LOBBYING TO CONTINUE IN GOVT SHUTDOWN

—Roll Call: “A federal government shutdown would close some of Washington, D.C.’s most popular attractions and important outposts, but the influence industry won’t even slow down. … Lobbyists are already seeing more work, fielding questions from jittery, or just curious, clients. … “Everything’s kicked up a notch,” said Jack Howard, a lobbyist with Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates and a former top aide to then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) during the last government shutdowns in the mid-1990s. “I find myself spending a lot more time with the Speaker’s office, [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell’s office. In situations like this, most decisions get elevated to leadership levels.” … For many lobbyists, next week — funding or no funding — will be business as usual. Meetings with clients, key federal workers and even some Hill aides are expected to continue. … “We’ll definitely be open — we’re not reimbursed by the government,” said Kelly Bingel, a partner at Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti.”

FDIC PROTESTED WATERS’ BANK ACTIONS

—WaPo: “A decision in late 2008 by top officials of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to help a politically connected bank in Boston left federal bank examiners there angry enough that some called it a “travesty of justice,” according to internal e-mails obtained by The Washington Post. … The chairman of OneUnited Bank, a friend of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), had rendered it insolvent through lavish spending and bad investments, according to the examiners’ written accounts. But by the end of that year, after Waters arranged a key Treasury Department meeting for the bank, it had won a bailout loan and a unique exemption from the FDIC’s accounting rules. … “There are some really good people expressing very strong opinions regarding what they view as a travesty of justice regarding the special treatment this institution is receiving,” acting regional director John M. Lane warned in a March 2009 e-mail to Christopher J. Spoth, a senior FDIC consumer protection official.”