Obama hires Big Oil lobbyist: #36 example of "Do as I say not as I do"

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Obama's newly named senior adviser and Jewish outreach coordinator, who joined Obama on his trip to Israel, lobbied on behalf of the American Petroleum Institute, according to the Senate Office of Public Records Lobbying Disclosure Act database.

Daniel Shapiro is listed as a lobbyist by Washington, D.C.-based Timmons & Co. and API is one of the company's clients. Shapiro is listed on five entries as one person who helped lobby the U.S. Senate or House on behalf of API on issues ranging from agriculture, energy -- including renewable fuel standards and greenhouse gas emissions, gas price gouging and regulation, labor and antitrust related to the oil industry, defense, the stimulus package, the farm bill, IRS code regarding refineries and more.

The entries, from February to August of this year, show Timmons & Co. was paid $660,000 by API for the instances in which Shapiro helped lobby. Since 1998, Timmons & Co. has collected more than $3.6 million from API, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Shapiro also was Florida Sen. Bill Nelson’s deputy chief of staff. Because of that, the Center for Responsive Politics has a “Revolving Door” profile of him.

Interestingly, also listed as one of the lobbyists with Timmons for API is Martin Paone, the former secretary of the U.S. Senate. That job is now Nancy Erickson's.

Shapiro also lobbied for several other clients, including Anheuser-Busch, Chrysler, Freddie Mac, Teva Pharmaceuticals and others.

For other acts of do as I say not as I do see:

St. Obama's List of 37 Acts of Hypocrisy