news-record.com

I’m coming to this late, but Politico reports that Sen. Kay Hagan was among a dozen Democratic senators who attended a lobbyist-heavy “winter retreat” at the Ritz Carlton South Beach. From the Politico story (link):

There, to participate in "informal conversations" and other meetings Saturday, were senators including DSCC Chairman Robert Menendez; Michigan's Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow; Bob Casey of Pennsylvania; Claire McCaskill of Missouri; freshmen Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Begich of Alaska; and even left-leaning Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Across the table was a who's who of 108 senior Washington lobbyists, including the top lobbying officials for many of the industries Democrats regularly attack: Represented were the American Bankers Association, the tobacco company Altria, the oil company Marathon, several drug manufacturers, the defense contractor Lockheed, and most of the large independent lobbying firms: Ogilvy, BGR, Quinn Gillespie, Heather Podesta, and Tony Podesta.

Worth noting: Politico reports Republicans have a similar retreat on their calendar. (link)

HT: Dome

Also worth noting: President Barack Obama has been on quite the anti-lobbying kick, although one can argue there are a lot of loopholes in the administration’s lobbying curbs. (Links here, here and here.) Still, the retreat as reported by Politico doesn’t seem simpatico with the reform/anti-lobbyist ethos the administration is trying to establish.