From AP (hat tip to PR Watch):

The lead U.S. drug industry lobby group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), spent $10.7 million in the first six months of 2007 lobbying the U.S. government. (In the preceding six-month period, PhRMA spent $8.8 million.) Associated Press reports that PhRMA'S latest lobbying report, required under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, states that the group lobbied Congress, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other agencies on "issues related to Medicare, patent reform, international trade and drug fees, importation and safety." Billy Tauzin, a former Republican member of the House of Representatives from Louisiana turned PhRMA chief executive, is one of the group's registered lobbyists.

But I'm sure they do it out of the goodness of their own hearts and not because they think there is a positive ROI. Why lobbying of this sort proves America's greatness because it shows that industries are free to participate democratic government! And as the former lobbyists who often e-mail me when I say something nasty about lobbyists like to point out (and as Clinton noted) teachers have lobbyists too! You can be a good lobbyist!

But unlike in a universe far far away, in this universe the Dark Side of the Lobby is 100X more powerful than the Light Side.