Manufacturers trade group releases lobbying funder names

WASHINGTON - The National Association of Manufacturers released the names of 65 member companies that provided significant funding to the trade group for first-quarter lobbying activities, according to an amended disclosure report.

NAM was trying to keep the names secret, but lost a fight against a new lobbying disclosure law that requires trade groups and coalitions to divulge the names of members that give more than $5,000 in a quarterly period toward such activities. Congress tightened the lobbying-disclosure requirements to target "stealth coalitions" or groups that use nondescript names to lobby for industries.

Facing a $250,000 fine and a maximum five years in prison, NAM relented and provided a Web site link to the list of the funders in the April 30 amended report, which also indicated the trade group spent more than $2.2 million lobbying in the January-to-March period.

NAM's donor list includes a wide range of companies and trade groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, AT&T Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Exxon Mobil Corp., General Electric Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., Clorox Co. and U.S. Steel Corp., among others.

Only companies' names and addresses are listed, not their individual contributions or their specific lobbying activities.

NAM, which filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the new ethics and lobbying law, is still appealing an April 11 decision by a federal judge who rebuffed its argument that a provision within the law violates members' First Amendment rights.

A federal appeals court and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts soon after rejected the group's requests for stays from revealing its funders.

For the first three months of the year, the trade group, which has about 11,000 members overall, lobbied on numerous issues, including patent reform, taxes, trade agreements, climate change, energy-related legislation, transportation, tort reform, high-speed Internet deployment, health and immigration reform.

NAM lobbied Congress, White House, U.S. Trade Representative's office and the Defense, Treasury and Commerce departments among numerous others.

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