Times have been tough, but even as the rest of the country struggled, Washington seemed to be doing fine. Government and the fish that swim in its wake are always going to be okay as budgets increase (whether or not they are actually written), the tax revenues keep rolling in, the Chinese keep loaning us money, and the demand for special treatment continues to grow.
But now it seems a glitch has appeared in the model. As Kevin Bogardus and Megan R. Wilson report in the Hill:
Revenue was either down or flat at many of Washington’s leading lobby firms at the start of 2013 despite the arrival of a new Congress and a fresh legislative agenda from President Obama. Industry king Patton Boggs reported a decline of nearly $2 million in its lobbying revenue, a sharp and stunning drop that called into question the industry’s bullish outlook for the year.
One wonders how long before the lobbyists start lobbying for a bailout of the lobbying industry.
