K Street phones Wall Street -The Hill

[Rose Siding]

Lobbyist Elliott Portnoy knew his inside information would have an effect on Wall Street before he hung up the phone.

The New York-based client on the other end listened a few seconds and then excitedly translated Portnoy’s news.

“Go short!” the client yelled to his trading staff, according to Portnoy, who heads up the public policy practice at Chicago-based Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.

If a bit shadowy — Portnoy wouldn’t disclose the client’s identity or the specifics of the information passed on — the conversation was perfectly legal. The tip concerned Congress, not a private company. No insider-trading rules were broken.
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Wall Street often turns to K Street to lobby Capitol Hill. Less well-known is the financial sector’s reliance on lobbyists not to advocate for outcomes but to predict them.

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/021505/wallstreet.html