Members of Congress mingled with lobbyists, corporate lobbyists and executives and members of the media at a reception at the Ritz Carlton thrown this morning by lobbying powerhouse Akin, Gump ($17.8 million in lobbying business in 2008 alone) honoring the legendary Vernon Jordan, senior counsel at the firm and a power broker in Washington, DC.

The attendees? Lots of corporate types. I saw nametags for Dow Chemical, Google, Amgen, Capital One, Tyco Electronics, Walmart, AT&T, Bank of America, Medtronic, Liberty Mutual Group–and that’s just a small sample.

Among the members of Congress who were there: Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) , Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA). And many more were invited–check out the attached photo of nametags.

There were also lots of members of the media: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Time Magazine, among others. And they even let me in, a convention first for me. I was there with Jim McElhatton, a reporter from the Washington Times.

The fare? Strictly finger food, clearly designed to comply with the “toothpick exemption” in the new ethics law. Doughnut holes. Little ceasar salads in shot glasses. Fruit salad. Coffee, orange Juice, water.

“You’ll notice the absence of forks,” said Jordan, in the speech he gave as part of the reception. “I must admonish you not to try to eat the food with spoons served with the coffee.” That got a chuckle.

I asked Rep. Waxman, who had been in conversation with somebody–didn’t get the name–from Medtronic, why he came. He said he was an old friend of Jordan’s. As to why he was talking to someone from Medtronic?

“They can do it from here or they can do it in my office,” he said.  “We were talking about an issue where we were on opposite sides. They didn’t convince me and I didn’t convince them.” Waxman is certainly known as a watchdog in Congress, conducting investigations that take on formidable interests.

We also spotted Rep. Israel speaking with Jim Mahoney, a public affairs spokesperson for Bank of America.

While the event clearly was more open than others I’ve tried to attend here at the Denver convention, what was also notable was who was not there. I didn’t see any representatives of public interest groups–consumer, environmental, or otherwise. It was clearly a corporate-Congress-media type of event. It provided yet another chance for powerful folks to mingle with other powerful folks here in Denver this week.

Edited to add: Check out the Washington Times story on the affair here.

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