Tag: Elahe Izadi

The GOP minority outreach efforts continue: This time, it’s Sen. Rand Paul taking the message to a historically black university.

Paul will be delivering a speech at Howard University on Wednesday, where he’ll talk about “the importance of outreach to younger voters, as well as minority groups,” according to his office. He also plans to address school choice and civil liberties.

The Kentucky Republican’s appearance echoes the recommendations made in the Republican National Committee’s autopsy report, detailing why the party lost the 2012 election and urging the party to court minority and young voters. Paul’s positions on foreign policy, Internet freedom, and reforming drug laws appeal to younger voters on college campuses. He also has targeted mandatory minimum sentencing for drug crimes, which disproportionately affects African-Americans.

via Homepage http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/rand-paul-s-play-to-win-over-black-voters-at-howard-university-20130408

If you keep track of Hill publications and websites, you’ve probably noticed a flurry of ads from FairSearch.org this month casting Google as a big, bad player in the online marketplace.

The coalition of 17 Internet and tech companies, which includes Microsoft, Expedia and Hotwire, has been pushing an ad campaign that asks “Can you trust Google?” Specifically, FairSearch.org wants to take Google to task for what it calls its unfair practices of directing traffic toward its own products rather than competitors.

Google, for its part, maintains that it does allow competition, and if users don’t like it, they can easily switch search engines.

FairSearch.org spokesman Ben Hammer describes the coalition as “a collection of companies and businesses that have been concerned that Google is engaged with specific practices that hurt competition in the market, lower consumer choice and make it harder for entrepreneurs and innovators to put their products in front of consumers and let them pick the winners.”

FairSearch.org’s latest ads have appeared online and in print publications. Hammer declined to provide details on the campaign, including cost or duration.

But the Federal Trade Commission is wrapping up its investigation into Google for anti-competitive practices, with a decision expected by year’s end. And last week, FTC Chairman Jon Lebowitz spoke at two major anti-trust conferences.

FairSearch.org has paid $90,000 to Glover Park Group so far this year, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

And although companies will fight hard against each other on one issue, they’re fine to coalesce around another. For instance, FairSearch.org members TripAdvisor and Expedia are also a part of newly launched The Internet Association. And guess which behemoth is also a part of that trade group? Google. Frenemies much?

via Homepage http://influencealley.nationaljournal.com/2012/10/fairsearchorg-hammers-antigoog.php

Hustler Magazine has a new ad today announcing that the publication and Larry Flynt are offering a cash reward of up to $1 million for information about Mitt Romney‘s unreleased tax returns, bank accounts and business partnerships. The magazine claims it wants to publish the information.

The International Franchise Association‘s new ad calls for extending all current tax rates in order to promote job growth; the Bipartisan Policy Center‘s new ad warns against automatic across-the-board cuts and tax rate increases as a way to deal with America’s long-term fiscal situation; and the Renewable Fuels Association‘s new ad cautions against waiving the Renewable Fuel Standard, claiming that doing so could slightly decrease grocery bills but would increase the amount Americans spend on gasoline.

American College of Rheumatology, American Society for Radiation Oncology, CIT Group, Univision, WellPoint, Women in Government Relations and Zurich also have new ads out today.

Those with continuing ads, per Kantar Media’s Washington Eye, include: Altria, American Society For Radiation Oncology, Bell Helicopter & Boeing, BP, Chevron, Goldman Sachs, McDonald’s, Musicians On Call, Northrop Grumman, Nuclear Energy Institute, Ogilvy and WTOP.

via Homepage http://influencealley.nationaljournal.com/2012/09/todays-influence-ads-hustler-m.php

To hear Pandora founder Tim Westergren tell it, the last fight he had in Washington was for his very survival.

In 2007, the Internet radio company faced new royalty rates that would have amounted to about 70 percent of the company’s revenue, putting the fledgling start up out of business, said Westergren, Pandora’s chief strategy officer.

“It was a disastrous outcome,” he said.

So Pandora reached out to its users – for whom they conveniently have gathered names, zip codes and email addresses – and asked them to push their lawmakers to intervene. And then Pandora hit Washington to lobby. Congress eventually stepped in and passed the Webcaster Settlement Act, which gave Pandora and the recording industry a different royalty framework and time to negotiate a rate that would replace the government-imposed one. Pandora now pays royalties that equal about 50 percent of its revenue.

Since then, the Internet radio company has become ubiquitous. They have 150 million registered users in the U.S., according to company statistics. And, as of March, it was the second-most downloaded free iPhone app, following only Facebook. Eighteen car companies sell vehicles equipped with Pandora.

And they’ve grown up Washington-style, too. Pandora’s royalty rate won’t expire until 2015. But rather than wait around for another rate set under rules Westergren says are unfair, the Internet radio company is ramping-up its lobbying efforts. And it looks like they’re preparing to take the fight to the Hill.

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via Homepage http://influencealley.nationaljournal.com/2012/07/pandora-all-grown-up.php