User:Bucknasty7/sandbox

2008 Presidential Election candidate Ron Paul has a history of receiving financial contributions for his political campaigns from individuals rather than conglomerates. Information provided by the website open secrets.org supports this fact. This site is dedicated to providing information about the money exchanged during political campaigns. In total, the contributions from individuals to Ron Paul's Political campaigns make up 95% of the total amount of money raised during his career. The significance of this is that it shows Ron Paul's political positions are in line with the personal opinions held by many politically minded individuals around the country.

According to the website The Center for Public Integrity The MPRI has been criticized for its actions handling some contracts it has been given. In the mid 90s the company was blamed for a Croatian ethnic cleansing that resulted in hundreds of deaths and the lose of hundreds of thousands of peoples homes. MPRI had been hired by the US Government to train the Croatian Army in offensive strategies. During a Pentagon-funded operation in Columbia in 2000, the company was criticized heavily by the military officials of that country who also demanded that the pentagon not hire them again the following year.

Political Involvment: From informational statistics available on the website opensecrets.org, it is clear that Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld made overwhelmingly unbalanced contributions to the campaigns of Democratic and Republican nominees in the 2000 Presidential Election. Over $200,000 was given to Republican candidates while only $38,500 was given to Democrats. The website corpwatch.com features several articles which mention the campaign participations of members of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Two partners, Alan D. Feld and James C. Langdon Jr., are listed as "major fund-raisers for President Bush"; and Bill Paxon, one of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld's "senior advisers", is described as "a former Republican congressman who served as one of the "gang of six" advisers who aided Mr Bush during his presidential run" and as "a former Republican representative from New York."

Patton Boggs is an international law firm, formed in 1962, that is known for its dealings with trade and its unbiased status. Named for two of its cofounders James Patton and Tommy Boggs, the firm began as a partnership with several members handling cases for individuals from such countries as Uganda and Ireland. The firm went on to recruit more members in the 1970's and handle important cases such as the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. In the 1980s, the firm opened offices in such places as London and Saudi Arabia. In the 1990's the firm engaged in some very important legal battles involving such issues as the passing of NAFTA. The firm was involved in the judicial hearing preceding the Supreme Court decision in the 2000 Presidential Election.

According to the firm's website, pattonboggs.com, the company's policy of "one firm, one community" creates a climate "in which geographic, political, and practice-driven barriers have been removed, resulting in a culture of inclusion and open communication." According to opensecrets.org: "of the top five lobbying firms, Patton Boggs has the most well-diversified roster of clients." This statement stems from the fact that Patton Boggs' interest in political lobbyists is spread out and diversified enough so that "no one economic sector controls more than a fifth of [the company's] revenue stream." According to [answers.com]: "rather than organizing the firm by departments, Patton Boggs relies on what it calls 'relatively porous practice groups.'" This delineation ensures that each case is handled by an individual solely dedicated to matters which correlate with his/her field of expertise.