Lobbying is a growth industry

Money may not buy love. But in Jack Abramoff’s America, it’s got to be buying something. Otherwise, the total lobbying dollars would be going down, right? The Web site PoliticalMoneyLine reported this month that a record $1.1 billion was spent in the first half of 2005 lobbying the White House and Congress, 8 percent more than the previous six months. That 2005 lobbying pace averaged nearly $6.5 million a day or more than $540,000 an hour. The 27,000 registered lobbyists from 2,700 firms represented 13,500 unique clients, with the biggest spenders representing health care ($173.2 million). Uh — and exactly how are those of us out here in one-man-one-vote America supposed to compete with those passing out all this cash?
Posted by Rhonda Holman

7 Comments

  1. Sum1
    Posted February 23, 2006 at 4:55 am | Permalink

    In other words if you have enough money you can hire a lobbyist to get your voice heard.

    If you dont’ have enough money why are you taking up our legislatures valuable time?

  2. J M Walker
    Posted February 23, 2006 at 6:23 am | Permalink

    Yo, for $530,000 an hour, I’ll lobby for anything you want. Have your people call my people.

  3. KansasClassicLiberal
    Posted February 23, 2006 at 6:57 am | Permalink

    When government is so powerful and so intrusive, when a seemingly innocuous change to a sentence in a law or the tax code can mean millions or billions to those affected, we should expect even more lobbying in the future.

    I believe this even though Congress is promising to “reform.” The rush to reform has slowed, as has been reported by the Washington Post and other sources.

    How is the little guy supposed to compete? Many lobbyists represent trade or special interest groups which “little guys” belong to, or maybe share common goals.

    What is troubling is that often lobbyists don’t even believe in what they’re lobbying for. Our own former mayor for many years was opposed to allowing the people of Wichita to gamble; now he’s changed his mind. Or is he merely pressing the position of his client?

  4. Ben Huie
    Posted February 23, 2006 at 8:26 am | Permalink

    Remember the comment by our own Phil Journey – you want to talk to the Sedgwich County delegation you host a luncheon for us!

  5. Joe Williams
    Posted February 23, 2006 at 8:29 am | Permalink

    Yeah! Were do you think retired or defeated politicans go to work?

    Also! How else does the family of politicans earn a living? Harry Rieds entire family and extended are lobbyist. Boxer’s husband and son is a lobbyist. Daschle and his wife is a lobbyist.

    Goes on and on. It’s a “jobs” club for ex-politicans and their families.

  6. ksfarmgrrl
    Posted February 23, 2006 at 10:09 am | Permalink

    Gosh, y’all dont think this has anything to do with the republican “K Street Project” do you?

    You dont think Tom Delay, Rick Santorum, or Karl Rove made a deal with the K Street lobbiests do you? A deal like…”you hire only approved republicans, and we will make sure no business is done in D.C. that doesnt go through a lobby firm first.”

    Nawwwwwww…good americans like Delay, Santorum, Rove, Frist et al. wouldnt do something like that would they? I mean, shrub is protecting us from them right?

  7. Pancho Villa
    Posted February 23, 2006 at 1:19 pm | Permalink

    $$ is why Bush is willing to sale out our ports to a country with links to terrorism. Uniting both conservatives and liberals against him. I guess that does make him a uniter and not a divider.