Profitability of Lobbying

I've written before on the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United to make political influence less restrained. However, my support for allowing more political donations doesn't mean I don't think the government shouldn't write better rules for the process. After all, good markets need good governments. Here's something I might limit, the revolving door of politics:

Washington’s “revolving door” – the movement from government service into the lobbying industry- is regarded as a major concern for policy-making. We study how ex-government staffers benefit from the personal connections acquired during their public service. Lobbyists with experience in the office of a US Senator suffer a 24% drop in generated revenue when that Senator leaves office.

Just how profitable is lobbying? Here's one example:

The report details efforts by hundreds of companies in 2003 and 2004 to push through a one-time tax "holiday" that lowered for a year the tax rate they paid on profits earned abroad. All told, U.S. companies saved about $100 billion in taxes, with pharmaceutical behemoths Pfizer and Merck & Co., technology giants IBM and Hewlett Packard, and health products maker Johnson & Johnson among the top beneficiaries. 

The study zeros in on 93 firms that spent as much as $282.7 million lobbying on the issue during that period, and ultimately saved a total of $62.5 billion through the tax change.

That a return of 22,000%!