K Street boogie

Hey, do you remember when we were told that if we voted for McCain it would also be a vote for business as usual with respect to lobbyists on K Street? Well, they were right.

President Barack Obama’s sweeping agenda is keeping K Street awash in cash. But the Democratic takeover of the White House is also creating new winners.


The Podesta Group posted a 57 percent increase in lobbying revenues for the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2008. But the firm led by Tony Podesta, whose brother John headed Obama’s presidential transition team, appeared not to be Washington’s highest-paid lobbying shop.


That prize seemed likely destined to the powerhouse law lobbying firm Patton Boggs. While its lobbying revenues tumbled 11 percent for the first half of this year, compared to last year, it still managed to take home a street-beating $18.5 million.

It's time for us to dust off our mantra that despite all good intentions from every incoming President and actual legislation enacted, be it ever so terrible, designed to curtail this sort of thing... you will never rid politics of money until you rid politics of power by a corresponding degree.