"L' is for Lobbyist, "K' is for Kickback, "A" is for Adulteress, HP is for Hewl---Heather Podesta? UH - HUH! ---WSJ tells the story

WSJ's Washington Wire tells the story why Heather Podesta is wearing this patch - good for Heather! All lobbyists, those with causes (( and there are those who truly did try to assist the tribes! )) should not be ostracized by either side of the aisle. This is something that needs to be said. Thank you, Wall Street Journal, thank you, CNN! --abpr

Lobbyist Heather Podesta Draws a Parallel to Hester Prynne

(((((WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
What did ol' John McCain have to do with it?
How am I (LITTLE ME?) connected?)))*

Published 3 hours ago at WSJ.com: Washington Wire - WSJ.com
August 28, 2008, 7:00 am

Lobbyist Heather Podesta Draws a Parallel to Hester Prynne
Brody Mullins reports from Denver on the Democratic convention.

Barack Obama has waged war against Washington lobbyists. Now one big-time Democratic lobbyist is fighting back in Denver.

Heather Podesta, a politically plugged-in lobbyist who represents a range of corporate giants, is sporting a patch with a scarlet letter “L” on her lapel as she makes the rounds of cocktail parties and receptions at this week’s convention.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic, the scarlet letter “A” marked an adulterer in 17th century Puritan Boston. Podesta’s “L” refers to something just as ignominious in present-day Washington: a lobbyist.

“It’s my little act of civil disobedience,” says Podesta outside a book party she helped throw this evening for her brother-in-law, John Podesta, who was President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff.

Podesta is one of hundreds of Democratic lobbyists who feel frustrated by Obama’s constant attack on their profession and refusal to accept their support for his campaign. But she is one of the few who is willing to talk about it openly. “I feel a bit liked a marked person,” she says. “You can’t volunteer, you can’t give money, you can’t even buy a $12 Obama T-shirt on the campaign’s Web site.”

Podesta and her husband, Tony Podesta, who is also a lobbyist, are among the top Democratic lobbyists in Washington. Their separate practices bring in well more than $1 million a year from A-list clients such as Boeing, CIGNA Corp., Eli Lilly & Co., and U.S. Steel.

Together, the Podestas raised more than $500,000 for the 2004 presidential campaign of Democratic Sen. John Kerry. Mrs. Podesta says the couple help raise about $3 million a year for Democratic candidates for president, House and Senate.

Podesta supported Sen. Hillary Clinton in the primary campaign, but when Clinton dropped out, she switched her backing to Obama. But she quickly became frustrated that, as a lobbyist, she couldn’t do anything to help the Democratic presidential candidate. Unable to donate the $2,300 that she wanted, she came up with the idea for the “L” patch. “We all thought this would be a way to have fun with an awkward situation,” she says.

She hired a graphic designer and went about developing the perfect patch. “In the first couple, the “L” looked a little too ‘Laverne & Shirley,” she says. She wanted something embroidered and “more goth.”

When she settled on a design, she paid about $500 to make one hundred patches to hand out to lobbyists willing to take a humorous stand against Obama.

She says she’s handed out about two-dozen. “I can’t tell you how many people want them, they are the hottest commodity in town,” she says.

At a book party for her brother-in-law, only a few lobbyists had them on display, including her husband.

Podesta says that the patches are all in good fun, but she doesn’t hide her frustration with Obama’s antilobbying stance. “There’s no spite at all, but a real frustration,” she says. “You don’t want to be told that your time and money aren’t wanted.”

As for the patch, she says, “the last time I saw, free speech is protected.”

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White House '08
Washington, D.C
Barack Obama
John Podesta


* six degrees = heather podesta (see comments)

more? Of course. Always.

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