What's the polar opposite of preaching to the choir?

Then again, I suppose if anyone needed to hear this...

Tibet's spiritual leader The Dalai Lama was in Albany this week, during which the Nobel Peace laureate briefly addressed the New York state Senate.

As The Buffalo News described it with great journalistic understatement: The Dalai Lama also stressed the importance of “transparency,” something usually lacking in the Capitol.

“Sometimes I feel like Albany needs divine intervention,” quipped Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Group, one of the rare paragons of virtue in the state capital.

The Dalai Lama's comments came during the same week as it was reported that lobbying remained one of the few industries in the state that doesn't seem hit by the recession. Special interest groups spent $174 million last year to influence the nation's most dysfunctional legislature, a 15.2 pct increase in the last two years.

Of course, they're only dysfunctional from the perspective of the ordinary people. I'm sure those who've hired the highly paid lobbyists find legislators quite useful.

There are over 30 registered lobbyists in Albany for every lawmaker.