Lawyers, Hookers, and Parasites

From the NY Times article on the Mayflower Hotel (Washington, DC), describing the historic hotel most recently known as Eliot & Kristen's place:

Perhaps, but scandal’s brush occasionally touches many businesses serving the city’s power elite.     One Carter administration hand who has prospered here pointed out that the number of lobbyists had skyrocketed to 35,000 from perhaps 3,000 when he arrived.

“All of the parasitic industries — lobbyists, political consultants, lawyers and hookers — have gotten bigger and more sophisticated,” he said, though his matter-of-factness was belied by his reluctance to be named in print. “It makes the city more interesting.”

The article can be found here.