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Anne L. Wexler says lobbyists don’t wield inordinate power in Washington. “Issues are decided on their merits,” she tells Mother Jones. Yet a review of this call-back list prepared for her last September 18 demonstrates real access. Among the callers: A top policy wonk (the Democratic Leadership Council’s Al From); Ed Hall, the minority chief of staff for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and huge corporate clients (Arnie Wellman of United Parcel Service, Rick Stoddard of Kaiser Ventures, and Ralph Gerson of Guardian Industries).

ALW’S CALL LIST – SEPTEMBER 18, 1997
DATE NAME MESSAGE
09/17/97 Al From/DLC Please Call.
09/17/97 1 Betsy & Johnny Apple Congratulations on your wedding anniversary!_Heaps of love!!
09/17/97 Ed Hall Re: Hearing on Foley Nomination on Sept. 24th. Please call.
09/17/97 2 Elena Futter/
Tom Daschle’s ofc.
Would like to talk about an event for his 50th birthday.
09/17/97 3 Derek Guest OSHA has sent letters to Derek. (It’s not bad.)
09/17/97 Sen. Kerrey Returned your call.
09/17/97 Arnie Wellman Returned your call.
09/17/97 4 Carolyn/Stu
Eizenstat’s office
It is very unlikely that Stu will be able to meet George Fisher on the 25th. Please call.
09/17/97 Rick Stoddard Please call on Tuesday, Sept. 23
09/17/97 Ralph Gerson Please call.
09/17/97 5 Debbie Dingell Please call re: Contract
09/17/97 Bill Marion/
Sen. Reed’s office
Fundraiser first two weeks of October looks good.

1. The New York Times’ chief Washington Correspondent R.W. “Johnny” Apple and his wife, Betsy Apple, send Wexler “heaps of love.” The venerable Apple is a useful contact since he admits that he puts a lot of trust in establishment friends (like Wexler). He once said, “If Lawrence Eagleburger or Zbignew Brzezinski and one or two others were to say to me [about a story], ‘That’s a lot of crap,’ I tend to be hesitant to put it forward.”

2. Ilena Futter (“Elena” in memo), a fundraiser for Tom Daschle, calls to talk to Wexler, apparently about turning the Senate minority leader’s 50th birthday into an occasion to drum up a little campaign cash.

3. Derek Guest handles regulatory issues for Eastman Kodak, a Wexler client that is a member of USA*Engage, also a Wexler client. Eastman Kodak is suing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to ease rules on workplace exposure to methylene chloride, a suspected carcinogen.

4. Bad news! Stuart Eizenstat, Undersecretary of State and the man in charge of the department’s sanctions review committee—a cause dear to USA*Engage’s heart—can’t meet with Guest’s boss, CEO George Fisher. Wexler probably wanted “Stu,” whom she’s known since the two worked for President Carter 20 years ago, to chat with Fisher about his company’s battle with Fuji film over access to Japanese markets.

5. Debbie Dingell is married to Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress. Debbie is also executive director of the General Motors Foundation. GM is a Wexler client. Wexler’s firm is a steady contributor to Rep. Dingell and also lobbies for a number of firms with interests before the commerce committee, where he is the ranking member. It’s a small world after all!

Back to So You Want to Trade With a Dictator

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

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The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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