Lobbying has always been a bit of smoke and mirrors industry. People with personal relationships with lawmakers and their aides sign contracts with interests seeking to influence the powerful. The lobbyists, leaning on those relationships, trot out top staff or if you’re good, an actual former lawmaker, for meetings with CEOs visiting Washington. “He’s got to fill out the entire executive branch, so the lack of access will change” as veteran congressional staffers, lobbyists and communicators take positions. The levers of government will start working again, which could mean big pay days for K Street in the future.

WASHINGTON — To lobbyists, the election of a new president usually means new jobs, new access to the corridors of power — and, by default, more influence for their clients.

But President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to “drain the swamp.” His transition team recently purged a number of registered lobbyists and announced a lobbying ban for those who want work in the administration. Virtually no one on K Street — the button-down power corridor of Washington — has any idea what is actually happening or what it will mean for their business.

Increasingly on edge are Democratic lobbyists. One of the most powerful Democratic lobbyists in Washington, Heather Podesta (whose former brother-in-law John Podesta ran Hillary Clinton’s failed campaign this year), wrote in an email to unnerved clients that their hard-earned influence dollars will still be well spent with her firm.

“Let’s connect soon about working the lame duck, making sure you’re engaging the transition team in the right way, preparing for the inauguration, and actively participating and shaping the first 100 days of a Trump Administration and the 115th Congress,” Podesta wrote in the email obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Podesta, who also raised huge sums of money for Clinton as a

continue: https://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/lobbyists-have-no-clue-how-theyre-going-to-work-under-a-trum