Firms’ lobbying push comes amid rancor on TSA use of airport full-body scanners
25th December 2010
The companies that build futuristic airport scanners take a more old-fashioned approach when it comes to pushing their business interests in Washington: hiring dozens of former lawmakers, congressional aides and federal employees as their lobbyists.
About eight of every 10 registered lobbyists who work for scanner-technology companies previously held positions in the government or Congress, most commonly in the homeland security, aviation or intelligence fields, a Washington Post review of lobbying-disclosure forms and other data shows.
The surest way to wealth in modern America is to hire a former government employee to get his former colleagues to write your product into the law, then just sit back and watch the (taxpayer) money roll in.