The Money's Coming, But Where's It Going?

Let the bidding war begin.

Extreme Makeover, D.C.

The term "telephone company" is so1990s. That's why the U.S. Telecom Association has decided to remake itself.

The association has hundreds of members, including Verizon and AT&T, which most people refer to as "telephone companies." But that's too old-fashioned.

"Our companies see themselves as part of a new industry," said Regina Hopper, an executive vice president of U.S. Telecom. "It is a broadband industry."

What used to be phone companies, she said, are really "communications and entertainment companies." She added: "They need for people in Washington to realize their businesses have changed."

Look for new Web sites proclaiming that change and for the lobby to focus on the advantages of broadband, not telephones.

Reinvention is in the wind at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, too. The group plans a high-six-figure advertising blitz inside the Beltway to highlight the advantages of community pharmacies. Through print, radio and online ads, it hopes to improve retail pharmacists' image enough for lawmakers to block proposed cuts in their Medicaid reimbursements.

The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association is also going through a makeover. It changed its name from the Equipment Leasing Association in 2006 and is trying to prove, through elaborate studies, that equipment financing is a major engine of economic growth and not just another reason to have a trade group.

"Each year, American businesses spend in excess of $1.09 trillion in capital expenditures and 55 percent, or $600 billion, is financed through various forms to acquire equipment," the organization asserts. So there.

The Race to Head a Lobby

The race to become the new chief executive of the big lobby for stock and bond traders ended with the selection of a non-Washingtonian: investment banker T. Timothy Ryan Jr. of J.P. Morgan Chase.

But the final group of contenders to head the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association included a few familiar names in the capital.

According to people close to the search, the finalists included three former Republican congressmen: Steve Bartlett (Tex.), now head of the Financial Services Roundtable; Rick Lazio (N.Y.), now with J.P. Morgan; and Richard H. Baker (La.), who left Congress for the top job at the hedge fund lobby instead.

Hire of the Week

Dean Zerbe, 43, a top investigator for Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), will become the national managing director for the Alliant Group, a specialty tax services provider for certified public accounting firms and their clients.

The new job, let's be honest, does not sound all that exciting. But Zerbe, a Grassley aide since 2001, is thrilled. "I will be explaining to policymakers in Washington the real impact of the tax laws on the hundreds of mid-sized and small businesses that are the strength of our economy," he said in an e-mail. "The big companies are taking full advantage of these tax benefits; the small and medium businesses need to do the same."

Zerbe plans to open a Washington office of the Houston-based company next month.

Please send e-mail tokstreet@washpost.com.