Lobbyists

I apologize for posting another politically centered blog, but I have been at work 12 hours a day the past few weeks and I don't really have anything else going on.

After working in for the minority party the for the last 2 years, I have spent the past 3 days officially staffing the majority and boy is it different. The biggest difference is lobbyists. All of a sudden lobbyists know my name, care how my day is going, and like how my new tie looks. The same people that used to walk by my desk to visit the Republican Tax Chair without so much as a hello, now have the time to stop and talk about the weather with me. Although it is extremely patronizing, I don't hold it against them. The are being paid to get a job done and I am one of the gatekeepers.

If you haven't seen the movie "Thank You For Smoking", I recommend it. I origionally didn't want to see it thinking it was a crappy anti-smoking movie, but it is a really good (and funny) look into the world of lobbying. There are two kinds of lobbyists and the main character in the movie is the effective kind. An effective lobbyist will find a legislator or group of legislators that agree with their agenda and essentially work as an expert on those issues paid for by a interested third party. The non-effective kind of lobbyists will set up meetings with random legislators and "run their meters" trying to validate that their job should even exist.

I actually feel for lobbyists in a way. They have to try to get their job done in a building filled with hundreds of egos. I doubt there is a person here, member or staff, that doesn't think they would make a terrific Governor. For my part I am going to work on being more humble.

--Doohow