Lloyd Carter, at the indispensible Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood website, has produced a masterful portrait of Norman Brownstein, one of the nation's top water and oil lawyer/lobbyists, and his crooked sons. Although the story takes place in Denver, Washington and Wall Street, what makes it local is that Brownstein's firm lobbies for Westlands Water District and recently lost a lawsuit brought by the district against the US Bureau of Reclamation, and that Kirk Kerkorian, Fresno billionaire, was allegedly swindled in an oil deal involving business associates of Brownstein.
