National Public Radio today launched a new investigative series on lobbying, money and politics in Washington called "Dollar Politics." (Click here to see report)
The series begins with a look at health care lobbyists. NPR's reporters Peter Overby and Andrea Seabrook attended a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing this month and took pictures of those lobbyists. The organization has posted photos on its website from the hearing and has asked the public to try to identify who the lobbyists are in the photos.
NPR also interviews Bill Vaughan, a health care lobbyist for Consumers Union, the nonprofit that publishes Consumer Reports magazine, who talks about why he was at the hearing.
"[They] have friendships with various members of Congress or staff and hope to be seen. It's a reminder that their interests are at play," Vaughan told NPR of the lobbyists at the hearing.
Many lobbyists in Washington have been feeling like a targets lately, so I wonder how some will feel about having their photo on NPR's website. In the 2008 campaign, the presidential candidates made lobbyists their favorite whipping posts and the Obama administration has since severely restricted lobbyists' ability to get jobs in his administration. On the other hand, lobbyists have told me that the scrutiny of their profession doesn't bother them because, as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, "Sunshine is the best disinfectant."
Readers let me know what you think. Is this good for the public? Bad for the public? Does it matter? Email me here.
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