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The big winners in association lobbying? The PR firms

Analysis of tax documents finds business groups spent more than $1.2 billion on outside public relations during five-year period Public relations firm Edelman has a generous friend in the American Petroleum Institute. The oil industry association pumped more than $327 million into the company between 2008 and 2012, according to an analysis of tax documents by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization. In a recent report, CPI examined public relations spending by the nation's most politically active associations, which it defined as those groups that spent at least $1 million on federal lobbying in 2012. It found that most groups… Read More