Boston.com – Hedge fund managers – a secretive, lightly regulated group portrayed by some as villains in last year’s financial meltdown – appear to have a new degree of clout on Capitol Hill in shaping legislation that will determine how they will be regulated.
To gain that clout, industry leaders are using a congressman-turned-lobbyist, a major increase in campaign donations, and a strategy that relies heavily on advancing their own reform ideas, making them active players in the legislative process and perhaps staving off more rigorous regulation measures.