Here's an informative article from the NY Times on lobbyists in DC. True. Hill staffers usually start around $30-35K per year, which is nearly poverty-level in a city like DC. And this is often after a budding staffer has interned for free and maxed the credit cards in order to get one's foot in the door. Even high-ranking staffers often do not break $100K. A lot of money, but you can't buy a decent house in DC on that salary. So when $200-400K is dangled in front of your face to become a lobbyist, it's very tempting. I've seen a case where a couple, both staffers making rather ordinary salaries, notched up to the $300K (each) world of lobbying, did that for a few years, bought a vineyard in Northern California, quit their jobs after a few years lobbying to spend a year traveling around the world before settling into life on the vineyard. It's attractive, this lure of filthy lucre.
DC is a world of investment. That is often all that politics is here.
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