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FORMER MEMBERS OF CONGRESS and retired government officials make for especially effective lobbyists because they enjoy easy access to former colleagues. That is why big companies retain such people as soon as they spin through the revolving door between the public and the private sector.
Consider the case of Ann Wexler of The Wexler Group, recently ranked one of the Beltway's 10 most influential lobbyists by Washingtonian magazine.
Wexler started out as a liberal, helping organize Eugene McCarthy's 1968 anti-war presidential campaign.
She then moved to a top spot at Common Cause and, from 1973 to 1976, served as Washington bureau chief for Rolling Stone during its muckraking heyday.
Her descent down the slippery slope from liberal activist to corporate toady started with a stint in Jimmy Carter's White House.
From there she launched her political consultancy, which boasts executives with close ties to both the Clinton administration and the Republican leadership in Congress.
The Clinton connection is Betsey Wright, chief of staff for the president when he was Arkansas governor and known for her skill in quelling the "bimbo eruptions" that periodically dogged her boss.
The Republican "in" is former Representative Robert Walker, until his retirement a few years back one of Newt Gingrich's closest allies. Ann Wexler claims that corporate lobbyists do not wield inordinate...