No. Let's not pretend that it's OK for developers to try to obtain undue influence over government officials.

There’s a puzzling contradiction between your claim that developers are the problem, on one hand, and then your own anecdote on the other, not to mention the article that very convincingly debunks the idea that housing shortage is the fault of developers. I must be missing something, because frankly this isn’t making any sense.

I'm not saying that developers are the cause of the housing shortage.

I'm saying that developers are eager to build housing and sometimes are able to cut corners via undue influence over public officials. That leads to more housing (good), but it also erodes the quality of life for residents (bad).

It's really not that hard to understand.

Money is politics, at least since Citizens United. Depending on your locality, for much longer.