The lobbying firm headed by former St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂë legislative legend Richard A. Gephardt has been grounded, at least temporarily, by the Boeing.
that because of an ongoing strike against the firm, the aviation company has stopped paying at least 12 lobbying groups — including The Gephardt Group, which is headed by the former south St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂëan and longtime Democratic leader in the U.S. House.
According to a Boeing spokesman, the company has stopped the lobbyist spending because of a cash crisis brought on by the strike.
In the first half of this year, Boeing has paid out about $6.3 million to lobbyists, , a nonprofit group that tracks and publishes data on campaign financing and lobbying.
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Of that amount, $80,000 had been shop. Since starting to work for Boeing in 2008, Gephardt has picked up slightly more than $4.8 million from the company, Open Secrets shows.
Boeing also is one of the group’s main clients. Of the 10 companies as hiring The Gephardt Group, only one — Huntington Ingalls Industries, for $110,000 — has paid Gephardt’s company more than Boeing.
A Boeing spokesperson declined to comment when asked if the company expects to resume payments to the firms when the strike is over.
Boeing still plans to disburse some donations from its political action committee.
The lopping off of lobbyists is but one of the company’s cost-cutting measures: It has instituted furloughs for its corporate and non-striking workers, and also is cutting the salaries (temporarily, naturally) of the Boeing executive team.
Gephardt, now 83, began his political career as a St. ÑÇÖÞÎÞÂë committeeman and then as a member of the city Board of Aldermen.
He was elected to the House in 1976 and served for 28 years. During that time, he served as both the House Majority Leader and Minority Leader. He also ran twice for the presidency, in 1988 and 2004.
Gephardt started his lobbying firm in 2007.