Lobbying

The K Street Project - a Republican efforts to pressure Washington lobbying firms to hire only Republicans to top positions - now has its own website: www.kstreetproject.com. "The site, open to all, contains news about who was hired in lobby shops, corporate offices and trade associations. It also will carry job postings and a rundown of the political giving patterns of people who are seeking or have taken lobbying jobs.

Last week, Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell vetoed "what would have been the nation's strongest school-based nutrition law," writes Michele Simon. "With one stroke of the pen, she put to rest an extremely contentious three-year battle to rid Connecticut schools of soda and junk food. Similar scenarios are being played out in state capitals all over the nation, where high-paid lobbyists of multi-national corporations such as Coca-Cola are swooping in to foil the efforts of local nutrition advocates, educators.

A worker who knows Social Security "could run out before they retire," a couple with children who like "the idea of leaving something behind to the family," and a single parent who wants "more retirement options and security" than Social Security offers - all younger than 29.

The Washington Post reports on how House Majority Whip Roy Blunt "has converted what had been an informal and ad hoc relationship between congressional leaders and the Washington corporate and trade community into a formal, institutionalized alliance." Blunt's "organization of whips and lobbyist vote counters ...