PEYTON WOLCOTT - AKIN GUMP / WASHINGTON, D.C. LOBBYISTS

Conservative Commentary - Akin Gump/Washington, DC Lobbyists

Cy-Fair's David Anthony
(C) at resort with bar cart
girl (L), AIG vendor Ken
Coffey (R) at 2:30 pm on
Friday, Apr. 20 of TAKS
testing week

P E Y T O N W O L C O T T

How we take back our children's education:
one person, one question, one school at a time.

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"Superintendents
and school
boards
would have to be
willing to be
perceived as
being anti-open
government and
anti-transparency
to turn down
requests that
they post their
check registers
online."

SEEING IS BELIEVING
Although Katy ISD supe Leonard Merrell has just
retired, his self-named "Leonard E. Merrell Center"
(above) at Katy ISD still bears his name not once but
twice, and remains the only such edifice in the U.S.
which a working supe named for himself. (Updated July 4, 2007)

UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE

ANOTHER VIEW OF
LOBBYING
Another day in
paradise: Texas'
hardworking supes
golfing with vendors
during TAKS testing
week
By Peyton Wolcott
Tue., Apr. 24, 2007/1:04 am

Remember Dallas ISD's tech guy Ruben Bohuchot's use of vendor's"Sir
Veza"? The yacht's been-- forgive us -- "Rehabbed."

You're Gov. Perry
for a day: Your
pick for Texas'
next edu-
missioner is ____?
By Peyton Wolcott
Monday, June 25/1:08 am

You've got one
basic decision; on
it everything else
hinges:

Are you really ready to do something about
the mess our current vendor-driven public
school system has become, or are you
going to appoint someone from the same
old tarnished Education, Inc. gene pool
we've been culling from for the past dozen
years?
As guv-for-a-day, the person you hire will
either continue to plunge Texas public
education deeper into the subjective
touchy-feely fuzzy math whole-language
abyss in which it's become mired -- the one
which has already produced a generation of
young adults who can't tell you what six times
nine is without a calculator and who don't
know where Alsace-Lorraine is and why
knowing that's important to the future of our
Southern border with Mexico -- or you'll find a
way to appease business interests and still put
someone in charge who is smart and savvy
enough to make the changes that are
necessary.

The nominees
The names most frequently presented this
past week: Robert Scott, Sandy Kress, Bill
Hammond, Ric Williamson, Kent Grusendorf,
Talmadge Heflin, John Folks, David Anthony,
Leonard Merrell and Mike Hinojosa.

what's wrong with our public schools today
for many diverse reasons--including being a
paid education lobbyist--one of the biggest
practical if not political strikes against Kress is
the fact that his son does not attend Austin ISD
public schools but instead attends a private
preparatory school in Austin. Somehow it
doesn't seem quite cricket that a fellow who's
made a fortune from public education would be
sending his child to a private school--especially
if he really believes, as again and again he
says does.

Is Kress tied to growing
New Orleans PS scandal?
Former NOPS board president Ellenese
Brooks-Simms pleaded guilty to bribery
charges earlier this week and "has agreed to
cooperate fully with the FBI and the U.S.
Attorney's office.... The plea by Brooks-Simms
marks the zenith thus far of a five-year federal
probe into Orleans Parish schools that has
netted 28 additional indictments of employees
and contractors on various bribery, fraud and
theft charges....Records show the company
has paid lucrative fees to lobbying juggernauts
including...Akin Gump." (SOURCE--New Orleans
Times-Picayune) Sandy Kress is a partner in
Akin Gump.

For those of you just back from ten years
Zimbabwe, Kress is also a former Dallas ISD
school board trustee and was the education
advisor to President Bush credited as being the
primary architect of No Child Left Behind.

Among the groups with which he's been
associated: Texas Business & Education
Coalition on whose board he serves with the
likes of Mike Moses, Bracewell partner David
Thompson and TASA's Kay Waggoner.

According to Texas Ethics Commission
records, for just one activity--as paid lobbyist
for Texans for Excellence in the Classroom--
Kress expects his annual compensation to be
in the neighborhood of $100,000 to
$149,999.99.

Sandy Kress
(2nd from left)

Education, Inc.
candidates
Business
sector

Although Sandy Kress
epitomizes for many
parents and taxpayers

The blogospher on Kress
I still consider it one of life's great mysteries as
to how anyone who listens to Kress for as
long as it takes to spell c-o-r-r-u-p-t-i-o-n could
be impressed by anything he has to say about
any legitimate conception of education.
(SOURCE--School Matters)

Kress has used his knowledge and
connections to earn millions as a high-powered
lobbyist for test publishers...He’s made about
$4 million in lobbying contracts, in large part
from companies that profit from provisions of
the law he helped to design. (SOURCE--Emily
Pyle/Texas Observer)

[Regarding NCLB/Reading First] Surely from the
beginning, from the crafty engineering and
writing of the law to its implementation,
cronyism and conflicts of intereset have
abounded. Who has benefited from this
regressive and oppressive law? The financial
benefit to Sandy Kress alone is probably
staggering. (SOURCE--Educator Roundtable)

Thanks to Sandy Kress, several brand-new
spigots had begun to pump billions in federal
dollars out of public schools and into the
private sector, where corporate interests had
only to hold out their buckets and fill ‘em up.
(SOURCE--Daily Kos)

Bill Hammond is another
business lobbyist--he's
president of the Texas
Association of Business--
and someone else many
parents and taxpayers

Bill Hammond

To make this easier for you,
guv-for-a-day, assuming you're short on
time, here's the short-form EZ graphics
version; the longer form with factual supporting
data follows:

Sandy Kress, Bill Hammond, Ric
Williamson and Kent "Pushing Laptops
Is My Middle Name" Grusendorf are
profiled at right.

Austin insiders say Cy-Fair's David Anthony
has never really been in the running and that
his and San Antonio's John Folk's and Dallas'
Hinojosa candidacies may be more a function
of contract negotiations with their boards; you
see the idea.

Does Texas really need an education
commissioner who would leave his teachers
and students behind back in his hometown to
play golf at a resort on Friday of TAKS testing
week with an insurance vendor (below)? Or a
paid lobbyist with deep and rich connections to
education vendors? That's what we'd get with
David Anthony or Sandy Kress.

Sandy Kress, Bill Hammond,
Ric Williamson, John Folks,
David Anthony, Leonard
Merrell and Mike Hinojosa.

xxx

The blogosphere on Hammond
BRIEF: The head of one of Texas' largest
business lobbies was taken into custody
Monday after refusing to turn over documents
concerning the organization's secretly-funded
advertising campaign during the 2002 legislative
races. Texas Association of Business
President Bill Hammond also decided not to pay
his $500 fine for contempt and was ordered
held in the Austin jury room until 5 p.m. when
the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals set bail at
$1,500 and he was released.
(SOURCE--KPFT)

Leave it to Shirley Neeley and her ventriloquists
in the governor's office to appoint a "task force"
of political insiders to investigate cheating on
the TAKS test. All five of the appointees are
connected to the Texas Public Education
Establishment....The five are Dr. Carole
Francois, education consultant; Bill Hammond,
chief of the Texas Association of Business;
Sylvia Hatton, former executive director of the
TEA's regional education service center in
Edinburg; George McShan, former president of
the state and national associations of school
boards; and A.J. Rodriguez, head of the San
Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Some might
remember Dr. Francois from days when she
was former Dallas ISD Supt. Mike Moses' chief
of staff. She also worked for Moses at TEA.
(SOURCE--Scott Parks/Dallas Morning News Blog)

Kent Grusendorf
The former House Public Education chair was
defeated for a variety of reasons last year
including his relentless pushing of taxpayer-
funded laptops for all students. Putting
someone so out of touch with the populace,
including teachers, in charge of TEA seems not
wise. Further, he was unseated by Diane
Patrick, a former teacher and considered a
friend of public schools.

Texas Senate Education chair Florence
Shapiro on Sandy Kress:
"When it comes to public schools and the
betterment of children, I don't know of anyone
who cares more about that than Sandy Kress.
Ms. Shapiro said she sees Mr. Kress as a
friend, not one of the estimated 300 Austin
lawyer-
lobbyists who represent clients interested in
public education law. ' I have no idea who his
clients are,' she said."

Comment: Apparently Mr. Kress' interest in
public schools and the betterment of children
does not extend to his own son, given that his
son attends a private prep school.

And another comment

Call some of us populists, call us
egalitarian, but seems to many folks
that anyone wanting to head up Texas'
public schools should at the very least
have his son enrolled in one.

It is troubling that the man who has
been a part of selling so much stuff to
our public schools finds our public
schools sufficiently lacking that he has
enrolled his son in a private school.

A nagging question:
If Sandy finds our public schools
sufficiently lacking that he will not send
his son to one, does this mean the
stuff we are buying from his clients the
school peddlers is not working? If if
it's not working, whyare we buying it?

Texas supes golfing
on Friday, April 20,
2007 during
TAKS testing week
(Social Studies day) at
TAS/MUS "Boerne
Tourney"

TAS/MUS scrapbook
golfing pix here 1 2 3

Second thoughts
By Peyton Wolcott
Saturday, August 4, 2007/10 pm

One of the tests of growing up
is learning that just because you can
do something doesn't mean you
should.

Austin lobbyist/lawyer Sandy
Kress has certainly paid his dues--in
some cases literally
perhaps--towards the cause of his
being named Texas' next
edumissioner.

He is after all most commonly called
"the architect of No Child Left
Behind." Where the dilemma lies is
that for some people this is a good
thing and for many others, it is not.

As regards his ties to a seemingly
endless stream of public school
vendors, it is very difficult to imagine
that with a few signed papers Sandy
could sufficiently divest himself of all
holdings for the period of his service
as Texas edu-missioner. Look at
this sampling at far left, judge for
yourself:

Why focus on Sandy
Kress?
Two reasons: One, he is the
apparent pick for TEA edu-
missioner by the Texas business
community, and appears on all
short lists. Two, he's mentioned
as a consistent front runner behind
deputy commissioner Robert
Scott.

would like to see kept as far away from public
education as legally possible.

About that public school
profiteering
There are issues around Sandy
Kress' lobbying and business
interests. Here's one example:

"You wanna know what motivates me?" Mr. Kress
asked. "Fixing that problem is what motivates me."

Whether to feed his passion or to pad his
paycheck, Mr. Kress has picked up his briefcase and
headed to the Capitol to join the legislative debate about
reshaping schools and the teaching profession.

"I'm a radical education reformer," he said. "That is who
I am. That is the definition of Sandy Kress."

Mr. Kress is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &
Feld, which describes itself as one of the world's largest
law firms. He operates from an office on the 21st floor of
a downtown Austin high-rise. He lives in a million-dollar
home with his wife, Camille. They have two children
who attend public schools.

Mr. Kress seems to be involved in every serious
conversation about education policy from California to
New York. His schedule keeps him hopscotching
across the country as a cheerleader for No Child Left
Behind, the sweeping federal education law that
enshrined test data as the centerpiece of school
accountability.

Under the Texas Capitol dome this session, he is the
paid lobbyist for conservative businessmen intent on
imposing more accountability on public schools in return
for increased funding. He consults for companies that sell
products and services to state education agencies and
school districts. And he advises corporate chief
executives under the banner of business groups
such as the Business Roundtable.

Mr. Kress declined to reveal his hourly rate. It varies by
client, he said. Sometimes, he volunteers his time.

At legislative hearings and education conferences and in
the press, he is usually identified as a former education
adviser to President Bush or as a former Dallas school
board president in the mid-1990s.

Rarely mentioned publicly, however, are Mr. Kress'
connections to powerful companies and business
associations that have a stake in a $500-billion-a-year
public education machine fueled by a politically
volatile mix of federal, state and local taxes.

"Sandy is old-school in that he wants to fly under the
radar screen, particularly as it relates to his
lobbying activities," said longtime friend Robert
Spellings, a Washington lobbyist and husband of U.S.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. "He quietly
goes about his business, and he has credibility."

Mr. Kress says he follows all public disclosure laws for
lobbyists. He frowned upon hearing his friend's
metaphor. "I don't fly above or below anything," he said.

Legislative influence
Most lawmakers don't seem to care whom Mr. Kress
represents. When he speaks, they listen.

Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, chairwoman of the state
Senate's Education Committee, will be a key player in
crafting controversial proposals based on test score data
– things such as bonus pay for teachers and state
sanctions for low-performing schools.

Mr. Kress "has been a vital part of everything I've done
for the last two years. I say he is an adviser and
mentor, and we share ideas," Ms. Shapiro said. "When
it comes to public schools and the betterment of children,
I don't know of anyone who cares more about that than
Sandy Kress."

Ms. Shapiro said she sees Mr. Kress as a friend, not
one of the estimated 300 Austin lawyer-lobbyists who
represent clients interested in public education law.

"I have no idea who his clients are," [Senate
Education Committee chair Florence Shapiro] said.

Much of Mr. Kress' work takes place under the cloak of
attorney-client privilege.

"I don't want to talk too much about what I do for
my clients because I don't think they like that," he
said.

Mr. Kress' relationship with Pearson Education, one of
the world's largest education companies, illustrates how
he works with some clients.

Pearson, among other things, publishes textbooks and
runs high-stakes test programs for state education
agencies. The company holds a $57 million contract to
run the TAKS test program for 2004-05, according to the
Texas Education Agency.

The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog
agency that reports to Congress, says states will spend
$1.9 billion to $5.3 billion to implement tests mandated by
No Child Left Behind.

So what is Mr. Kress' value to a major player in the
textbook and testing industries?

A January 2003 meeting of Pearson executives and
their investors shed some light on that question. Mr.
Kress was the featured speaker.

Marjorie Scardino, the Texarkana-born chief executive of
parent company Pearson PLC (which also owns The
Financial Times and Penguin Books), introduced Mr.
Kress as one of "the leading advisers on education
policy in America."

"He also is our adviser," she said. "He talks a lot to us
about how NCLB is going to change things for us and
what kinds of products and services might be
appropriate for that kind of change."

Mr. Kress spent 20 minutes guiding Pearson investors
through his encyclopedic knowledge of federal law,
helping them understand No Child Left Behind's
requirements and their effect on the market: more money
for English language learners, new mandates for science
testing beginning in 2006-07 and a hundred other details.

During a recent interview, he talked about how he sees
himself and his work. The word "lobbyist" was not
prominent in his self-analysis.

What he really does, he said, is use a unique blend of
knowledge about public education law and education
research to chart the future for his clients. He reads
research. For example, he knows what middle school
math textbooks should contain and who should be hired
to write them.

"I may say, 'Here's what I think' or 'Here's what I see.'
"

From Dallas to D.C.
How can he be both a professorial guru and a hired gun?
One lawmaker, who asked not to be identified, likened
Mr. Kress to Jell-O that's hard to grab onto.

In the mid-1980s, he was Democratic Party chairman in
Dallas County. He ran for the Dallas school board in
1992 and won. Even back then, he advocated upgrading
learning by using a standardized test to measure
academic success and teacher performance.

In 1993, George W. Bush was preparing to run for
governor and called Mr. Kress for a tutorial on education
policy. They became friends.

By 1995, Mr. Kress had become Dallas school board
president. It was an extraordinarily divisive period for the
Dallas Independent School District. Mr. Kress and other
whites on the board often voted with the Latino members
in a bloc that became known as the "slam-dunk gang."

Black trustees accused him of running a dictatorship that
targeted minority schools for punishment for academic
problems. He said he was just trying to improve the
schools, and in fact student test scores did rise during his
tenure. Under his leadership, DISD also implemented an
accountability system to link teachers' evaluations to the
performance of their students.

But after four racially charged years on the board,
he chose not to run for re-election in 1996.

"The political conflicts in Dallas were complex,"
he said. "I don't purport to fully understand them."

The political turmoil helped persuade Mr. Kress to leave
Dallas in 1997 and establish himself in Austin. By then,
he had become a confidant to both Democrats and
Republicans. His loyalty to Mr. Bush had deepened.

In 2001, he turned up as a temporary government
employee in Washington. With his bipartisan pedigree
and education expertise, Mr. Bush saw him as the
perfect choice to shepherd No Child Left Behind through
Congress.

Mr. Kress got much of the credit for passing the law.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., called him the
president's "smooth talker." He left Washington with
greater stature among Republicans, who were becoming
the winning team in Washington and Austin.

Even so, Mr. Kress never switched parties publicly. He
started referring to himself as "post-partisan."

Records show that he and his wife have contributed
$7,000 to the Bush presidential campaigns. But he also
contributed to his law firm's political action committee,
which gives money to both Republicans and Democrats.

Voting records show that he participated in the 2000
Republican primary. In 2002, he voted in the Democratic
primary. He didn't vote in either primary in 2004.

"I still get surprised when folks ascribe political motives
to what I do," he said. "I work with Democrats. I work
with Republicans. And I don't see myself, for better or
worse, as making decisions to curry favor on a partisan
basis."

The accountability fight
Mr. Kress also lobbies for Texas Businesses for
Educational Excellence, a loose-knit group that wants
a more productive public education system for their tax
dollars.

The group advocates a tightly controlled industrial model
for education called standards-based accountability.

The state develops a script – grade by grade and subject
by subject – to determine what children should be taught.
It's called the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.
Teachers follow the guidelines, and children are tested to
measure academic production.

Test results allow the state to target teachers and
principals for praise or blame. The scores also point to
schools that might need restructuring.

Teachers and other critics say this system steals
creativity from the classroom and leaves no time for
deeper learning and critical thinking. Mr. Kress
dismisses those complaints. He says good teachers can
find time for a well-rounded curriculum beyond TEKS.

"You cannot teach a whole semester on dinosaurs," Mr.
Kress said. "With some teachers, it would be a whole
semester on dinosaurs. It's a revolution. In the past,
those decisions were made in the classroom."

Linda McNeil, a professor of education at Rice
University, says the business model for public education
is disrespectful of teachers.

"The idea is that teachers don't work hard and that they
need to be shaped up by business people," said Dr.
McNeil, a critic of the standards-based accountability
movement.

The focus on a uniform statewide testing system, she
argued, shifts public attention away from the poor school
environment that many lower-income students endure
each day – inferior libraries, too few textbooks, no
running water in science classes.

"Sameness becomes a proxy for equity," she said.
"The so-called accountability system becomes a mask
for the old inequalities."

Critics say Mr. Kress' education philosophy equates
teachers to salesmen. Mr. Kress is among those who
advocate bonuses for schools that score better on
TAKS, with principals deciding which teachers are
rewarded.

He is also pushing the TEA to classify more Texas
schools as "low-performing." Right now, some are
ranked "acceptable" even though no more than 25
percent of their students pass the TAKS test.

Mr. Kress also advocates new, "muscular" sanctions
for schools that remain low-performing for three years in
a row when compared with schools with similar
demographics.

To escape those schools, parents might be given
publicly funded vouchers to transfer their children to
private schools. Or regulators might turn the operations of
chronically low-performing schools over to private for-
profit or nonprofit management companies.

"Whether it's done by school people themselves or
contracted out to somebody else, I'm agnostic on that,"
Mr. Kress said. "But that it be done is essential."

Mr. Kress also says he believes state government
should expand the number of charter schools in Texas.
Educational choices for parents are a good thing, he said.

The opposition
Talk of vouchers and privatizing public schools is
threatening to many teachers, administrators and other
public school advocates.

Ms. Boyle, the former PTA mom, works with many of
those who are alarmed. She runs the Coalition for Public
Schools, an amalgam of 40 organizations that represent
everyone from teachers to school administrators to
elected school board members.

And she is suspicious of those who talk about issuing
vouchers and corporations taking over failing public
schools.

"I'm looking at all of this as a parent with a lot of heart
involved," said Ms. Boyle, who spends her days
fighting legislative proposals to divert money from public
schools. "These guys are looking at schools with their
brains and calculators."

E-mail sparks@dallasnews.com
______________________________
("KRESS: HIS CLIENTS AND HIS ACTIVITIES"
continued above left)

Is "profiteer" too harsh a
description?

According to most dictionaries, a
profiteer is someone who makes
what is considered an unreasonable
profit.

Until Sandy Kress and Pearson
(see Houston Chronicle quotes
above) and his other clients open up
their books
how can we determine what is
reasonable and what is not?

Would Sandy Kress be willing to
show us his last five years of IRS
filings, with attachments?

Kress client
Pearson's $279
million contract
"The Texas Education Agency
has agreed to pay Iowa-based
Pearson Educational
Measurement about $39 million
for field testing conducted from
2005-2010, according to the
agency...Field testing accounts
for about 15 percent of Pearson's
entire five-year, $279 million
contract with the agency."
(SOURCE--Ericka Mellon/Houston
Chronicle)

The big man on campus reform
Lobbyist a go-to guy on
school policy,
but some question his
motives
10:26 PM CST on Saturday, March 5, 2005
By SCOTT PARKS/The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – Sandy Kress is charting the future for
America's schoolchildren.

Ten years ago, he was president of the Dallas school
board. In 2001, he helped President Bush shoulder the
No Child Left Behind Act through Congress.

He's a lawyer, a lobbyist, an education policy wonk and
a once-prominent Democrat who became a top adviser to
Republicans. And today, at age 55, Mr. Kress is
among the most influential players in the education-
industrial complex.

Some critics see a conflict. On the one hand, Mr. Kress
is a leading advocate of using test data to hold schools
accountable; he says his motivation is to make education
better for children. On the other, the accountability
movement that he espouses benefits the clients
who have made him wealthy.

"One of the things that irritates people is that he wraps
George W. Bush around his neck like a mink stole, and
he is really this highly paid hired gun who opens up
education markets for big companies," said Carolyn
Boyle, a former PTA mom who lobbies to maintain
funding for public schools.

Mr. Kress dismisses such talk as hyperbole from people
who "see hobgoblins" and "commies under the bed."
What they should be focusing on, he said, is bad schools
where most kids fail the Texas Assessment of
Knowledge and Skills.

KRESS: HIS CLIENTS
AND HIS ACTIVITIES
Saturday, March 5, 2005
By SCOTT PARKS/The Dallas
Morning News

Education adviser to
President George W. Bush
in the 2000 and 2004
campaigns. Played key
role in helping Mr. Bush
push the No Child Left
Behind law through
Congress.

Consultant to Council of
Chief State School
Officers, an association
of state education
commissioners. Mr. Kress
advises them on how to
implement No Child Left
Behind's requirement that
all states set up
accountability systems
based on high-stakes test
scores.

Consultant to the
Business Roundtable, a
Washington D.C.-based
consortium of chief
executives of major
American companies. The
organization has been
active in education issues
for many years.

Co-founder of the Texas
Education Reform
Caucus. TERC was
created as an advisory
committee for state Rep.
Kent Grusendorf,
R-Arlington, chairman of
the Public Education
Committee in the Texas
House of Representatives.

Adviser, consultant and
lobbyist for Pearson
Education, a worldwide
company that publishes
textbooks and runs
high-stakes test programs
in Texas and other states.

Lobbyist for Kaplan, a
division of The
Washington Post Co.
Kaplan provides a wide
range of educational
products and services. It
first made its mark in the
test-preparation industry.

Lobbyist for The Teaching
Commission, a New
York-based think tank
started by Louis V.
Gerstner Jr., chairman of
The Carlyle Group, a
private global investment
firm. The Teaching
Commission advocates
more rigorous
teacher-training programs
and paying them based on
merit rather than seniority.

Consultant to the
Governor's Business
Council, a group of Texas
business leaders that
have recommended a
wide-ranging list of
changes to public
education law in Texas.
Charles McMahen, a
retired Houston banker,
chairs the council.

Lobbyist for Texas
Businesses for
Excellence in Education.
The group hired Mr. Kress
to help get the Governor's
Business Council
recommendations into
Texas law. It advocates
stricter sanctions for
schools that are judged
"low-performing" based on
high-stakes test scores.
Houston investor Charles
Miller and San Antonio
businessman H.B. Zachry
Jr. are involved in this
group.

Former lobbyist for K12,
which in 2003
unsuccessfully pushed
the Texas Legislature to
publicly fund so-called
virtual charter schools.
K12 sells curricula that
home-schoolers can get
over the Internet. William J.
Bennett, a former U.S.
secretary of education, is a
director of the company.
Mr. Kress says he no
longer works for K12.

Former lobbyist for
Community Education
Partners. Under contract
with school districts, the
company runs alternative
campuses for problem
students who have been
kicked out of regular
classrooms. Mr. Kress
says he has not worked
for CEP since 1999.

SOURCES: Texas Ethics
Commission, Sandy
Kress and Dallas Morning
News research.

Hats off to Scott Parks and the
Dallas Morning News for
the nation's first comprehensive
look at Sandy Kress

Akin Gump
(Sandy Kress'
law firm)
Lobbying clients
As registered with the
U.S. House of
Representatives
Washington, D.C.
Sandy Kress' Texas
lobbying here
(Client Name House ID LD-2 Form)

ABACUS TECHNOLOGY
CORPORATION 317840339

Abbott Laboratories

AD HOC NITROGEN COMMITTEE
317840177

Aetna, Inc. 317840399

AGUA CALIENTE BAND OF
CAHUILLA INDIANS 317840318
[See casino photo at right]

AKORN, INC. 317840346

ALLIANCE OF PINE BLUFF,
ARKANSAS, THE 317840283

ALLIANCE OF DEDICATED CANCER
CENTERS 317840304

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF STATE
HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION
OFFICIALS (AASHTO) 317840254

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF
EDUCATION 317840413

AMERICAN FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
317840002

AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL
GROUP 317840347

AMERICAN TELEPHONE &
TELEGRAPH 317840004

AMERICAN WIND ENERGY
ASSOCIATION 317840331

Anheuser-Busch Companies 317840403
(see illustration below right)

APOLLO ADVISORS, LP 317840139

ARBITRAGE RELIEF COALITION FOR
SRFS 317840310

Archer Daniels Midland Company
317840408

AREVA, Inc. 317840414
(see illustration at right)

ATLANTIC SEA ISLAND GROUP LLC
317840378

AUTHENTIDATE HOLDING CORP.
317840349

BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION OF
NORTH AMERICA INC. 317840128

BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
317840221

BECHTEL GROUP, INC 317840008

BHP BILLITRON LNG
INTERNATIONAL INC. 317840335

BIOFORTIS, INC. 317840385

BOEING COMPANY, THE 317840086

BP EXPLORATION (ALASKA), INC.
317840224

BRIDGESTONE AMERICAS HOLDING,
INC. 317840203

BROWN-FORMAN 317840325

BRUNSWICK CORPORATION
317840126

CATALINA HEALTH RESOURCE, INC.
317840348

CENTEX CONSTRUCTION 317840384

CERTAINTEED CORPORATION
317840263

CHAMBERLAIN GROUP INC., THE
317840321

CHEMTURA CORPORATION
317840363

CHEROKEE INVESTMENT
PARTNERS 317840375

CHOICEPOINT 317840261

CITIZENS EDUCATIONAL
FOUNDATION, INC. 317840073

CITY OF HOUSTON 317840327

CITY OF YONKERS INDUSTRIAL
DEVELOPMENT AGENCY 317840229

CNOOC LIMITED 317840343
(see more below right)

Coalition for 21st Century Patent
Reform 317840397

COALITION FOR A STRONGER FDA,
THE 317840395

COMMERCE CLAUSE COALITION
317840172

CONSTELLA GROUP, LLC 317840361

CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF
AMERICA 317840195

COUNTY OF SOLANO 317840383

Cox Enterprises Inc. 317840421

CRYOLIFE, INC. 317840289

Cumberland Community Improvement
District 317840396

DELAWARE NORTH COMPANIES,
INC 317840268

DFI GOVERNMENT SERVICES
317840333

DRC Real Estate Development LLC
317840424

EDUCATIONAL TESTING
SERVICES [sic] 317840298

EMC CORPORATION, INC 317840205

EMPIRE STATE DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION 317840284

ENPRO INDUSTRIES 317840290

EXXON MOBIL PRODUCTION
COMPANY, A DIVISION OF EXXON
MOBIL CORPORATION 317840225

FIRST BROADCASTING, LLC
317840322

FIRSTENERGY 317840162

FLORIDA CITRUS MUTUAL 317840279

FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT COMPANY
317840355

FLUOR CORPORATION 317840360

FM POLICY FOCUS 317840150

FOOD LION 317840247

FREMONT INVESTORS, INC
317840018

GE HEALTHCARE 317840370

General Electric 317840402

GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY
317840110

GLOBAL ALCOHOL PRODUCERS
GROUP 317840354

GOEX, INC 317840291

GOODRICH CORPORATION
317840233

GOODWILL INDUSTRIES
INTERNATIONAL, INC 317840307

GREATER TOPEKA CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE 317840313

GROCERY MANUFACTURERS OF
AMERICA (GMA) 317840295

GUARDIAN INDUSTRIES, INC
317840217

HAMPTON ROADS MILITARY AND
FEDERAL FACILITIES ALLIANCE
317840366

HARRIS BEACH & WILCOX 317840163

HESS CORPORATION 317840066

HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL, INC
317840305

HUNT BUILDING CORPORATION
317840277

Husky Energy Inc. 317840416

Ice Energy, Inc. 317840423

INCHARGE DEBT SOLUTIONS
317840372

INDIAN HEAD DEFENSE ALLIANCE
317840299

INDOOR TANNING ASSOCIATION,
INC. 317840207

INTER-AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF
PUERTO RICO 317840319

ISE CORP. 317840390

JOHNSON & JOHNSON 317840093

JRL ENTERPRISES 317840369

Julian Robertson 317840422

KALEIDA HEALTH 317840337

KAPLAN, INC. 317840306

KLEINER PERKINS CAUFIELD &
BYERS 317840359

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company
317840420

Landmark Aviation 317840410

Large Public Power Council 317840401

LAS VEGAS PAIUTE TRIBE 317840328

LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE
COMPANY 317840022

LIFECARE MANAGEMENT SERVICES
317840365

LINEBARGER,
GOGGAN, BLAIR, PENA
& SAMPSON, L.L.P.
317840106

LOWE'S COMPANIES INC. 317840389

MANTECH INTERNATIONAL
317840285

MARSH & MCLENNAN COMPANIES,
INC 317840301

MDVIP, INC. 317840341

Medtronic, Inc. 317840409

MEGANET CORPORATION 317840379

MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING
CANCER CENTER 317840088

MERCK & CO, Inc.
317840211

METROPOLITAN TRANSIT
AUTHORITY OF HARRIS COUNTY
317840026

MGT OF AMERICA 317840316

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
317840393

MOODY'S CORPORATION
317840250

MORTGAGE INSURANCE
COMPANIES OF AMERICA 317840058

MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF
AMERICA 317840030

MUNICIPAL FINANCIAL
CONSULTANTS, INC. 317840099

National Financial Partners Corp.
317840404

National Registered Agents, Inc.
317840398

NATIONWIDE MUTUAL INSURANCE
COMPANY 317840034

NCS PEARSON, INC.
317840256

NELNET, INC. 317840386

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
317840035

NEW YORK STATE ENERGY
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
AUTHORITY 317840282

NEW YORK STATE HEALTH
FACILITIES ASSOCIATION 317840160

NEW YORK YANKEES PARTNERSHIP
317840368

NEXXAR GROUP, INC. 317840329

NIAGARA FRONTIER
TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY
317840183

NOBLE ENVIRONMENTAL POWER
317840381

OneBeacon Insurance 317840400

OSAGE TRIBE OF INDIANS 317840330

PANAMERICAN CAPITAL
PARTNERS, LLC 317840358

PANFLU, LLC 317840373

PAPERBOY VENTURES, LLC
317840388

Pegasus Associates, Inc. 317840412

Pensacola Regional Airport 317840406

PERKINELMER, INC 317840129

PETER O'DONNELL, JR. 317840377

PFIZER, INC. 317840036

PG&E CORPORATION 317840089

PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND
MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION
317840111

PHILLIPS ALASKA, INC. 317840226

Preston Harbor, LP 317840418

Private Equity Council 317840415

PRODESSE, INC. 317840387

PROGRESSIVE EXPERT
CONSULTING, INC 317840286

RADIO DIGITAL TECHNIQUE, INC
317840271

RAYMOND JAMES & ASSOCIATES,
INC 317840276

Robbins Community Power 317840417

SAINT-GOBAIN CORPORATION
317840357

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA
317840040

SAN GABRIEL VALLEY WATER
COMPANY 317840164

SANTA CLARA VALLEY
TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY
317840391

SAS INSTITUTE INC. 317840371

Select Health of South Carolina, Inc.
317840411

SENECA NATION OF INDIANS
317840249

SEQUOIA VENTURES, INC 317840042

SHOSHONE-PAIUTE TRIBES OF THE
DUCK VALLEY RESERVATION
317840338

SOUTHEAST MILK, INC. 317840380

SOUTHERN MARYLAND NAVAL
ALLIANCE 317840334

Southwest Windpower 317840419

ST. BARNABAS HEALTH CARE
SYSTEM 317840204

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
317840208

SYRACUSE RESEARCH CORP.
317840374

TerreStar Networks 317840407

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS, INC.
317840350

THE BUSINESS
ROUNDTABLE 317840080

THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY
317840255

THE METHODIST HOSPITAL
317840223

THE NASDAQ STOCK MARKET, INC.
317840202

THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
317840246

THIRD WAVE TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
317840353

TYCO INTERNATIONAL (U.S.)
317840332

Tysons Tunnel Inc. 317840405

U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
317840376

U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
INSTITUTE FOR LEGAL REFORM
317840382

UNITED KEETOOWAH BAND OF
CHEROKEE INDIANS IN OKLAHOMA
317840266

VIAHEALTH 317840297

VIMPELCOM 317840326

VOLKSWAGEN, AG 317840137

West Valley Partners 317840392

WEST VALLEY WATER DISTRICT
AND FONTANA WATER COMPANY
317840270

WYETH 317840070

Yolo County 317840394

Lobbying for China

The National Ledger
By Robert Novak
Aug 9, 2005

WASHINGTON - On June 22,
members of Congress received an
e-mail from CNOOC Ltd., the
Chinese government's huge oil
producer, defending its takeover bid
of Unocal [along with its substantial
oil and gas reserves]. The letter
was signed by Fu Chengyu, the
Beijing-based chairman and CEO
of CNOOC. If the U.S.
lawmakers need "further
information," they were urged to
contact "our U.S. advisers at the
firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer
& Feld" in Washington.

That lifted eyebrows on Capitol
Hill, where bipartisan opposition
erupted against attempted Chinese
acquisition of one of the last
American energy assets. Akin
Gump is one of the capital's
legal-lobbying behemoths and
needs no quick influx of income.
Yet, two months ago, Akin Gump
on its own initiative dropped its
representation of Chevron Corp.,
CNOOC's competitor in acquiring
Unocal.

The unsolicited $18.5 billion
CNOOC bid for Unocal tops the
$17 billion agreement that Chevron
had negotiated with Unocal. That
leads to a widely held conclusion
in Washington that Akin Gump
switched sides to work for the
highest bidder. The unkind
appraisal would be that the firm is
part of the capital's current climate
that elevates money above all else.

Akin Gump was a prestigious
Dallas law firm with no Washington
presence in 1970 when one of its
partners, Robert S. Strauss, was
elected treasurer of the Democratic
National Committee [two years
prior to becoming its chairman].
About to spend lots of time in
Washington, Strauss figured he
should open an Akin Gump office
in the capital and brought one of the
firm's lawyers up from Dallas. That
grew to hundreds of lawyers, far
more than worked at the home
office, in a DuPont Circle building
bearing Strauss's name.

With Strauss and Clinton friend
Vernon Jordan its biggest names,
the Washington office at first had a
Democratic coloration. But Bill
Paxon (once considered a future
Republican speaker of the House)
became Akin Gump's dominant
figure after joining the firm in 1999,
following his surprise retirement
from Congress at age 44. Strauss
last year won the lobbyist race to
hire another big-time Republican,
Tommy Thompson, upon his
resignation as HHS secretary.
Like most modern lobbying firms, it
does not take sides in politics,
ideology or global competition.

(Left) From website of Robert F. Sylk, "Businessman and Philanthropist":
"Robert's trained team of hosts at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage."
(Right) Education lobbyist and lawyer Sandy Kress (R) discussing NCLB on PBS

Why now?
We are asking the kinds of
questions that had they been
asked in December 2003 might
have spared us 3 1/2 years of
Shirley Neeley's leadership.

The truth will come out. Our
schoolchildren and their parents
and taxpayers deserve nothing
less.

The new-style Akin Gump might
seem an odd fit to represent an oil
company controlled by the
Chinese government, particularly
since Paxon in Congress
occasionally voted against
U.S.-Chinese trade relations.
Sources at Akin Gump informed
me that the firm, which often has
turned down clients offering a
lucrative payoff, debated the
Chinese bid long and hard before
accepting it.

Trying to probe the internal
decisions of these massive
lobbying firms is tougher than
delving into the Mafia or the old
Kremlin. Nobody talks on the
record, and what is said on
background is carefully parsed. At
Akin Gump, I was referred to the
firm's "ethics officer," who asked
me not to use his name. He said
the firm had decided in April not to
renew an arrangement with
Chevron that included work on
"legislation" (though not as a
registered lobbyist).

Trying to ascertain how Chevron
felt about getting dumped by Akin
Gump, I telephoned the head of the
California-based oil company's
Washington office: Lisa Barry, a
veteran government and corporate
official. Informed that she never
talks to reporters, several hours
later I was contacted by a Chevron
public relations officer. He told me
Chevron had no hard feelings about
being dumped by Akin Gump in
favor of CNOOC.

That would be inexplicable had not
the Akin Gump ethics officer
informed me that his firm still
represented Chevron in litigation he
would not identify. In the
Washington world of big-time
lawyers and lobbyists, there are no
permanent alliances or enmities.

China's oil bid raises serious policy
questions that are being debated at
high levels of the Bush
administration. But CNOOC treats
its efforts as another special interest
campaign in Washington. It has
hired Public Strategies, the firm of
Mark McKinnon, the former
Democratic advertising whiz who
worked for George W. Bush's
presidential campaigns and has
committed to Sen. John McCain in
2008. Money talks in Washington,
and it does not matter much who
does the paying.

Among American
College of
Education's
"Distinguished Advisors"
on their Advisory Board is
Sandy Kress--whose firm
Akin Gump lobbies
professionally for; and,
oh, Mike Moses is ACE's
board prez.

Mike Moses

Anheuser-Busch ads

"If Anne Lauvergeon had been given the
choice, the French nuclear-energy company she
heads would have been the next state-owned firm
slated for partial privatization." (SOURCE--Peter
Gumbel/Time)

French nuclear powerhouse
AREVA "is taking a lead role
in developing and providing
highly reliable nuclear power
technology and solutions."
(From website)

Just who are Akin
Gump's lobby clients?
By Peyton Wolcott
Sunday, August 5, 2007/2:17 am

CITIZENS EDUCATIONAL
FOUNDATION, INC.

Note from Peyton:
Reading this title, I assumed it was another of
Sandy Kress' education-related groups.
No.
CEF is a "Non-profit organization dedicated to the
decolonization of Puerto Rico."
According to the Citizens' website, their U.S.
partner is LULAC.

CNOOC "manages China's offshore oil and
gas exploration and production activities, in partner-
ship with international oil and gas firms. Under
Chinese government-regulated production sharing
contracts, CNOOC has the sole right to acquire up
to 51% of any successful discovery offshore China
made by foreign partners." (SOURCE--Yahoo)

The unkind appraisal
would be that [Akin
Gump] is part of the
capital's current climate
that elevates money
above all else. -- Robert Novak

"Agua Caliente band of Indians" sounds like a leftover casting call from a 1940's
Western. Which may have been true in their pre-Rancho Mirage and pre-casino

Pair Under Inquiry
May Face Tribal Action
By Judy Sarasohn
Thursday, October 7, 2004;
Washington Post, Page A37

In other news about a former
Abramoff tribal client . . . Akin
Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
registered to lobby on behalf of the
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla
Indians of Palm Springs, Calif.

The firm had earlier been retained
to represent the tribe in the
investigation. The lobby
registration is for unrelated issues
dealing with an array of
transportation, education and other
tribal issues, said Akin Gump
lawyer Steven R. Ross. Also on
the lobby team: Allison C.
Binney, Susan H. Lent, Jeffrey
D. McMillen and John M.
Simmons.

Like other law firms and lobby
shops in recent years, Akin
Gump has been building up its
Indian affairs practice. Most
recently, the firm brought on
Steven J. W. Heeley, who was
deputy general counsel for the
Gila River Indian Community in
Arizona, from 1997 to 2003, and
earlier served as chief counsel of
the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee. He also served as
deputy minority staff director and
counsel to Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) on the then-Senate
Select Committee on Indian
Affairs. McCain is now chairman
of the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee and is leading the
investigation into Abramoff's affairs.

Heeley is a member of the
Walpole Island First Nation. He
most recently was at the law firm
of Quarles & Brady Streich Lang.

days--but no longer.
Casinos attract a lot
of money and a lot of
people who'd like to
have more: playing
the gaming tables,
operating the gaming
tables--and providing
legal and lobbying
services as does Akin
Gump to the Agua
Caliente band of
Indians.

Let's take a closer
look at Akin Gump's
other clients.

EDUCATIONAL TESTING
SERVICE
Paid chair $800,000--first 10 months on job

Kurt Landgraf (above), former chairman and
chief executive of DuPont Pharmaceuticals, joined
ETS in 2000 as president and CEO. The non-profit,
which administers approximately 200 million tests
annually in 180 countries, has 2500 employees and
reported sales of $620 million in 2003.

Kaplan, Inc., the Washington Post Company’s
“financial crown jewel” per Business Week, is "one
of the world's leading providers of educational ser-
vices." Chairman and CEO Jonathan Grayer "has
overseen Kaplan’s expansion from an $80 million
test preparation company in 1994 to a diverse
education corporation with nearly $1.7 billion in
revenue in 2006. Kaplan serves over one million
students annually and has over 23,000 employees
in the U.S. and abroad." (SOURCE--Kaplan)

Kaplan earnings

"A private debt-collection firm tapped by
the IRS to seek repayment from Americans who
owe back taxes has been tangled in legal
controversy, including a bribery scheme involving
a collection contract in Texas and a federal
investigation of another collection deal in Louisiana.
Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, an Austin
law firm, was one of three firms chosen from
among 33 bidders in March for the potentially
lucrative IRS contract to attempt collection of an
estimated $1.4 billion in tax debts over 10 years.
• A former Linebarger partner was convicted in a
2002 bribery scheme involving payments to two
San Antonio city councilmen who voted to approve
a collection contract with the law firm.
• In 2004, Linebarger settled a lawsuit in which a
competitor alleged that the law firm offered illegal
gifts and bribes, and rigged bids to win collection
contracts from several local governments.
• A collection contract that the city of New Orleans
awarded to Linebarger and a Louisiana partner
organization in 1998 "has been the subject of an
FBI investigation."
Additionally, a USA TODAY review of the IRS
debt-collection plan shows that one of the
unsuccessful bidders had a collection contract
suspended in Ohio, and another was accused of
making illegal campaign contributions in Texas.
(SOURCE--USA Today)

"Why did the IRS outsource its collections?
Simply put, Republican lawmakers refused to
appropriate money to hire new IRS collectors and
instead authorized expenditures for hiring
contractors. This raises the question of why
Republican lawmakers would willingly push for an
outsourcing system that is less effective than the
existing governmental system. The answer is the
same ideological blinder that allows IRS
Commissioner Everson to say the method costs
more, returns less, yet is not wasteful. The
members of Congress who pushed the hardest for
outsourcing received political donations from the
owners of those companies that have received IRS
contracts; there is at least the appearance of a
conflict of interest and misuse of official position.
The IRS handed out contracts for 2006 to three
companies: Linebarger, Goggan, Sampson, and
Blair (from Austin, Texas); the CBE Group (based
in Waterloo, Iowa); and Pioneer Credit (based in
Arcade, New York). This Februrary, the IRS
awarded new contracts to CBE and Pioneer that
run through March 2008. The IRS announced, "The
CBE Group and Pioneer Credit Recovery gained
extensive experience in the first phase of the debt
collection program and are well positioned to move
the program forward." The third contract, with
Linebarger, however, was not renewed. To date,
no explanation has been given by the IRS for
dumping Linebarger's contract.
(SOURCE--Thurman Hart/The American Prospect) (April
18, 2007)

Linebarger
at TAS/MUS

Linebarger,
Goggan,
Blair &
Sampson, LLP

An email uncovered by Title I
Monitor reporter Andrew
Brownstein and Travis Hicks
links major publishers to
Reading First through Reid
Lyon to Spellings via Beth
Ann Bryan, reportedly the
eyes and ears of the White
House in the Department of
Education. The
communcation contains
protests from a senior
manager at Houghton-MIfflin
of New York City's likely
decision under the program
to purchase products based
on "whole language and
incidental phonics
window-dressing", when that
publisher's staff was in the
midst of becoming "true
believers" in Reading First.

As far as anyone watching
Reading First knows, no
major publisher actually
developed programs
demonstrated to improve
student achievement by
rigorous evaluations. So -
what gives?

AKIN GUMP ASSOCIATE
BETH ANN BRYAN
aka ELIZABETH CLIPP
BRYAN

Presidential Nomination
Elizabeth Clipp Bryan
Position: Member

Status: Appointed
Date of Announcement:
November 19, 2003
Date Nomination Sent to the
Senate: November 20, 2003
Date of Confirmation by the
Senate: November 21, 2004

AKIN GUMP POSITION:
Senior Education Advisor
(non-attorney)

BETH ANN BRYAN, Senior
Education Advisor
babryan@akingump.com / Austin
T: 512.499.6259 F: 512.499.6290

Beth Ann Bryan is a nationally known
and respected member of the
education community. As senior
education advisor to the firm, Ms.
Bryan assists various entities, both in
the private and public sector, with
implementation of the new national
education reforms. She also counsels
clients on other education policy
issues.

Prior to joining Akin Gump, Ms.
Bryan served as a senior advisor to
U.S. Secretary of Education Roderick
Paige. She was involved with
several key initiatives, including the
“No Child Left Behind” Act of 2001,
reading, teacher quality and
preparation, Head Start and early
childhood. She served as a member
of the president’s Commission on
Excellence in Special Education and
also worked closely with Laura Bush’
s office on all of Mrs. Bush’s
education initiatives. Prior to joining the
U.S. Department of Education, Ms.
Bryan served as an education advisor
to Governor George W. Bush and to
the Texas Governor’s Business
Council.

Ms. Bryan received her B.A. from
Houston Baptist University in 1969
and her M.Ed. from the University of
Houston in 1978.

In 2005 Ms. Bryan was appointed by
President Bush to The National Board
for Education Sciences. She is also a
member of the advisory board of YES
College Preparatory School and the
national board of Ready to Learn.

Beth Ann Bryan (R) with
Sandy Kress (L)

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