Maybe the big money in the health care debate is the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room that isn’t being covered adequately in the news.  Coverage of the disturbing traveling circus that  is the public side of the  debate lately has focused largely on town hall disruptions .That certainly is where all the shouting has been.  The media follows the shouts. However as this astro-turf sponsored war rages some record breaking lobbying is going on in Washington. Big money, big medicine and it works quietly. One republican media consultant said “If we slow this sausage-making process down,we can defeat it.”

According to the Blog of Legal times  Wal-Mart is adding to its health care lobbying team. The  lobby firm  Wal-Mart  uses includes…………. senior policy adviser David Russell, a former chief of staff to ex-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska); senior policy adviser Jennifer Stewart, who worked for Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.); and former aides to Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), both Republican whips. Wal-Mart spent nearly $2.6 million lobbying in the second quarter of 2009. About $340,000 went to seven outside lobbying firms, including the Podesta Group, Patton Boggs, and Miller & Chevalier.

Here are some other superlatives from Bloomberg.com. This may explain the pause in the health care legislation momentum . There are 3,300 lobbyists who have lined up to work on the issue that is six lobbyists to every 535 members of the House and Senate.

According to Senate records, and three times the number of people registered to lobby on defense.These groups spent $263.4 million on lobbying during the first six months of 2009, according to the Center for Responsible Politics a Washington-based research group, more than any other industry. They spent $241.4 million during the same period of 2008. Drugmakers alone spent $134.5 million, 64 percent more than the next biggest spenders, oil and gas companies.

The health-care industry also contributed $20.5 million to federal candidates and the political parties during the first six months of the year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat who is up for re-election next year, received $382,400, more than any other lawmaker.

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/…