WASHINGTON (AP) – Announcing his bid for the presidency, Jeb Bush said he would “challenge the culture that has made lobbying the premier growth industry in our nation’s capital.”
Four days later, Bush was in Washington for a fundraising luncheon co-hosted by D.C. lobbyists.
For Bush, the connection is not new. Before he was Florida governor, Bush was a registered lobbyist in Miami-Dade County, though a spokeswoman said he never actually lobbied.
As governor, he expanded the state’s D.C. lobbying corps. As a corporate board member, he advised companies that spent millions lobbying. And now, one vein of support flows from Washington’s K Street.
In deriding the industry while accepting its support, Bush is playing an age-old Washington game, where candidates decry Washington’s influence network but depend on support from those same lobbyists.