Lobbyist of the Year?
I guess it depends on how some unfinished business turns out in the next 48 hours, like the I-937 cluster fuck or the unemployment insurance drama. (The Senate is taking up the House's pro-labor unemployment insurance bill tonight. Will the unions get rope-a-doped again?)
Right now I'm thinking someone from the education reform crowd would be a leading candidate for most successful lobbyist. The governor formally came out against the education reform bill less than a month ago in late March, and now she's all about signing it. Kim Howard from the PTA?
Or is it Boeing lobbyist Trent House for his expert chicanery on the worker's privacy bill?
That's right. The best lobbyist award can go to someone from big bad business if they're good at their job.
Or is it the BIAW for detonating the house buyers' bill of rights for the third year in a row?
Or is it a Mother Teresa type—advocates for the poor like like Nick Federici or Tony Lee—for keeping their award-winning laughs intact while the $900 billion shortfall shattered social service budgets. (And they actually came away with some miraculous victories.)
I want to hear from legislative aids, legislators, and lobbyists themselves (you can't nominate yourself on this, though). Email your nominees for Lobbyist of the Year to [email protected]