A tale of whoring Florida lobbyists. (It's always refreshing to hear it from a reporter.)

[Baitball Blogger]

Florida's political system is neck-deep in cronyism

Politicians in Tallahassee trading the provision of favorable public policy for political support is so rampant that they don't even try to hide the fact that industry lobbyists write their bills and talking points. Needelman has been charged with trading tax dollars for campaign favors. But politicians routinely — and legally — trade valuable policy output for the same campaign checks.

Lobbyists for sugar companies, developers, telecoms, utilities and others routinely utilize high-priced lobbyists with decades of experience in the Capitol to wield their informational advantages over legislators.

During the first half of 2013, some 2,000 Florida lobbyists were paid more than $120 million to ply 120 part-time state legislators, and to a lesser extent, executive agencies.

Over the six years of data generated by Florida's 2005 lobbyist-disclosure reform, we've seen evidence that the cottage industry around state government is largely recession-proof and concentrated in the hands of perhaps 20 top firms paid more than $1 million a year, which represent more than two-thirds of all the companies active in influencing state government.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-capview-column-deslatte081813-20130818,0,3245610.column

[russspeakeasy]

1. The change in the last 8 years has been dramatic.

We truly are a whorehouse.