Tag: k street

Of *course* K Street thrived in 2009.

The Democrats currently run the government, remember?

Surely nobody actually believed that the Democrats were seriously going to cut back in the amount of lobbying that was done, given both that party’s a: natural predilections and b: habit of creating and passing ridiculously expensive and over-complicated legislation last year? The resultant explosion of lobbying cannot be a surprise…

Though the Obama administration has tried to put the squeeze on lobbyists, the president’s multifaceted reform agenda has had the unintended consequence of serving as a K Street stimulus, as industries seek to tweak policy.

Bolding (indicating exceptional stupidity) mine: I almost included ‘put the squeeze,’ except that the HuffPo author was actually right there.  Admittedly, it was for the wrong reason: if you click the link, you’ll see that it’s actually a story about how the administration’s vaunted war on lobbyists has resulted in the lobbyists simply deregulating* themselves, then conducting business as more-than-usual.  This was no doubt helpful when Democrats in Congress needed to put together those bills on health care and energy policy…

It’s not that I have any objection to industries and movements protecting their business interests through lobbying, provided that they do so in a transparent manner.  And neither do I have an objection to the Other Side being heavily against the concept and practice of lobbying.  What I do object to is the Democratic party’s hypocrisy in piously condemning lobbyists in public, while eagerly taking their money in private.  Particularly when the Democrats also demonstrate that they intend to make up for lost time.

Moe Lane

*Use of liberal obscenity done with malice aforethought, mostly because the author of the second HuffPo story was so assiduous in using the word ‘deregistering.’

Crossposted to RedState.

K Street is adapting perfectly well to a Democratic-controlled government.

“There is no question that it has been our most productive period since the election since we have been in practice,” said Rich Gold, head of the public policy group for Holland & Knight.

They’re apparently loving it, in fact.

K Street rebounds as many firms sign clients at fast pace

K Street’s economy appears to be on the rebound as a number of firms are reporting a sharp increase in new clients, a trend lobbyists attributed to the new president’s far-reaching agenda.

The combination of a deepening recession and the distraction of the 2008 campaign, which kept Congress out of session for much of the latter half of last year, were blamed for pushing lobbying revenues down in 2008.

Since Nov. 4, however, several top firms have signed new clients at a pace exceeding the growth periods that followed previous election cycles. Lobbyists credited the recently passed stimulus package and anticipated policy fights touching on the energy, healthcare and financial-services sectors for the uptick.

Continue reading K Street is adapting perfectly well to a Democratic-controlled government.