Welcome to Pay Dirt—exclusive reporting and research from The Daily Beast’s Lachlan Markay on corruption, campaign finance, and influence-peddling in the nation’s capital. For Beast Inside members only.
A pair of House freshmen have lined up legislation that could dramatically alter the legal landscape for lobbying and policy advocacy. The lawmakers, both Democrats, are looking to remake rules governing paid policy advocacy and “dark money” politicking.
Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) introduced legislation this week that seeks to cut down on what good-government advocates dub “shadow lobbying”—or policy advocacy structured to avoid triggering the legal definition of lobbying. The “political intelligence” industry in Washington is booming, but most of its participants aren’t technically lobbyists; they’re “consultants,” “policy advisers,” or “government relations executives.”