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Desperately Seeking Johnson

As Mike Johnson ascends from nobody to speaker, the entire flat-footed lobbying industry is desperately searching their Rolodexes for ins, connections, second cousins once removed—or any way to influence the new guy with the gavel.

The absence of anyone with a clear inside track to Johnson illuminates one of the vulnerabilities in Washington’s relationship-based business model.
The absence of anyone with a clear inside track to Johnson illuminates one of the vulnerabilities in Washington’s relationship-based business model. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
Tara Palmeri
November 17, 2023

These days, one of the biggest fibs on K Street is that each firm has at least one lobbyist on staff who has a relationship with Mike Johnson. And, this being K Street, not just a relationship but a relationship—as in, they can fire off a text or make a phone call and get a rapid response à la the halcyon days of the Kevin McCarthy gravy train. It’s the promise of connectivity, after all, that powers the multibillion-dollar influence industry.