Tag: AT&T

You have to wonder about conversation around the Blunt family dinner table.

So many topics are off limits.

Patriarch Roy Blunt is a U.S. senator from Missouri. His wife, son and daughter are lobbyists, and another son, the former governor of Missouri, heads a trade group that lobbies in Washington.

Roy Blunt

Wife Abigail Perlman Blunt is a federal lobbyist for Altria Group, whose reports regularly point out that she does not lobby the Senate.

Son Andrew Blunt is a partner with the Jefferson City law firm of Schreimann, Rackers, Francka & Blunt.

In Missouri, Andrew Blunt is registered as a lobbyist for such clients as AT&T, BNSF Railway, MillerCoors, Motorola, Altria and American Airlines.

The National Journal this week pointed out his representation of AT&T after the senator questioned the Federal Communications Commission’s actions in opposing the company’s
proposed merger with T-Mobile. The exchange occurred as Blunt and other members of the Senate Commerce Committee grilled two FCC commissioner nominees.

The senator’s spokeswoman told the National Journal that there was no conflict of interest because Andrew “is not and has never been a federal lobbyist, and he has no contact or affiliation with his father on legislative matters before Congress.”

Although Andrew Blunt is not a registered lobbyist on Capitol Hill, he is listed by the Washington lobby shop Cassidy and Associates as a strategist and state government advocate. Cassidy’s clients include AT&T.

Abigail and Andrew Blunt are not the only family members with lobby connections.

Another son, Matt Blunt, former governor of Missouri, is president of the American Automotive Policy Council. Although he isn’t registered as a lobbyist, the council is. It reports having spent $147,500 in the first three quarters of 2011.

Blunt’s daughter, Amy Blunt, is a registered lobbyist in Missouri for two Kansas City companies – Alphapointe and HNTB Corporation.

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• Registered lobbyists or not, ex-members of Congress lead trade groups – May 16, 2012
• The rise of the Washington not-lobbyist – November 18, 2011
• Lott and Breaux pull in millions by lobbying Congress – November 30, 2009
• Lobbyists and trade groups visit the White House – November 2, 2009
• 2010 field crowded with political progeny – September 1, 2010
• Tisch group lobbies hard for tax cuts – February 14, 2008
• Lobbying is a Thompson family business – July 2, 2007
• Ex-lobbyist’s many links to the Obama campaign – April 26, 2012
• McChrystal settles into new niche – November 3, 2011