Senate documents show Estee Lauder paid lobbyists

Cassidy & Associates, which specializes in promoting dialogue and relations between industry and government, has been working with Estee Lauder for over six year now and forms part of a client list that includes names such as Rolls Royce, Deutsche Telekom, Delta Airlines and Disney/ABC. Registered under the number 8453-6232, the document identifying the lobbying complies with US laws stating that any lobbying activities involving industry and government must be publicly notified. Under a federal law passed in 1995 and aimed at increasing transparency in such matters, lobbyists are required to disclose their activities and register with Congress within 45 days of starting any campaign. Estee Lauder filed its documentation through Cassidy & Associates on August 9. It outlines that the firm lobbied congress on issues related to the environment and increased funding aimed at enhancing the Food and Drug Administration's oversight of cosmetic legislation. Lobbying is an integral part of business culture in the US and many industries view it as a means of influencing government policy and law-making in their favor. Current statistics show that various industries in the US spend billions of dollars every year in a bid to try and influence decision made at Senate level. The top spender is the finance, insurance and real estate sector, which between 1998 and 2007 spent an estimated $2.55bn on lobbying. General businesses, which would include the personal care industry, spent a total of $2.29bn during the same period, according to statistics from OpenSecrets.org. The organization's online database also reveals that during 2006 Estee Lauder spent $200,000 with Cassidy & Associates on its lobbying efforts, in line with average annual expenditure relating to lobbying campaigns that have been initiated since 2001.