The hedge fund lobby is stepping up the..er… whining and dining in DC, says, Crain’s:

“With all the political and media focus on healthcare reform over the past few months, the financial industry enjoyed a brief respite from attacks and, as would be expected, spent its time and money wisely.

The hedge fund lobby, called the Managed Funds Association, doubled its spending during the last three months of 2009, according to data recently released by the Federal Election Commission. The MFA strategically sprinkled more than $1 million around Washington in the fourth quarter, compared to just $520,000 spent during the same period in 2008.”

Apparently, the hedgies don’t mind registering. What they’re kicking at are some other things:

1. Treating compensation as regular income (with its higher tax rate) rather than capital gains (with its 15% tax rate)

2. The banning of proprietary trading by banks, until now a lucrative source of income, the so-called Volcker rule.

The part I found really interesting in the Crain’s piece is that industry CEO Richard Baker apparently thinks there is a “growing alignment between hedge funds and millions of Americans.”

Oh yeah.

That would be that trader-activist mystique thing where Loeb, Paulson, and Chanos are really doing it for the little guy…….the money is just a side dish.

Um. Yeah. I get that.

And talking about side dishes, I hear that Rachel Uchitel’s interests are just aligned with  Joe Six-pack’s too. She isn’t an extortionist and a gold-digger. Oh no. That’s just what it looks like. She’s a conjugal activist. She trying to get Tiger and all those other rovin’ eyes out there to be better husbands…..