Sunday, September 7, 2008

Hunter Biden, Congressional lobbyist

Barack Obama makes a big deal about cracking down on lobbyists. But Joe Biden's son, Hunter, is a big-time Congressional lobbyist. The firm he founded even lobbies Biden himself!

Yes, there have been stories about this here or there. To his credit, Tom Brokaw asked Biden about it this morning on Meet the Press.

But Hunter Biden's lobbying has received nowhere near the media coverage of Bristol Palin's pregnancy. Good grief, can you imagine if Sarah Palin had a son who had made a fortune lobbying Alaska state government? The New York Times would probably run three front page stories about it - on the same day.

If we are going to make a habit out of covering candidates' kids, wouldn't Hunter be a good place to start? After all, Bristol's pregnancy has no relevance to Sarah Palin's public position. However, Hunter Biden's job does have some relevance to his father's political post. He lobbies Congress, after all, and his father's campaign has made a big deal about lobbyists.
Barack Obama's speech announcing his running mate Joe Biden singled out the Delaware senator's son who is headed for Iraq. Obama didn't mention the profession of Biden's other son, who lobbied for two drug companies and five universities.

Hunter Biden, 38, described as a lawyer in the biography of his father distributed yesterday by the Obama campaign, lobbied for clients that paid his firm at least $380,000 in the first six months of this year, federal records show.

Both Obama and Republican presidential rival John McCain have said lobbyists may not work on their campaigns. McCain recently called lobbyists ``birds of prey,'' and Obama has refused to accept their contributions. In his speech yesterday in Springfield, Illinois, Obama said he's running in part to repair ``a government that has fallen prey to special interests.'' (Yahoo News)

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