- So does the LA Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/11/opinion/la-ed-campaign-20110611

Related--Wall Street executives have been hitting up federal agencies lately to "try to persuade top regulators that they are not large or risky enough to threaten the financial system if they should ever collapse." 

"More than two-thirds of voters think the ethical standards of politicians have declined over the past generation, and almost as many say Capitol Hill lawmakers are downright unscrupulous, according to the results of a new poll commissioned by The Hill."

"Lobbyists have begun collecting tens of thousands of dollars in fees from corporate clients in anticipation of a battle over tax reform this Congress," though many on the Hill are skeptical anything will actually happen.

"Republican Jon Huntsman has not declared his candidacy yet, but his nascent presidential campaign-in-waiting felt some growing pain Sunday after mistakenly announcing the support of a prominent Republican fundraiser."

"Former senatorial candidate and tea party favorite Sharron Angle, who lost her bid to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev), in 2010, has launched her own independent expenditure-only committee, Our Voice PAC."

Both camps in the Virginia Senate race are going after each other for their ties to Washington.

Interesting: "Tracking the fate of federal legislation during the six years before the mortgage-driven financial crisis, the economists found that what mattered even more than the amount of lobbying was whether legislators were being lobbied by former members of their own staff."

Leading Fair Elections opponent in the House, Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.), might just find his district a bit tougher to hold on to next year.

DC powerhouse Akin Gump "is working to remove an Iranian group from the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations."

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) will be lining up several bills to help Big Oil over the summer. "Democrats led by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce panel, say it carries major environmental risks and could be a sop to companies including Koch Industries, which is helmed by billionaire brothers active in conservative politics."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has time to run jump into the 2010 race, according to major donors.

And the FEC rejects a few more cases.

Big Taxi! "With City of Austin taxi policies in flux, and a potential new taxi competitor awaiting city approval, the owners and top executives of cab companies with Austin franchise agreements have been generous this spring with donations to three council incumbents."

- And the Times agrees: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/opinion/11sat3.html

Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (R) couldn't help put out of work Arizonans, "But Pearce has had the copious free time to compose a lengthy, five page letter to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne arguing that his anti-recall committee should be allowed to take corporate and union donations."