Well, I guess you’re not surprised:

Lobbying-money record broken again
By Jim Snyder
Spending on lobbying totaled more than $1.2 billion for the last six months of 2005, another record, according to a tally on the website politicalmoneyline.com.

For the year, spending topped $2.36 billion, according to the site. For the first time, during the last half of the year, spending to lobby Congress and the executive branch averaged $200 million a month.

The biggest single spenders in the second half of the year were the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, General Electric, AT&T (including SBC), the Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform and the American Medical Association.

The five firms that reported the highest revenues in the last six months of 2005 were Patton Boggs, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Van Scoyoc Associates, Cassidy & Associates and the Federalist Group.

I wish I could think of something profound and uplifting to say about this, but all I can think of is how truly undemocratic it is to have the kind of system we have. I understand that it’s a “good” thing to have smaller entities like the City of Akron (one of the clients for one of the firms mentioned) have professional, effective lobbying in DC- one can hardly expect small town politicians to be able to do their jobs and negotiate the federal angle at the same time. But let’s not kid ourselves, it’s the large corporations who get the most out of this system. Democrats and Republicans alike have little interest in changing such an arragement, indeed- why should they? Beltway Babylon stories are legendary, and I have no doubt much of this money is spent of hookers, parties, vacation homes…

There is no way the netroots, or any coalition of the Little People, can compete in terms of raw infusions of cash like this. I think we should all keep these numbers in mind, as we formulate strategies and talk about the true motivations of the party and leadership. I think an important first step is to continue to expose the corrosive influence of money in national politics, for it is true that the thing politicians fear the most is an angry mob. As people find themselves choosing between food and gas in the coming months, and watch endless billions thrown into the maw of the war god, I hope some will also consider that great progress can be made, were we to demand an end to this kind of money in the political process. The sheer size of these figures is a devastating indictment to those who claim that it is the Will of of the People they serve.