Lobbyists are raking in big bucks off of Wall Street firms looking to water down Wall Street Reform. And, as evidenced by their history, some have close ties to top Republicans on Capitol Hill. Politico:

It’s impossible to know exactly how much the Top 10 firms have made from the regulatory reform fight because lobbyists and their clients aren’t required to itemize spending by issue. But an analysis of lobbying disclosure forms by the Center for Public Integrity shows that those 130 clients have paid the 10 firms more than $30 million for work on financial reform and other issues since the beginning of 2009.

Clark Lytle & Geduldig, a small Washington firm with six partners, scooped up more regulatory reform clients than any other, the Center found. The firm represented 20 clients on financial reform and other concerns in 2009 and 2010, billing them a combined $1.26 million.

Its client list included two giant associations: the Financial Services Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which were major players influencing bills written by the House and Senate.

In addition to Clark Lytle & Geduldig, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hired three other outside firms and deployed its in-house lobbyists to Congress. The business association spent more than $148 million lobbying on financial reform and other issues in 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. The Financial Services Roundtable spent more than $9.5 million overall and supplemented its in-house staff with four outside lobbying firms, according to disclosure documents.

Steve Clark, a partner at Clark Lytle & Geduldig, declined to comment on the firm’s success in attracting financial industry clients, but it very likely has much to do with its ties to the Republican Party. Before hanging his shingle on K Street, Sam Geduldig, the firm’s main financial lobbyist, worked as political director for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and as a senior adviser to Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

In many ways, the lobbyists are losing, but, their intense pressure is, unfortunately, having some success:

Although public anger over the financial industry’s role in the recession has helped shape the regulatory reform debate, the financial industry won some battles during the process, scuttling proposals to break up large banks and enabling community banks and credit unions to sidestep new consumer protection rules. And consumer advocates fear the final reform bill may be weaker than the Senate version, thanks in part to intense industry pressure.

We have to keep up the pressure and shine a bright light on the shady, behind the scenes lobbying of the big banks.