Feeding the cash cow.

• Author: Peters, Charles
• Position: Tilting at Windmills - Lobbying - Brief Article

The clever lobbyist knows to warn his clients that a plot against their interests is being hatched by Washington bureaucrats or Congress. Fear tends to loosen the client's wallet. Robert Leonard, a former staffmember of the House Ways and Means Committee, explains this strategy to the Post's Jeffrey Birnbaum, telling him of the time he gave lobbyists a memo listing potential tax increases. At first they were outraged: "How dare you ... Surely, you're kidding. You can't do this to me!" Then Leonard reminded them, "Hey...