This profile of lobbyist Heather Podesta describes everything that is wrong with Washington D.C.
In a glum economy, the lobbying business feels kind of bubbly. Every new Obama proposal comes with acres of fine print for corporate powers, interests groups and lobbyists to haggle over, profitably. Three gargantuan legislative challenges — health care, the environment, the economy — crisscrossing at once on Capitol Hill. Major health-care interests alone are spending $1.4 million this year lobbying Congress . . . per day, according to Common Cause, a government watchdog group. A lobbyist’s delight created, ironically, by the let’s-solve-all-our-problems-RIGHT-NOW approach of a president who pooh-poohed the excesses of lobbyists.
So much for change.
Of course, we can’t let Republicans off the hook. Most of them also pander to corporate powers, interest groups and lobbyists. The problem is that our monstrous federal government ensures that the lobbying business will continue to feel “kind of bubbly” for insiders like Heather Podesta.
