Romney, Ruddy, Rich People

Fun story in Politico today about Mitt Romney's plans for his La Jolla, California, dream house -- which will include an elevator just for the cars.  Unclear whether more than one Cadillac can ride at once. Feel free to add your own jokes.

The article also notes that Romney has a lobbyist on retainer for the project, to petition the local government for whatever permits, exemptions, or whatever might crop up during the project. As noted in the article, this is something not uncommon for one-percenters:

It is not unusual for homeowners to hire lobbyists to petition local California boards for large home renovation projects, San Diego officials said.

Lobbying isn't just for big corporations and interest groups. If you got the bucks, why not hire your own lobbyist?

This brings to mind friend-of-Romney Raymond Ruddy, of Dover, Massachusetts. A month ago Ruddy cut a check to Romney's SuperPAC for a cool $100,000; his company, MAXIMUS Consulting Group, got a huge contract with the great and blessed Commonwealth of Massachusetts during Romney's brief governorship, to provide services under MassHealth; it leveraged that into work implementing the state's health care reform.

Good thing, because Ruddy needed money to lobby for things he believes in -- things like abstinence-only sex education funding. "In 2009 Ruddy spent more to lobby on the issue than any abstinence-only advocacy group," the Atlantic reported a couple of years ago.

Ruddy has apparently spent some $1.5 million over the past decade on his own personal lobbying efforts. I would think that a lot of these one-percenters are going to start going that route. Who knows, if the Mittster loses in November, maybe that's what he'll do with his millions.