Steve Hart of the Opinion Mill, a journalist who just won an award for his blogging work in New Jersey, has a great series on Christie Todd Whitman and her corrupt deals with corporate polluters.

You all know that I don't think much of modern Republican moderate leaders.  They are often nothing more than dishonest distractions that give political cover to the extreme wing of their party in a kabuki-like dance.  So it's ridiculous to take them seriously during the Alito hearings as evidence of anything except being owned and operated by the machine that is GOP inc.  And lo and behold, Whitman is now serving corporate clients who need government contacts. Her firm, the Whitman Strategy Group, is located in DC and does work on environmental policy.

"It's been nearly two years since Christie Whitman left President Bush's cabinet, and her role in politics has been strictly behind the scenes.

Now the former New Jersey governor is back in Washington with her own consulting firm, which also has a Garden State base.

"I was looking for a way to stay involved in a policy position and use what I've learned about problem solving," said Whitman, Bush's former Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

Whitman, 58, should have no trouble attracting clients, said Laurie Murphy, the co-president of the New Jersey chapter of the International Association of Corporate and Professional Recruitment.

The Whitman Strategy Group opened an office in Washington Feb. 1 and opened last month in Gladstone, N.J. Her new business so far has one client, Philadelphia-based FMC Chemical, one of the largest U.S. producers of bulk chemicals used by industries.

"Her inside view of how things work in the government should be extremely helpful to individuals looking for that type of information," said Murphy, also the president of PeopleAreKey, a Cranford, N.J.-based human resources consulting firm.

Whitman is no moderate Republican. She's just another influence-peddler trying to make it in DC.