K Street Project | Giving the Lobbyists a Beat-Down

Whining and dining the K Street Krowd

Lobbying is a firmly entrenched arm of American politics and business in America. So long as there is balance between the interest groups within lobbying firms in key location like those of K Street in Washington, D.C., I can see them as a source for the change President Obama preaches. However, without that balance, there is clear and imminent danger of one special interest group (or political party’s) agenda being pushed at the expense of all others.

From the perspective of Personal Money Store, there needs to be forces balancing the anti-instant cash loan crowd. Shutting down competition in the free market contributes to collusion, which in turn leads to higher interest rates and consumer pricing on faxless payday loans and other products. However, I see balance in lobbying as a good thing. On the surface, that’s what the Republican Party claims it is trying to achieve with the K Street Project.

What is the K Street Project?

According to Sourcewatch, the K Street Project was undertaken in 1995 by the Republican Party to “pressure Washington lobbying firms to hire Republicans in top positions, and to reward loyal GOP lobbyists with access to influential officials.” Republican strategist Grover Norquist and former House majority leader Tom DeLay. Looking back, I’m sure the GOP would rather have had other, less controversial names attached to the K Street Project, but this is what they’ve got.

As I’ve said, K Street in Washington D.C. is a place where lobbying firms have put down roots. Some insightful individuals have even branded it the “fourth branch of government.” This fourth branch of government is essential to politicians, because they will actively request funds in exchange for use of their foot soldiers to trumpet their causes. Business interests will also use lobbyists to buy the support of politicians for legislation that best serves their interests.

Dangerous if one group has majority power

And K Street people aren’t people who have just fallen off the turnip truck. It has been customary for ex-politicians to be hired on as a means of maintaining the balance of power between parties. It is more “behind the scenes” than what you’ll see in the mainstream media, that’s for sure. But it is vitally important to the political functioning of America.

Balance is an ideal, but in practice, human beings tend to want to struggle for power. Most of the George W. Bush’s presidency featured Republican control of both houses, in addition to the White House. DeLay, Norquist and Senator Rick Santorum did whatever they could to pressure lobbying firms to hire only Republicans. This was their little scheme for the K Street Project.

But it didn’t quite work

According to the Washington Post in June 2004, “A review of job listings in Influence.biz, a lobbying newsletter, indicated that more than 40 percent of lobbyists with identifiable party backgrounds hired in the past six months have been Democrats. During the same period a year earlier, Democrats constituted only 30 percent of those hired.”

On July 1, 2004, the Post got it straight from the horse’s mouth when they tapped Thomas Hale Boggs, Jr. of Patton Boggs LLP to comment. Patton Boggs LLP is one of Washington’s largest lobbying-law firms, wrote the Post:

With Sen. John F. Kerry running neck and neck with President Bush in most polls and with the outlook for the Senate a tossup, a wide range of interest groups are filling some of their lobbying and public relations openings with Democrats – just in case the center of influence switches. There is some bet-hedging going on that wasn’t going on a year and a half ago.

But it was still Republican

In 2004, retiring Republican Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn – who interviewed with 15 firms – said the K Street Project was necessary. “The current GOP bias is needed to balance a long period of Democratic bias, when the Dems enjoyed House majority party status for 40 years,” she said. “K Street is still only 30 percent Republican, so there’s a lot more work to do to make it even.”

Now fast forward to the present. It is alleged that Democrats are running a K Street Project of their own. They want that instant cash and those faxless payday loans flowing in the “left” direction. The Hill blog reports that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) has denied that there is any coordinated effort to pressure lobbyist firms to hire Democrats. Because that would be unseemly, wouldn’t it? Hoyer wouldn’t dare admit to borrowing from the Republican playbook.

“There is no K Street Project,” he said. And Elvis is alive and well.

I mean Elvis “Toast” Patterson, former San Diego Chargers corner, of course

Since the Democrats control both houses of Congress currently, it would only be natural for them to want to smack down on lobbyist firms. A K Street Project would be business as usual. It’s necessary, as necessary as faxless payday loans and instant cash are to the small consumer loan market. Once those are toast, no K Street Project will save the country from banks gone wild in the absence of competition.

Related Video: