The American Association of Public Health Physicians, (AAPHP), who opposed the new bill giving the U.S. government regulatory authority over cigarettes and other tobacco products, says the bill was essentially written by Philip Morris for the company's own benefit. In a July 2, 2009 interview on Democracy Now, Dr. Joel Nitzkin, Chair of AAPHP's Tobacco Control Task Force, said the bill was negotiated between Philip Morris and the Tobacco-Free Kids, and that "those appointed from Tobacco-Free Kids to negotiate on behalf of the public health community really had no understanding of tobacco-related science, of how and why kids initiate tobacco use, or the steps that could be taken to stop them." Dr. Nitzkin said "the bill gives the appearance of federal regulation of tobacco products while assuring Philip Morris will be able to continue to market their current cigarette products with little interference from federal authorities. The bill also gives PM protection against future liability and protects the company from competition from other tobacco companies and smokeless tobacco products." Dr. Nitzkin points out that, with the exception of the provision requiring graphic health warning labels on cigarettes, every other provision in the bill that deals with the restriction of marketing tobacco products "falls into one of two categories: either it's already in place as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement, or it has already been thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court."

Northern Iraq -- touted as "the other Iraq" in an advertising and public relations campaign by the Republican-leaning PR firm Russo Marsh & Rogers -- now has more PR help. The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) has hired Qorvis Communications for work on "strategic communications, internet consulting, media relations support, [and] writing / editing documents," according to the foreign lobbyist disclosure form (pdf). The firm says it will "educate and inform the American media and policy makers" and "work to change travel advisories or other statements from the USG [U.S. government] when they are inaccurate." KRG officials are happy that the U.S. State Department currently describes northern Iraq as "more stable than the rest of Iraq," with "fewer terrorist attacks," reports O'Dwyer's. The officials hope such language will "further encourage U.S. business to look into many investment opportunities available in the Kurdistan Region." KRG previously retained the Cassidy & Associates and BGR Holdings LLC lobbying firms.

President Obama's nominee for Army Secretary has requested $40 million in earmarks to be added to the defense appropriations bill. Rep. John McHugh, a Republican congressman from New York, called for $4.7 million for the Lockheed Martin aviation corporation, which has contributed $35,000 to his congressional campaigns, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. "Rockwell Collins, Inc., a defense contractor with a facility in upstate New York would receive $2 million under the requests. ... Rockwell Collins until this year had been a client of PMA Group lobbying firm, which closed after it was the target of an FBI investigation into campaign finance violations. PMA’s political action committee, its employees and its clients gave $160,250 to McHugh’s congressional campaigns." McHugh is the top Republican serving on the House Armed Services Committee.

The former CEO of PR giant Burson-Marsteller has been chosen for a top post with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. As the Chamber's vice chairman, Tom Bell will support the business lobby group's "biggest marketing/lobbying campaign to 'support free enterprise,' which the powerful business group believes is under attack by the Obama Administration." Chamber CEO Tom Donohue says the Chamber "will spend 'tens of millions of dollars annually' to counter inroads made by 'union leaders, some environmentalists and a growing force of anti-business activists' that are pushing to 'close trading markets, lock down capital markets, expand entitlements and raise taxes and debt to unsustainable levels.'"

"Our immediate neighbors Pakistan, India, and China are contracting over a dozen prominent lobbyists. ... In addition, these countries have employed public relations firms before and amid political events to lobby for more specific agendas," reads a confidential memo (pdf) from Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, Said Tayeb Jawad, to the country's finance minister. Ambassador Jawad requests "annual funding that is at least roughly one tenth of what Pakistan spends on lobbying in Washington." In 2002, DLA Piper began donating lobbying services to Afghanistan. Five years later, the firm "negotiated a small monthly retainer of $10,000, but even that has been a stretch for the embassy," reports Mother Jones. Ambassador Jawad told the magazine that the Afghan government "doesn't know exactly how Washington operates... They ask, 'Is this legal, to buy influence?' Yes, everybody's doing it!" In the memo, Jawad lists Pakistan's and India's present and past lobbying firms, along with "additional lobbying vehicles" such as the U.S.-India Political Action Committee.

Senator Mike Enzi, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), confirmed May 21 that cigarette maker Philip Morris co-authored the bill currently under consideration in Congress, for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products. Enzi was rebuffed in efforts to amend the bill to move regulatory authority over tobacco to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), saying the CDC was more appropriate since the "FDA cures, not poisons." Enzi criticized the HELP Committee's rush to "sign a peace treaty with Philip Morris," instead of "fighting tobacco head on." He said, "My fierce opposition to smoking is a result of smoking killing my dad, and my mom, and my mother-in-law, and secondhand smoke conclusively affecting me." The FDA tobacco bill has been criticized by the American Association of Public Health Physicians (pdf) and FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, as tying the FDA's hands while misleading consumers and cementing Philip Morris' market share. Philip Morris began its "Regulatory Strategy Project" -- a long-term, behind-the-scenes project to enact "regulations" friendly to the company -- in 1999, after the Supreme Court struck down a government-initiated effort to regulate tobacco. Philip Morris' crafting the bill behind closed doors with the National Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids was also described by Roll Call, back in October 2004.

There's a "crazy quilt of about 140 businesses and organizations that jumped into the climate change debate on Capitol Hill in the first quarter of this year," reports Marianne Lavelle. "Those new players drove a 14 percent increase in the number of interests lobbying on global warming, compared to the same time last year." That increase "comes on top of already rapid growth from 2003 through 2008," when the number of climate change lobbyists "jumped more than 400 percent, to over 770." Most represent "manufacturers, power companies, and the oil and gas industry" concerned that policies like the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which would establish a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, would hurt their business. The top ten list of climate lobbying firms includes Ogilvy Government Relations, Patton Boggs, Bracewell & Giuliani, and Hunton & Williams. Hunton -- the firm behind the Water Policy Institute -- counts Cleco, FirstEnergy, the Gas Processors Association and Koch Industries among its climate lobbying clients.

An army of tobacco industry lobbyists been hard at work in Texas battling a clean indoor air law and a new formula for taxing spit tobacco. The industry employed 40 lobbyists, seven of whom are former state legislators, to beat back the popular proposals. The smoking ban had gained hard-won support from the state's restaurant association, and enjoyed support among voters, who had already approved public smoking laws in 28 cities within the state. More than half of the Texas House of Representatives had signed on as co-authors of the bill. The other bill would have taxed spit tobacco by weight rather than by retail price, raising an extra $9 million to be put towards paying down the student loans of 450 doctors in exchange for them working in medically underserved areas of the state. Some Republicans argued against the smoking ban by casting smoking as a property right, an industry argument aimed at re-directing attention to secondhand smoke onto a non-health-related topic to help defeat smoking bans. Lobbyists ultimately succeeded in watering down the clean indoor air bill by inserting a slew of exceptions to undermine the intent of the bill, a strategy also linked to the industry: a 1986 Philip Morris strategy document about defeating smoking restrictions states, "Most state and local laws are very stringent when initially proposed. In most cases we are able to water down the final product [so that] penalties are often minimal and the restrictions negligible." Lobbyists stalled the spit tobacco tax measure by blocking it from getting added to the agenda for consideration.

"America's oil, gas and coal industry has increased its lobbying budget by 50%, with key players spending $44.5 [million] in the first three months of this year in an intense effort to cut off support" for cap and trade legislation to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The campaign "involves industry front groups, lobbying firms, television, print and radio advertising, and donations to pivotal members of Congress," reports The Guardian. The goal "is to water down or kill off" cap and trade measures. "Despite its global significance, the fate of the draft 'cap and trade' bill now lies in the hands of just a dozen Democrats. ... Seven of those pivotal Democrats received campaign donations in excess of $100,000 from the oil and gas industry, coal producers, and electricity firms during last year's elections. ... Another two received more than $90,000 last year."