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[THIS ENTRY TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE UNTIL BOOK REVISION IS OBTAINED.] An investigative report exposing the close ties between state lawmakers and powerful industries, documenting the fusion of public service and private interest. This book examines much of the raw data that proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the large role that big business plays in a largely unregulated area of American politics. Lobbyists for these organizations, according to the book, outnumber state legislators 6 to 1, and expenditures by the 36,959 special interests registered in 2001 topped $565 million. With a special emphasis on financial disclosure reports filed by state lawmakers around the nation, this book documents dozens of cases of conflicts of interest where public interest was sacrificed for lawmakers' personal interests.