SEARCH: Advanced Search

Street Talk: The Soda Debate — Simple Pleasure or Guilty One?

Aug. 3, 12 a.m.

Here’s a great case study for an introductory class in public policy advocacy.

Street Talk: No Place Like the Hill for Former Lobbyists

July 20, 12 a.m.

One boss vs. several; real-time information vs. second- and third-hand gossip; keeping your money vs. spending it on after-tax campaign contributions; telling 20-somethings what to do vs. having to make entreaties before them. Not to mention a reputation as a selfless public servant vs. one as a leech.

Street Talk: Tourism Measure Was Caught in Crosscurrents

July 6, 12 a.m.

The Travel Promotion Act was a bipartisan piece of legislation that the Congressional Budget Office says would shave $500 million from the deficit over 10 years.

Street Talk: Some Lobbyists Get Earmarks Without Giving

June 15, 12 a.m.

Say what you want about Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), but on earmarking, he’s got a point.

Street Talk: Shippers and Railroads on a Collision Course

June 1, 12 a.m.

A good lobby battle is akin to a good sports rivalry, and if Capitol Hill is the league, then this week should start off with a great game between two perennial opponents: the railroads and the people whose products the rail cars haul — the shippers.

Street Talk: Obama Mantra Is That All Lobbyists Are Created Equal

May 18, 12 a.m.

Call it the Malinowski Paradigm. It goes like this: All lobbyists are created equal. And lobbyists who lobby for Human Rights Watch or similar public interest groups in the environmental, food safety or consumer protection world are equivalent to those who lobby for profit-making corporations.

Street Talk: Tight With Members, Not So Tight With Staff

May 4, 12 a.m.

It’s the lobbyists’ paradox: As they get older, the Hill gets younger.
It’s true that contacts forged over 30 years result in friendships with people who are usually among the most senior in Congress, be they staff or Members.

Street Talk: A Conflict Mineral Bill Tries to Walk a Fine Line

April 20, 12 a.m.

Could 'conflict minerals' become the new 'blood diamonds'?

Street Talk: Making a Beeline to Washington

March 23, 12 a.m.

It really is true that everyone — and nearly everything — has a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. Honeybees are no exception.

Street Talk: Kaiser’s Book Details Decline of the Old Way

March 9, 12 a.m.

Bob Kaiser’s 27-part Web-only series in the Washington Post last spring on Gerry Cassidy — a fact-laden tome on a single-minded man — was underwhelming.

Street Talk: Firm Owner Has Thrived on His Low Profile

Feb. 23, 12 a.m.

It has been a vertiginous fall for Paul Magliocchetti, clearly the least-known of the city’s best-known lobbyists.

Street Talk: Lobbying Is Still a Game Dominated by the Young

Feb. 9, 12 a.m.

Tom Daschle pulled down a cool $2 million lobbying for Alston & Bird.
True, he didn’t technically “lobby” because he didn’t fit the Lobbying Disclosure Act’s exacting criteria. But let’s be real: Lobbying is any effort to influence public policy — it doesn’t matter whether you can avoid registration because you are paid tens of thousands of dollars to tell a client who to lobby and how, but make no more than one lobbying “contact” on the client’s behalf.