Good Classes and New Tasks

On Wednesday both of my classes ended up being better than expected. During the media seminar class I am taking. Are instructor, who also contributes to KCBS, let us listen in on his morning political analysis over the computer at 10:30 DC time, 7:30 AM West Coast Time. The main topic that was discussed with the recent interview where Bob Woodward stated that it was possible that Hillary Clinton may trade places with Joe Biden as Vice President and Secretary of State if Barack Obama were to win a 2nd term. He also, gave a shout out to our class during the interview. So whenever it is 7:30 tune into KCBS and listen to Marc Sandalow's analysis and the latest political news.

For the Lobbying and Advocacy class a registered lobbyist, Nick Allard, was the week's guest speaker and talked with us for an hour and a half about his work as a lobbyist for Patton Boggs LLP and previously working for Ted Kennedy and Pat Moynihan. His main topic with us about making the case that lobbying is an honorable profession, even though every American generally looks down on registered lobbyists. His arguments in a nutshell is that "lobbyists" like Jack Abramoff are outliers in the lobbying profession, most lobbyists act on behalf of various Americans (farmers, minorities, gun owners, teachers, carpenters, businessmen) with legitimate concerns, provide valid and important information for the constituents he or she represents, and that a successful lobbyist must have a trusting reputation DC or else he or she will be out of job very quickly.

The previous two days for me at work consisted of me learning about how to use a website that lists the names and contact information of various reporters, and behind-the-scenes people who work for media outlets all over the nation. My project requires me to use that website in order to update the contact sheet for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) a client of The Raben Group's.

On Thursday myself and one of my fellow interns, Neil, were to deliver 43 separate copies of State of the Evidence for my part I delivered 23 copies to the offices of 23 Senators in the Senate Hart Office Building. It is a massive 8 floor building which houses the offices of both of California's senators along with the offices of several of the Senate offices that I sought to intern for (Jack Reed, Dianne Feinstein). When compared to the Cannon House Office Building, it is much newer and modern with several offices that have offices surrounded by glass walls so that when you walk along the walkways of the buildings you can see several offices and the people who work inside them.