In article ,
Han wrote:

"HeyBub" wrote in
m:

Lobbyists get a bad rap; they are absolutely necessary to a
functioning government.

In sum, lobbyists provide FREE expert advice on pending legislation.
Would you want your local congress-critter to vote for the rail tariff
on hydrogenated yak-fat? Hell, he probably doesn't even know what a
yak is, let alone what the fifty-cents per hdwt tariff would do to the
struggling yak-fat business.

Very true. But it isn't totally out of the goodness of their hearts that
the lobbyists give "free" advice. They are PAID to skew legislation to
their patrons' advantage. Whether the congresscritters can always figure
that out AND act in the coomon interest is very doubtful.

Although HB mentioned yak fat lobbyists, and thus sorta steered the
conversation toward the business side, if you look at contributions, the
biggest as of last year was ATT (before the T-Mobile merger so I can
only guess what they are spending now). But the next 5 were unions, a
couple of environmental groups and then the next business group (the
Chamber of Commerce). The lobbyists lists were a little different, but
still not exactly heavily laded with business people in the top 20.
Anyway, business lobbying and contributions are not the only bad
influence on CC's.

--
People thought cybersex was a safe alternative,
until patients started presenting with sexually
acquired carpal tunnel syndrome.-Howard Berkowitz