ESTUDIOS EN LIDERAZGO; RSE ; LOBBY; CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL; ENERGIAS RENOVABLES; EMPRESA FAMILIAR
    Santiago- Chile

    Lawyer Continues Fight for Man's Innocence

    Lawyer Continues Fight for Man's Innocence

    In February, we told you about Maine lawyer Morrison Bonpasse whose book, Perfectly Innocent, had caused three jurors to doubt their 1993 conviction of Alfred W. Trenkler in connection with a 1991 bombing that killed one Boston police officer and maimed another. After reading the book, three of the jurors, including the forewoman, wrote letters to U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel in Boston urging her to grant Trenkler a new trial.

    Since February, there have been several developments in the case. For one, two additional jurors sent letters to Judge Zobel urging a new trial. For another, even with the five letters from former jurors, Zobel was not swayed. On March 16, she issued a memorandum opinion and order denying Trenkler's request for a new trial.

    Zobel ruled that most of the newly discovered evidence cited by Trenkler in his request was barred by a one year statute of limitations on such evidence. The one piece of evidence that was not time barred did not meet the requirement of alleging a constitutional violation, she said. In July, she issued a certificate of appealability, a formality that allows Trenkler to appeal her ruling on a new trial to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which he plans to do.

    Meanwhile... [MORE]

    Sphere: Related Content

    Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 18, 2009

    Fuente:
    Difunde , comenta  libremente  este artículo
    .
    Saludos
    Rodrigo González Fernández
    Diplomado en "Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" de la ONU
    Diplomado en "Gestión del Conocimiento" de la ONU
     
    www.consultajuridica.blogspot.com
    www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
    www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
    www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
    www.respsoem.blogspot.com
    Teléfono: CEL: 93934521
    e-mail: rogofe47@gmail.com
    CONSULTAS, ASESORIAS Y CURSOS A NIVEL NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL PARA EMPRESAS, OTEC-OTIC,UNIVERSIDADES .CENTROS DE ESTUDIOS EN LIDERAZGO; RSE ; LOBBY; CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL; ENERGIAS RENOVABLES; EMPRESA FAMILIAR
    Santiago- Chile

    Supreme Court Ruling Revives Death Penalty Debate


    Supreme Court Ruling Revives Death Penalty Debate

    The Supreme Court caught us off guard yesterday, issuing a potentially momentous order on a quiet August Monday when we would assume the justices would be off in their RVs or wherever. The court ordered a federal district judge to hear testimony on the claims of death row inmate Tory Anthony Davis that he did not murder a Savannah, Ga., police officer in 1989, as the Fulton County Daily Report explains.

    The order itself is just a paragraph, unsigned. It transfers Davis' habeas corpus petition to the U.S. District Court in Georgia and instructs the court to "receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at the time of trial clearly establishes petitioner's innocence."

    Apart from its coming in the middle of August, the order is significant for several reasons. For one, it is the first time in nearly 50 years that the court has ordered a hearing based on a petition for habeas corpus filed directly with the Supreme Court, as opposed to petitions that have come up through the lower courts. "Today this Court takes the extraordinary step -- one not taken in nearly 50 years -- of instructing a district court to adjudicate a state prisoner's petition for an original writ of habeas corpus," wrote a strident Justice Antonin Scalia in a dissent from the order in which Justice Clarence Thomas joined.

    For another, it illustrates the dramatic clash among the justices in... [MORE]

    Sphere: Related Content

    Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 18, 2009

    Fuente:
    Difunde , comenta  libremente  este artículo
    .
    Saludos
    Rodrigo González Fernández
    Diplomado en "Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" de la ONU
    Diplomado en "Gestión del Conocimiento" de la ONU
     
    www.consultajuridica.blogspot.com
    www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
    www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
    www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
    www.respsoem.blogspot.com
    Teléfono: CEL: 93934521
    e-mail: rogofe47@gmail.com
    CONSULTAS, ASESORIAS Y CURSOS A NIVEL NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL PARA EMPRESAS, OTEC-OTIC,UNIVERSIDADES .CENTROS DE ESTUDIOS EN LIDERAZGO; RSE ; LOBBY; CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL; ENERGIAS RENOVABLES; EMPRESA FAMILIAR
    Santiago- Chile