Column: Lobbyists not so bad: They ease budget pains for power players

When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel once remarked on the vast power of the Israel lobby in the nation’s capital, he did not think he was being anti-Semitic. He was stating a fact.

After the massacre of schoolchildren in Connecticut sparked a burst of national demand for more controls on guns and ammunition, longtime Washington observers were convinced serious reform would never happen because of the vast power of the pro-gun lobby.

The New York Times recently documented how dozens of lobbyists for two huge drug companies walked away from the halls of Congress with special benefits worth nearly $1 billion for their clients.

And now literal swarms of lobbyists are descending on Capitol Hill hoping to insert tax breaks and loopholes for their clients if Congress really is serious about reforming the nation’s incredibly complex 4 million-word tax code.

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