Washington Memo: One of Their Own

When Michael Baroody of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) withdrew his nomination to run the Consumer Product Safety Commission on May 23, Democrats cheered that a fox had been barred from the henhouse. But, they sighed, President George W. Bush had otherwise succeeded in turning government over to businessmen.

But Baroody is no businessman. He's a business lobbyist. The distinction is crucial to understanding an Administration in which energy lobbyists oversee mining and drilling, timber lobbyists oversee logging and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association has practically moved to the Department of Agriculture. These are Washington people, not corporate people. They...

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