The Bank Lobbyist Behind Blanche Lincoln’s “No” Vote on Reconciliation

[Donnachaidh]

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/24/the-bank-lobbyist-behind-blanche-lincolns-no-vote-on-reconciliation/

Score one for Wall Street. The student loan industry has convinced Senator Blanche Lincoln to vote against the healthcare reconciliation bill on the grounds that it contains “matters unrelated to healthcare” — code for student loan reform, as David Dayen notes.

How did the student loan industry secure Lincoln’s support? The same way they found other Senatorial defenders for their wasteful subsidies: the power of money, deployed through a combination of campaign contributions and strategic lobbyist hires.

In Lincoln’s case, the simplest answer is Kelly Bingel. Bingel has been lobbying for the student loan industry since mid-2009, and is extremely close to Lincoln. She was the Senator’s chief of staff from 2003 to 2005, and a longtime Lincoln aide before that. She has since joined Mehlman, Vogel, Castagnetti, a lobbying firm which has played a central role in the healthcare fight, lobbying for AHIP, PhRMA, and many other insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

A recent Roll Call article described Bingel as Lincoln’s “alter ego,”, and said that Bingel “has the ear of her former boss…first on the list of the Senator’s callbacks” according to one former colleague.


More at the link above --

Someone tell me WHY the Dem Party is sending James Carville to hep this cow get re-elected? She's a frigging corporate viper...

[Oceansaway]

1. yep, corporate whore Blanche...n/t

[Bonhomme Richard]

2. It's time that Senators and Congresscritters are paid by the state...

that they represent. I am tired of my tax money paying for elected officials that do not represent me. Let Indiana taxpayers pay her salary.

[Donnachaidh]

3. umm, she represents Arkansas, why would Indiana pay? n/t

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. My bad. n/t