From The Hill comes a story that points out State of the Union talk is nothing more than just talk. Evidently we’re not supposed to notice things like this. Kudos to The Hill for writing about it. Read the whole story; it’s definitely worth your time.
A day after bashing lobbyists, President Barack Obama’s administration has invited K Street insiders to join private briefings on a range of topics addressed in Wednesday’s State of the Union.
The Treasury Department on Thursday morning invited selected individuals to “a series of conference calls with senior Obama administration officials to discuss key aspects of the State of the Union address.”
The invitation, which went to a variety of stakeholders, was sent by Fred Baldassaro, a senior adviser at the Treasury Department’s Office of Business Affairs and Public Liaison.
The invitation stated, “The White House is encouraging you to participate in these calls and will have a question and answer session at the end of each call. As a reminder, these calls are not intended for press purposes.”
You won’t be surprised to learn that some lobbyists are pretty miffed about being called bad guys in public and then being welcomed in private.
Lobbyists, by the way, are not bad guys. In a lot of cases, lobbyists are hired to try and fend off an intrusive, destructive government policy or regulation that threatens an industry and the ability to create jobs and expand products and services. Thus, lobbyists become a cost of doing business — an expense that adds to the price of a product or service. Cut back on regulations and you’ll see fewer lobbyists.
