Lobby hobby

That was fast. This morning's Times-Picayune publishes Fred Heebe's list of "lobbyists" which appears to be Heebe's term for anybody who accepted anything from him or his landfill company during the past ten years or so. I'm not sure we can say everyone on the list actually performed as a paid advocate for Heebe's interests, although clearly this what Heebe thought would happen. And most of the time, he was right about that despite the comic protestations of some of those listed.

Also on the list is Ray Clark, who founded The Clark Group, a Washington environmental consulting firm, in 2001. River Birch hired him and his assistant, Sara Brodnax, in late 2005 to perform environmental impact analyses about disposing of debris created by Hurricane Katrina's destruction.

Clark said their contract with River Birch wasn't for lobbying services, but more for consulting and to introduce Heebe to influential Washington figures who dealt with waste management. He didn't have the exact payments from River Birch, but he said his company generally worked for a client on retainer for roughly $8,000 to $11,000 a month. He said Heebe didn't ask him to specifically single out the Old Gentilly Landfill for criticism, nor to promote River Birch's operation.

Did you get that? He said, "I'm not a lobbyist, I just get paid to introduce my client to influential people." Anyway take a look at this round-up There's Bobby Jindal's Chief of Staff, Mary Landrieu's PR firm, Paul Connick's brother, others with professional connections all over the place in Orleans and Jefferson. Fred Heebe really did think he owned everybody.