Now that we’ve got a foothold in recovery (shaky though it might be), it seems the talk is once again turning to sustainability. (We were all too busy trying to keep our heads above water during the downturn to worry about green things, unless a tenant asked, and no one was leasing anyway, so . . . . )

But this really isn’t a blog about energy efficiency. It’s more a rant against the apparent need of government to insinuate itself into the workings of the private sector. I’ve spent some time with the good folks of BOMA International lately—both for the Cover Story of the upcoming Better Buildings supplement to Real Estate Forum and for a panel I’ll be moderating at the group’s Every Building Show in Seattle this June. And the ongoing effort to educate/cajole/stop-dead-in-their-tracks legislators before they wreak havoc on this industry is ongoing.

And it’s not just BOMA. It’s a united front of representative lobbying groups, such as the Real Estate Roundtable, NAREIT and a full alphabet soup of other DC-based associations representing your interests, both on Capitol Hill and at the local level.

So the Obama Administration comes out with a Better Buildings Initiative (and we appreciate the plug!), regardless of the fact that the industry is self-policing and already has a program that’s actually more aggressive in terms of energy goals and timeframes. Your tax dollars at work.

In addition, invading hordes of industry professionals have been storming the Hill over the past few years in the heated Battle of Carried Interest, and while our community has its legislative advocates, they seem mostly to be elected officials who previously ran private-sector businesses and so, they get it. Educating those who never held a real job is the challenge apparently. (Is community organizer a paid position?)

Listen to one who is professionally impacted by the carried interest debate: Boyd Zoccola of the Indianapolis-based Hokanson Cos.: “It’s an important tool for my development business and how we structure ownership entities. Equity participation is on the rise as lenders become more conservative. So carried interest is an important tool to smaller companies that are not institutional owners.”

Does Congress know the difference between a building and a hedge fund? Apparently not, but there are people out there trying to get the message across.

It’s a noble but controversial fight. How much should the crowd inside the Beltway stand over your shoulder? More important, while the above-mentioned groups are fighting for your interests, what are you doing?