No one could have guessed:
House Speaker-elect John Boehner announced Thursday that he hired the medical device industry's chief lobbyist as his policy director, adding to a growing number of Republican lawmakers who have recruited top aides from K Street.
Brett Loper, senior executive vice president at the Advanced Medical Technology Association, was deeply involved in the health care debate and fought against the fees Democrats ultimately assessed the industry to help pay for reform.
To return to a point from yesterday, the incoming Republican Congress promises to be saturated with lobbyists and others working to further entrenched interests. Most of the new committee chairmen have strong ties to lobbyists, and John Boehner has promised to concentrate power on the committee level, which would have the effect of giving powerful lobbies leeway to change and write policy. Of course, this was expected; the Tea Party "revolt" that brought the GOP into power was created and (mostly) funded by a handful of wealthy interests. That Tea Party congressmen are moving to stack their offices with lobbyists isn't much of a surprise.
-- Jamelle Bouie
