The Golden Age of Lobbyists
The National Journal last week rolled out its 10th annual survey of pay levels for Washington trade associations, confirming that for lobbyists this is the Golden Age. And needless to say, the political class is not clamoring for a pay czar.
The Washington insider magazine looked at 514 tax forms between 2007 and 2009 and found that no fewer than 89 executives for trade groups earned more than $1 million. That’s a 30% increase from the 2008 survey. Perhaps you recall the now-distant promise of a Presidential candidate who said he would reduce the influence of lobbyists. Who was that guy?
The magazine quotes Pamela Kaul, president of the executive recruiting firm Association Strategies, as saying that the compensation numbers are “hard for the rational mind to justify, given the economy. But it’s the mystique of Washington. These are the power brokers that have the access . . . ”
But this is hardly a mystery. As Democrats expand the power of government over the private, wealth-producing economy, what remains of the business community naturally feels it has little choice but to hire insiders to protect it from political marauders.
Not that performance seems to matter to some of these paydays. The magazine reports that Billy Tauzin made $4.48 million as the head of the PHRMA drug-industry lobby. His contribution was to get the industry to endorse ObamaCare, promise $80 billion in industry discounts for seniors, and spend $100 million in advertising on behalf of the bill. Mr. Tauzin was reportedly ousted this year after some of the few remaining drug company capitalists asked if the bill was worth this price. But at least Mr. Tauzin walks away as a wealthy man.
Then there’s John Castellani, who made $5.57 million running the Business Roundtable. That outfit also endorsed the health bill, and now its Fortune 500 members are having to write off hundreds of millions of dollars because their retiree health benefits have suddenly become more expensive. Bravo.
Washington now consumes an historic 25% of the private economy, so the Beltway business of political mediation has never been better. The larger the scale of this government expansion, the more Americans will spend to avoid or benefit from it. The only way to limit the influence of lobbyists is to limit the power of government.
