October 7, 2003 was a bad day for Darius Anderson. A top fundraiser for Gray Davis, Anderson had counted ranking Davis administration officials, including then-deputy chief of staff Susan Kennedy, as friends. He founded his own lobbying firm in 1998, parlaying his connections to the administration into a thriving business. By 2003, Davis' last year in office, Anderson's Platinum Advisors pulled in $3.9 million in lobbying receipts, good for third best in the state. But when Davis was recalled in 2003, Anderson's influence diminished. His shop's lobbying receipts declined by more than $1 million as big name clients like Microsoft,...