Patti Solis Doyle

After a controversial stint on the Obama general election campaign (“I needed to prove that I wasn’t incompetent”), Solis Doyle joined the law firm of the campaign’s counsel as a lobbyist in 2009. She said she helped bring in some clients but had no taste for the business. She set up Solis Strategies, though she no longer has any clients there and uses the outfit mostly as a way to get paid for a dozen or so speaking engagements a year. Two years ago she co-founded a financial firm called Vendor Assistance Program, which advances businesses money owed to them by struggling state governments; VAP then profits from late fees when the businesses are reimbursed.