The TPMMuckraker has a nifty map out, one that shows the home state of every member of what Justin Elliott and Zachary Roth call the “Shadow Congress.” As they explain in a companion article:

It's not exactly breaking news that Washington is stuffed to the gills with lobbyists. One good government group recently tallied 8 lobbyists for every member of Congress during the health-care reform debate. But what doesn't get as much attention is that, over the last few decades, a vast army of what might be called uber-lobbyists has taken shape in the capital, made up of retiring lawmakers eager to cash in on K Street after a lifetime of making do with public sector salaries.

We've compiled a close-to-comprehensive list of former members of Congress currently working on behalf of private interests in Washington's influence-peddling industry. We count 172 of them -- almost one-third the number of current members of Congress.

“Shadow Congress” is a pretty intense name, but, then again, maybe these people plan on kidnapping Batman and taking over Gotham City. Or just peddling their influence in a way that we tend to frown upon these days. You like frowning, right?

(Thanks, Columbia Journalism Review.)

Source: TPMMuckraker

Image by kevindooley, licensed under Creative Commons.

Barack Obama’s “hope” and “change” campaign slogans meant many things to many people. For some UFO fanatics, Obama’s election represents the hope that the government will finally come clean about its “truth embargo” on the existence of extraterrestrials on Earth. The latest issue of The Washington Monthly profiles Stephen Bassett, Washington’s only registered UFO lobbyist. Basset and other UFO enthusiasts believe that Obama’s commitment to transparency and disclosure will lead to a formal admission that aliens have been on Earth for some time. Then the government can finally release all that alien technology—including the cures for cancer, global warming, and the engergy crisis—that it’s been sitting on for so long. Summing up the change that UFO enthusiasts have been waiting for, the Washington Monthly reports, “If Obama doesn’t announce the existence of aliens in early 2010, they say, he certainly will in the next few years.”

Source: The Washington Monthly (Article not yet available online)

With a new administration coming to town, lobbyists are scrambling about the capital, angling for their piece of the fresh political pie.

There are the usual suspects: labor unions, defense contractors, business associations, and the like. But for all the K-Street power these old-school suits hope to wield, they lack one all-powerful weapon: cute puppies. That fluffy arsenal belongs to the D.C.-area animal shelters that are jostling to meet the Obamas’ canine needs

Barack Obama’s now famous election-night awwww-moment came when he told his girls that they “earned the puppy that is coming with us.” Later, he explained to reporters pursuing this hot story that, though the family wants to go with a shelter dog, the trick is finding one that won’t aggravate Malia’s allergies.

As the Washington Post’s Sleuth blog reports, the city’s shelters have sprung to attention to solve Obama’s problem: “Puppymania has ignited fierce competition among local pet rescue organizations clamoring to be the go-to adoption center for the next first family.”

The Washington Animal Rescue League wrote the president-elect directly with an appeal the day after the election. And the Washington Human Society is touting its “puppy kindergarten classes” for “first family adopters.” 

You can scout for some hypoallergenic contenders here, here, and here.*

*Action unadvised for anyone who actually lives in the D.C. area and is not prepared to be sucked into adopting one of these unbearably cute animals.

Image of  Jiffy  courtesy of the Washington Humane Society. Jiffy is a pit bull terrier mix, so likely not a hypoallergenic contender for the Obamas, but he's damn cute, and thus earned a spot in this post. More about Jiffy: "Jiffy is a happy, confident pup who is tolerant and comfy in his fur and surroundings. He gets along great with other dogs, is responsive to leadership and (especially for his size) walks great on a leash!" 

Lobbyists are a tricky bunch to track. Their jobs are by definition behind the scenes, and politicians (especially of late) have made big displays of distancing themselves from these targets of citizen ire. So who are these K Street power players? In many instances, they’re retired politicians or their staffers, who take lucrative advantage of the deep Beltway ties they made while working on the Hill.

To shine some light on the troubling career ladder from public servant to interest-group money peddler, the Sunlight Foundation launched the Where Are They Now? project. Sunlight, which focuses on exposing the backstage dealings of the federal government, has a list of 268 former congressional staffers who retired or resigned, or whose bosses got the electoral boot when the 109th Congress ended last January. Now they need to confirm which of these individuals have recently become lobbyists and for what organizations. (Former staffers must wait a year before signing on as a lobbyist.) To manage the task, Sunlight is enlisting ordinary internet citizens, or “netizens,” to make some phone calls, ask some questions from a provided script, and uncover the old-fashioned, top-hat-wearing truth. 

By December 21, just a day after the project launched, “21 citizen researchers... investigated 268 congressional staff members... and found 48 who have potentially gone through the revolving door to work for K Street.” Of that 48, 10 have since been confirmed as lobbyists, but 34 remain uninvestigated. If you want to answer the call, click here. And then be prepared to click other stuff. 

—Michael Rowe