Once, Al D'Amato was a local pol and then a Senator and Newsday, as much as any paper, pursued questions about his ethics and his behavior.
Today, the news is that Rupert Murdoch is going to take control of Newsday. And guess who one of his lobbyists is? D'Amato, who was hired in 2006, and now -- at least in theory -- links the soon-to-be Newsday publisher with various other players he's pals with or lobbies for.
There's a story about it after the jump. Not that Murdoch will ever let connections affect coverage of him, D'Amato, Fox or politics...
Newsday, May 30, 2006:
Former New York senator Alfonse D'Amato and media magnate Rupert Murdoch have been singing each other's praises for years. But this January, they formally got hitched.
According to federal records, Murdoch's News Corp. hired Park Strategies - the lobbying firm run by D'Amato and his son Christopher - to act on behalf of the New York Post, the Fox Television network and the rest of the News Corp. empire in dealing with official Washington.
"They just came on board at the beginning of the year," said a News Corp. spokesman. While D'Amato registered on Jan. 15 as a News Corp. lobbyist, it has not yet been disclosed how much he's making from the billionaire media king. Sources said Murdoch wants D'Amato to keep track of a host of media- and telecommunications-related regulations and laws, on topics ranging from indecency to cross-ownership. He's one of several lobbyists that News Corp. has hired in recent years, records show.
Murdoch's New York Post has been a longtime political supporter of D'Amato, and the former senator has backed many of the media mogul's causes within the state.
A growing presence
The new arrangement is part of D'Amato's growing presence in Washington's lobbying world, as he follows the example of other ex-lawmakers from New York's Congressional delegation who now privately lobby their former colleagues.
D'Amato's firm has earned $2.4 million in federal lobbying fees since 2000. More than half of that, records show, is from jobs collected in the past year.
The income is in addition to the sizable fees he has earned for offering advice on dealing with state government. In Albany, D'Amato's firm has represented such companies as Verizon, Aetna and Cablevision's Madison Square Garden, all of which have hired the Nassau County Republican as their state lobbyist. D'Amato also has earned hefty fees as a consultant advising those seeking state government help or approvals, including a $500,000 fee for what amounted to a single phone call on behalf of a New York real estate developer.
D'Amato declined to be interviewed for this story. But in a written statement, his spokeswoman Dana Weisberg said: "It is a relatively small percentage of our total client base that we actually engage in 'lobbying activity' for either at a state or federal level. The overwhelming majority of our client engagements are for the provision of strategic advice and counsel. The growth in our client base is largely the result of our reputation. We count on the fact that our clients are satisfied with our performance and recommend others to utilize us."
Rapid development
Two years ago, D'Amato opened up a Washington-based branch of his lobbying firm, calling it Park Strategies Washington Group. It is managed by Kraig M. Siracuse, a former D'Amato aide who most recently worked for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Siracuse helped secure the News Corp. contract through his contacts with its Washington-based executive vice president of government relations Michael Regan, another former Capitol Hill aide.
Along with Murdoch's largesse, the former senator's firm received several large loobying payments from firms looking for anti-terror contracts from the government for homeland security or the war in Iraq. For instance, he was paid $240,000 by Alaska Structures, which provides tents to the military, and signed on as a lobbyist for defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
Last year, the politician once known as "Senator Pothole" also picked up a $300,000 fee from the National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys as their Capitol Hill lobbyist, with the intent, records show, of seeking to influence legislation about class- action lawsuits and medical malpractice. In 2004, D'Amato received a $180,000 fee from APCO Worldwide, an international consulting firm whose senior strategists include former Rep. Stephen Solarz, a Brooklyn Democrat who has also been a registered lobbyist.
Since his re-election defeat in 1998, D'Amato has been representing a variety of other clients, including academic institutions such as Yeshiva University and St. Francis College. He's also the Washington lobbyist for Great Neck real estate magnate Leonard Litwin, who hired D'Amato to lobby on estate tax issues, records show.