Katrina Leads a Lobbyist to Reevaluate His Priorities

WaPo reported Frederick L. Webber, a longtime denizen of Washington's lobbying corridor, showed up at work one day last week and found on his desk a dozen fundraising requests from members of Congress. He threw them all in the trash. In a self-described epiphany, Webber, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, drafted a large check to help families displaced by Hurricane Katrina and decided that an imperative of his vocation -- political giving -- had finally gone too far. How could lawmakers be asking for money for their reelections, he asked himself, when thousands of Americans were desperate for aid along the Gulf Coast?

The Left is horrified at a lobbyist giving money to people displaced by Katrina, rather than to politicians, but I congratulate Mr Webber for realising that people can help people a lot better than government can.

"It really hit home when I was writing out that check," Webber said. "Political fundraising in this town has gotten out of control." It's a message he was repeating passionately at lunches and in private conversations with other lobbyists all over town last week.... Webber told K Street colleagues that radical change is needed in election laws: Donations should be further limited, campaign seasons should be shortened and lawmakers, somehow, should be freed up to do more legislating and less soliciting. He also made clear that the hurricane's devastation was what prompted his proselytizing. "All of a sudden I asked, 'What are the priorities here?' " Webber said in an interview. "It was an easy decision to make. I couldn't justify making those $500 to $2,500 [campaign] contributions. It just didn't fit."

Memorandum listed two left wing blogs as referring to this article.

Atrios blogged I read this Washington Post article last night and had the same question - how does something like this become "news"?

Josh Marshall blogged How did this piece in Monday's Post get published? Looks like a job for Jack Shafer.