Perlmutter, Udall, Lamborn among lobby firm’s lawmaker friends

In case you missed this news in our nation’s latest major lobbying scandal, Congressional Quarterly posted a list of the more than 100 members of Congress who secured earmarks — basically money for special projects — for clients of the embattled lobbying firm PMA. Three Colorado lawmakers made the bipartisan list: Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Democratic Sen. Mark Udall and Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn.

New pack of DC lobbyists keep Oval Office doors spinning

Not even three weeks in office and President Barack Obama is discovering that being in charge is no bed of roses, even when you have a garden of them just outside your Oval Office windows. February’s frost has bitten a bit of the bloom off the new President’s aspirations as the swamp of hypocrisy and partisan inertia that is Beltway Washington took its toll.

Help wanted: Top evangelical lobbyist, message discipline a must

National Association of Evangelicals is in the market for a new top lobbyist, according to The Christian Post. The job description includes a very unusual qualification for a lobbying gig … sincerity:

UPDATED: Disgraced Rove aide named top lobbyist for Focus on the Family

Being a serial plagiarist may no longer be the professional equivalent of a hair shirt. Look at Vice President Joe Biden. Good thing for ex-Bush administration political operative Tim Goeglein too.

He’s been named the top Washington, D.C., lobbyist for Focus on the Family, according to a little-noticed “comings and goings” political column in the Fort Wayne, Ind., Journal Gazette.

UPDATE: Focus on the Family Action responds to our post below the fold.

Sushi with Freddie Mac, happy hour with realtors

A timely dispatch from our friends at PartyTime.org.

If you haven’t been under a rock lately, you know that the Bush Administration is proposing a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street. What you might not know is that there have been 258 parties this year alone for members of the House Financial Services Committee — the very folks who are making crucial decisions about this legislation — a number of them hosted by lobbyists for the finance, insurance, and real estate industries.

Obama’s Colorado speech: Golden moments and lumps of coal

Barack Obama’s speech in Golden on Tuesday — live-blogged by The Colorado Independent’s Naomi Zeveloff — is already getting notice in the national press as signaling a prominent shift from Palin-era distractions to a bare-knuckle fight over the economy.

Dick Wadhams, Wally Stealey trade barbs over 527s at Vail water confab

Colorado Republican State Chairman Dick Wadhams sparred with influential lobbyist Wally Stealey in Vail Friday over the negative campaigning of independent political committees, campaign finance reform and the disaffection of voters with their respective political parties.

Small Minority of Lobbyists Giving At State Capitol In Wake of Amendment 41

Colorado lobbyists were allowed to give gifts to lawmakers, but a staggering majority chose not to.

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Supremes Bring Gift Ban Back; Still No Ethics Commission

The Colorado Supreme Court today tossed out the injunction barring Colorado’s ethics in government law — in essence ruling it’s up to the state’s five-member ethics commission to implement and enforce the law. The only problem is, more than a…

Cab Business Splurges Again On Taxi Proposal

Mirroring a legislative battle last year, a Colorado cab company is again spending large amounts of money to fight a state proposal that could give the business more competition.