An important dynamic is building in the fight for financial reform. Regular people are speaking out and being heard above the millions being spent by Wall Street and their Washington Lobbyists. Wall Street insider publication The Street notes the phenomena:

While Main Street headed to lawmakers' doorsteps with thousands of voter petitions on Wednesday to sway the debate on financial reform, Wall Street and corporate America were spending big bucks on lobbyists.

Both sides have just a matter of days.

A leading consumer-rights coalition was striving to assert its dominance in the dialogue by reminding lawmakers that voters are keeping a close eye on the outcome. Representatives from Americans for Financial Reform planned to visit lawmakers' offices in 25 cities to deliver petitions from "thousands of constituents," urging them to pass tough measures.

"Today members of Congress will get a message directly from Americans -- we're watching what's happening with Wall Street reform and we need you to stand up for Main Street," said Heather Booth, director of Americans for Financial Reform.

Meanwhile...

As AFR traipsed from Red Lake Falls, Minn., to Kansas City with petitions in hand, corporate lobbyists were scrambling across Washington, D.C. in their own last-ditch effort to grab lawmakers' ears. Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce organized a more modern type of grassroots campaign on the Web. Since the start of 2009, the top 10 lobbying firms have pulled in fees of more than $30 million, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

There are just a few more days left for lawmakers to hammer out a compromise for the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010, which is supposed to be on President Obama's desk by the Fourth of July weekend. But Americans seem eager to oust incumbents regardless of political stripe, and several negotiators in the reform conference face an uphill re-election battle this fall.

People power is winning. But, we need to keep up the pressure. Keep signing those petitions and calling your legislators. We're almost there. Let's make it happen.

This is encouraging:

Wall Street's lobbying army is marching around Washington in a push to shape the final financial-overhaul bill. But it has gotten harder to get through the door with some lawmakers.

One bank has complained that it no longer has access to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.), whose schedule has filled up to accommodate negotiations with his Senate counterparts during the next two weeks.

This is a step in the right direction. Lobbyists need to be locked out as early in the process as possible. Our legislators should be working for us, not the lobbyists.

All eyes are on the reconciliation team as they meet and decide whether they're going to weaken or strengthen the Wall Street reform legislation. The New York Times reports:

Negotiators from the House and Senate gathered on Thursday to merge two bills representing the most comprehensive changes to financial regulation since the Depression, but the script they acted out was largely being written elsewhere...

Both sides called for avoiding a repeat of past mistakes. Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, recalled that she sat on a similar conference committee for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the milestone deregulation legislation that ended Glass-Steagall.

“I feared deregulation would have serious negative consequences,” Ms. Waters said. “I voted no. I was right.”

As we noted yesterday, the lobbyists are stepping up their efforts during reconciliation. We must step up ours as well. Otherwise, behind the scenes, the lobbyists will rule.

The lobbyists are panicking. They're working harder than ever, behind the scenes to water down reform and create loopholes that the Wall Street banksters plan to exploit.

Lobbyists are shifting into overdrive today as Congress formally begins its attempt to smooth out differences between the House and Senate versions of the Wall Street bill.

Financial services trade associations, big banks and a slew of other companies that provide financial products are blanketing Capitol Hill trying to get a last word in.

Although this will be the first public conference in a long time, the real negotiations aren’t expected to happen in front of the cameras. And the real lobbying will begin once behind-the-scenes negotiations between Senate and House conferees start in earnest...

Lobbyists declined to name specific Members who refused to meet with K Streeters on financial regulatory reform but said they were focused on getting meetings at the staff level and with lawmakers who have the ear of the conferees as well as House and Senate leadership...

The lobbyists are playing their usual inside game. This game is part of the problem in Washington. Now is the time that will test the resolve of our legislators. Will they remain firm or will they bow to the immense pressure of the banksters? Time will tell - but, you can have your voice heard by calling your members of Congress and calling on them to stand firm and don't retreat.

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.