For Washington Lobbyists, Ukraine's Crisis Spells Opportunity

By Brian Wingfield Apr 11, 2014 10:50 AM ET

A lot of Washington interest groups owe Russian President Vladimir Putin a big thank you.

Putin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region last month is being cited in Washington as a reason to do everything from building an oil pipeline to accelerating private space flight and even boosting the export of liquefied natural gas.

“This is truly classic behavior,” said Burdett Loomis, a political science professor at the University of Kansas who specializes in lobbying. “You can create a narrative that puts you on the side of the angels.”

Crises have long jolted Washington into action, serving as catalysts for policy. Think Sputnik: the low-orbit satellite the Soviet Union launched in 1957, stoking fears the U.S. was falling behind in a race to space. It helped build support for the program that put Americans on the moon.

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” Rahm Emanuel, Chicago’s Democratic mayor who served as an Illinois congressman and President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, said during a 2008 Wall Street Journal conference.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-11/ukrainian-crisis-not-being-allowed-to-go-to-waste-by-lobbyists.html