Top Dem senator slams lobbyist influence while hiring his own stable of ex-lobbyist staffers

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who often claims to have "fought" lobbyists, has a history of hiring several lobbyists onto his own staff, including this year.

The op-ed built on Brown's previous remarks speaking out against lobbyists. In March, for example, the senator tweeted a video in which he slammed rail and banking lobbies and politicians who are friendly to them, saying their actions caused the East Palestine train derailment and Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Aaron Kliegman is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital. 

"I want to say a few words about the people in East Palestine, Ohio, and the aftermath of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse," said Brown. "They both have one thing in common: Companies followed the Wall Street business model, obsessed with short-term profits at the expense of everything and everyone else. They were aided and abetted by corporate lobbyists and the politicians here who do their bidding, weakening rules meant to protect the people whom we serve. And now working people in Ohio and around the country pay the price."