Lobbyist gets a conscience

Katrina Leads a Lobbyist to Reevaluate His Priorities

Frederick L. Webber, a longtime denizen of Washington's lobbying corridor, showed up at work one day last week and found on his desk a dozen fundraising requests from members of Congress.

He threw them all in the trash.

In a self-described epiphany, Webber, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, drafted a large check to help families displaced by Hurricane Katrina and decided that an imperative of his vocation -- political giving -- had finally gone too far.

How could lawmakers be asking for money for their reelections, he asked himself, when thousands of Americans were desperate for aid along the Gulf Coast?

I hope there are more to follow. Only when we break this pernicious cycle of political perversion that swirls inside the Beltway will Americans learn to trust their government again.