Trying to Make Sense of the Nonsense in Washington
I invested about 14 years of my career leading real estate finance-oriented national trade groups in Washington, D. C. Testifying before House and Senate committees frequently and being responsible for sizable staffs of regulatory and legislative lobbyists meant playing an integral role influencing federal regulations and legislation favored or opposed by our trade group's members. In the process I came to appreciate how difficult it is to understand and to pass meaningful regulations and laws even when opposing views are not far apart. Unlike the disarray so rampant in Washington, D.C. today, where it feels like the circus came to town, with a full cast of clowns. When I look at the nasty debates between the Trump Administration and the Congress in general, not to mention disagreements within parties and between the House and Senate, all I can think of is a pearl of wisdom passed along to me by a veteran Capitol Hill lobbyist, the late Burton Wood. When I first arrived in Washin...