Anyone who?s ever been forced to dodge a crowd of people trying to navigate the Legislative Building?s complicated maze will appreciate Joel Stein?s ?Confessions of a Lobbyist? in the latest TIME.
When we walked into the Capitol, we were not the only ones lobbying. Members of the Alzheimer’s Association, which had also been holding seminars at the Grand Hyatt, were walking around with Alzheimer’s sashes around their chests, as if they had entered some pageant years ago and had forgotten to take them off. The hallways looked like the set of a Marx Brothers movie, with lobbyists running back and forth in their uniforms: pilots, veterans, real estate agents, guys from the egg producers making omelets.
I was assigned to lobby with the Afterschool Alliance delegation from Harris County, Texas, which consisted of 17 local education officials, 10 kids and a paid, professional political consultant. We walked into the office of Chet Edwards, a Democratic Congressman from Waco who declared himself completely on our side. That, however, did not stop the PowerPointed kids. “The peak time we do a lot of crimes is 3 to 6,” said Maria Cruz, 11.
Stein generally does a pretty good job of cutting through silliness, as evidenced by his takes on composting and ?locavores.?
