The Democrats' Lobbyist Lobs (watchdog chastises HRC on lobbyist connections)

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http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=315

As John Edwards and Barack Obama continue to assail Hillary Clinton for accepting campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists, she has tried to dispel their accusation that being the top recipient of K Street's money puts her in the pocket of entrenched corporate interests.

Among Clinton's defenses is that lobbyists also work in the interest of ordinary people. "A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans. They represent nurses, they represent social workers—yes, they represent corporations that employ a lot of people," Clinton said at a Democratic candidates forum in August. That's when Edwards and Obama, who refuse contributions from federal lobbyists, first strongly called on their front-running rival to do the same.

According to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, however, Clinton's assertion doesn't quite hit the mark. While some lobbyists certainly do represent "real" people and large corporations, those who are contributing to the 2008 presidential candidates—including the senator from New York—aren't on Capitol Hill to talk about the issues of nurses or social workers, or firefighters or cops. By matching lobbyists who have donated to the presidential candidates this year with their clients, the Center found that these individuals are instead largely advocating for big industries such as pharmaceutical, automotive and computer companies.

Bryan Jones, director of the Center for American Politics and Public Policy at the University of Washington, said Clinton's claim that lobbyists represent the everyman is misleading at best. "It's not honest at all," he said.

"The first thing I'd want to know is how much is from lobbyists representing traditional industry groups and how much comes from unions," Jones said.