Soccer Dad

Influence: the industry that never suffers

Change is in the air.

With all the talk about how things will be different; well there really will be change. The change will be in the players, not in the game. The influence game that is.

The starting salaries for former officials tell the story. An assistant department secretary leaving the Bush administration three years ago, with Republicans in control of the House, Senate and White House, might fetch as much $600,000 to $1 million a year in the influence business, recruiters and lobbyists said. But the same person might now expect less than half as much.

"Don't be the last guy off the train," said Peter Metzger, vice chairman of the recruiting firm CT Partners, recalling his advice to government officials considering other work in Washington.

But for Democrats, the bidding is fierce. Three years ago, a Democratic staff director for an important House or Senate committee might have earned about $130,000 a year on Capitol Hill, and jumped to K Street for an annual salary of about $250,000. Now, the same person might command as much as $500,000 to $800,000 a year, several recruiters said.

via memeorandum

The article does mention that the Obama administration may introduce certain rules to bar lobbyists from certain jobs in the administration, that doesn't mean that the influence peddlers will be shut out.