Surprise, Surprise! America's Lobbyist Is Still - Wait For It - America's Lobbyist!

It turns out that Rudy Giuliani can walk and chew gum at the same time.

The WaPo is reporting that Hiz Honor is not only running for President, but he is also still working as a paid lobbyist on behalf of corporate clients.

Nice.

People sometimes ask us, "Why the dislike of Mayor Giuliani?"

And we respond, "First, Rudy won't disclose to the American public what clients he's lobbied for in the past. Candidates for President of the United States shouldn't get that 'pass'. Second, we don't think a candidate who has made millions of dollars in private practice as a lobbyist is the best person to lead the Republican Party forward in 2008."

Noted: We have absolutely nothing what-so-ever against lobbyists in general. Just in this particular example.

And we get the joke, Rudy was never a "registered" lobbyist.

But since Rudy was never a registered lobbyist, the Gang of 500 might want to ask what the following companies paid non-lobbyist Rudy Giuliani all that money for (per the WaPo article):

¿ Purdue Pharma, which resolved a lengthy Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into the security of its OxyContin painkiller with only a fine, with the Giuliani firm's help.

¿ A confessed drug smuggler who hired Giuliani to help ensure that his company could do security consulting business with the federal government in the post-Sept. 11 period.

¿ The horse-racing industry, which hired Giuliani's firm to review the security of its betting systems after a wagering scandal shook public confidence.

¿ BioOne, a company that can do biological cleanups, such as its cleaning of a Florida media building after the 2001 anthrax attacks.

¿ Energy giant Entergy, which hired Giuliani's firm to help tighten its security.

And to get the Gang of 500 rolling, here's the Webster definition of "lobbying":

Main Entry:

²lobby

Function:

verb

Inflected Form(s):

lob·bied; lob·by·ing

Date:

1837

intransitive verb : to conduct activities aimed at influencing public officials and especially members of a legislative body on legislation transitive verb 1 : to promote (as a project) or secure the passage of (as legislation) by influencing public officials 2 : to attempt to influence or sway (as a public official) toward a desired action

— lob·by·er noun

— lob·by·ism \-ˌi-zəm\ noun

— lob·by·ist \-ist\ noun