Paul Davis Ryan is an American politician who served as the 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party,he was the vice presidential nominee in the 2012 election with Mitt Romney,losing to incumbent President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Robert William Goodlatte is an American politician,attorney,and lobbyist who served in the United States House of Representatives representing Virginia's 6th congressional district for 13 terms. A Republican,he was also the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee,which has jurisdiction over legislation affecting the federal courts,administrative agencies,and federal law enforcement entities. Goodlatte's district covered Roanoke and also included Lexington,Lynchburg,Harrisonburg,and Staunton.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. is an American casino and resort company with corporate headquarters in Las Vegas,Nevada,United States. It was founded by Sheldon G. Adelson and his partners out of the Sands Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The Sands was demolished and redeveloped as The Venetian,opening in 1999. An adjacent resort,The Palazzo,opened in 2007. Both resorts were sold in 2022.
Sheldon Gary Adelson was an American businessman,investor,and political donor. He was the founder,chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation,which owns the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore,and the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited,which operated The Venetian Las Vegas and the Sands Expo and Convention Center before selling the properties in early 2022. He owned the Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom,the Israeli weekly newspaper Makor Rishon,and the American daily newspaper the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Jack Allan Abramoff is an American lobbyist,businessman,film producer,writer and convicted criminal. He was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation led by Earl Devaney that resulted in his conviction and 21 other people either pleading guilty or being found guilty,including White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian,U.S. Representative Bob Ney,and nine other lobbyists and congressional aides.
The financing of electoral campaigns in the United States happens at the federal,state,and local levels by contributions from individuals,corporations,political action committees,and sometimes the government. Campaign spending has risen steadily at least since 1990. For example,a candidate who won an election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990 spent on average $407,600,while the winner in 2022 spent on average $2.79 million;in the Senate,average spending for winning candidates went from $3.87 million to $26.53 million.
The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal was a United States political scandal exposed in 2005;it related to fraud perpetrated by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff,Ralph E. Reed Jr.,Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Native American tribes who were seeking to develop casino gambling on their reservations. The lobbyists charged the tribes an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon grossly overbilled their clients,secretly splitting the multi-million dollar profits. In one case,they secretly orchestrated lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas,Nevada,since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area.
David Safavian is an American former lawyer who worked as a congressional aide,lobbyist,and later as a political appointee in the George W. Bush administration. A Republican,he served as Chief of Staff of the United States General Services Administration (GSA). He is a figure in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal,having worked with the lobbyist on the Mississippi Band of Choctaw account. After serving with Abramoff as a lobbyist,in 1997 Safavian co-founded lobbying firm Janus-Merritt Strategies with Republican activist Grover Norquist.
The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act (IGPA) was a 1999 bill in the US Senate to ban Internet gambling.
Edwin A. Buckham is Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. He is a longtime congressional staffer and former lobbyist.
Quinn Gillespie &Associates (QGA) was an American lobbying and communications firm founded in 2000 by Republican political strategist Ed Gillespie and Democratic operative Jack Quinn. It was sold in 2004 to WPP,one of the world's largest communications services groups,and ceased operations in December 2017.
The Australia Institute is an Australian public policy think tank based in Canberra,with offices also in Hobart and Adelaide. Since its launch in 1994,it has carried out research on a broad range of economic,social,and environmental issues. The Australia Institute states that it takes a bipartisan approach to research,but has been described as a "progressive" or "left-leaning."
The Business Roundtable (BRT) is a nonprofit lobbyist association based in Washington,D.C. whose members are chief executive officers of major U.S. companies. Unlike the United States Chamber of Commerce,whose members are entire businesses,BRT members are exclusively CEOs. The BRT lobbies for public policy that is favorable to business interests,such as lowering corporate taxes in the U.S. and internationally,as well as international trade policy like the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Dutko Worldwide (DW),now Dutko Grayling formerly The Dutko Group,TDG or TDG Companies,is a Washington,DC–based bipartisan lobbying firm that offers "comprehensive public policy management." DW's services include "Issues and opportunities assessment,Strategy Development,Crisis Management,Execution of sound public policy management programs." It identifies as its core issue areas "Appropriations,Technology,Telecommunications,Health Care,Energy,Financial Services,International Trade,Environmental Regulation,Corporate and Global Tax Policy,Sustainable Development."
Heritage Action,founded in 2010 as Heritage Action for America,is a conservative advocacy organization. Heritage Action,which has affiliates throughout the United States,is a sister organization of The Heritage Foundation,a conservative think tank.
Miriam Adelson is an Israeli-American physician,businesswoman,and political donor.
The Israeli-American Council is an American nonprofit organization to represent and serve the approximately 125,000 Israeli-Americans. Its mission is to preserve and strengthen the Israeli and Jewish identities of future generations,strengthen the American Jewish community,and strengthen the relationship between citizens of the United States and the State of Israel.
The Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018,Pub. L. 115–97 (text)(PDF),is a congressional revenue act of the United States originally introduced in Congress as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA),that amended the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The legislation is commonly referred to in media as the Trump tax cuts. Major elements of the changes include reducing tax rates for corporations and individuals,increasing the standard deduction and family tax credits,eliminating personal exemptions and making it less beneficial to itemize deductions,limiting deductions for state and local income taxes and property taxes,further limiting the mortgage interest deduction,reducing the alternative minimum tax for individuals and eliminating it for corporations,doubling the estate tax exemption,and reducing the penalty for violating the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to $0. The New York Times has described the TCJA as "the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades".
Mark Stephen Fullbrook is a British political strategist and lobbyist who was Downing Street Chief of Staff from September to October 2022.
