{"id":220217,"date":"2016-01-31T00:09:39","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T00:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/lobbyings-mile-high-plateau\/"},"modified":"2016-01-31T00:09:39","modified_gmt":"2016-01-31T00:09:39","slug":"lobbyings-mile-high-plateau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/lobbyings-mile-high-plateau\/","title":{"rendered":"Lobbying\u2019s Mile-High Plateau"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Special-interest money in Washington may have peaked but it looks more like it has plateaued at mile-high altitudes, with hundreds of millions of dollars continuing to fill the coffers of lobbying firms each year as they sign up ex-members of Congress and other well-connected \u201cpublic servants,\u201d as Michael Winship reports.<\/p>\n

By Michael Winship<\/p>\n

Pity poor Washington. No doubt breaking the hearts of elected and appointed government officials, their staffs and hangers-on, the Open Secrets<\/em> blog<\/a> at the Center for Responsive Politics reports that the \u201cinfluence industry appears to be contracting, and the trend continued in 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n

But before you shed a single poignant tear, like Iron Eyes Cody in those old \u201cKeep America Beautiful\u201d TV spots<\/a>, kindly note that the money spent on lobbying merely slipped from $3.24 billion in 2014 to $3.2 billion. That\u2019s still an awful lot of lettuce, more than enough to spread the corporate love around big time, cash on the barrelhead for votes, deregulation, tax breaks, insider information and other assorted favors. Nor is it even counting campaign contributions.<\/p>\n

\"Mr.