NFL ELITES IN THE BELTWAY SWAMP

      A lot of Americans have been questioning the National Football League lately, and especially its impact on the pervasive cultural rot in the US. Like Hollywood, the NFL used to be iconic of American values, but has since degenerated into a PC cesspool of Trash-Culture elites. Some have wondered why more politicians haven't spoken out against the NFL. There is a reason for that. We pointed out in a recent article one example---the Pittsburgh Steelers---of how NFL ownership and management swim in swamp with the Beltway elites.

      But the corruption doesn't stop with one team. Public records show that, despite being a non-profit organization, the NFL is funneling quite a lot of our ticket revenue, viewership fees, and team merchandise dollars into political campaigns and lobbying inside of the Beltway. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell---the highest paid non-profit CEO in the country at $44 million---seems to be quite an avid donor to Senator Charles Schumer along with RINOs Orrin Hatch and John McCain.

       As an organization, the NFL is list as the top contributor to 64 congressmen and senators during 2016. Their largesse is spread over both parties, but some familiar names include Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Keith Ellison, Nancy Pelosi, Shelia Jackson Lee, and Steny Hoyer. And that's only 2016. The NFL is the top contributor to 12% of Congress. And note that this number does not include members with whom they rank second or third as donors. Is it any wonder that Congressmen aren't speaking out?

      Additionally, the NFL maintains its own PAC, which spent $1.5 million in 2016. The PAC is called Gridiron PAC and is managed by New York tax consultant, Bradley Firestone. Public records show that Firestone donated to Obama and was a supporter of Bernie Sanders in 2016.

      Among the non-candidates to which Gridiron PAC donates, we find the Beltway Corporate legal firm Covington and Burling at the top. This law firm now employs former Obama Attorney-General Eric Holder. Holder's latest assignment with C & B has been advising the State of California in its litigation efforts against the Trump Administration.

     The Congressional Black Caucus received $20,000 from Gridiron PAC last year.

     Covington and Burling also received $370,000 from the NFL directly in 2016, as its top Beltway lobbying firm. The NFL retained four lobbying firms in 2016, with 25 lobbyists working for their interests. Of these 25 lobbyists, 22 were Revolving-Door former federal bureaucrats. The NFL has its own lobbying staff too, upon whom it lavished $1.5 million last year.

     The NFL's lobbyists last year were three in number: Kenneth Edmonds, the former Chief-of-Staff to ex-Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.; Nicole Gustafson, former Senate legal counsel to John Cornyn and Chuck Grassley; and Cynthia Hogan, former Chief Counsel to Vice-President Biden. Hogan has since gone on to lobby for Apple Computers and was replaced by Jocelyn Miller, former staffer for three different US Senators.

     Most Americans only see what the players do; but we can see clearly from these facts that the problems in the NFL are systemic. It's not a matter of a few rebellious players cowing the management; the management itself is fully engaged in the political Swamp from which the players' antics emanate. It's obvious that the NFL will not change from political pressure; it's up to us to make it unprofitable for politicians to give the NFL any more cover. How do we do this? Stop spending money on the NFL and it can't spend money inside the Beltway.