Old

Old

Dominion

'0ft

J|li

iter "

> ■'

Politics

' r ^ V-l

pockets for the sake of good government.

Yet to Common Cause and some other groups the bogeyman appears to be those special interest groups that are often represented by PAC’s and lobbyists.

I have met and been on friendly terms with dozens of lobbyists who operate in Virginia and think I have learned something about how they think and react.

It’s true, for example, that lobbyists for powerful interest groups paid thousands of dollars for tables at the Wilder inaugural gala. Their money got them the opportunity to drink champagne and try to dance in an overcrowded hall and to mingle with people they can mingle with at the State Capitol many days of the year for free.

The point is that in most cases lobbyists for interest groups don’t give their money to politicians to have them do something for them, but to avoid having something done to them.

Lobbyists are supplicants at the political table who have to keep up with the Jones’ — namely their fellow lobbyists.

They bought tables for the galas basically to make sure that Gov. Wilder and his lieutenants would know they anted up. They didn’t want to be conspicious by their absence from the lists of those who kicked in to properly celebrate the entrance of a new governor onto the scene.

I talk to one lobbyist friend regularly who is typical of the species. He represents an affluent business group which budgets fairly large