Politicians Getting 'Rich and Fat' from Lobbyists
Lisa Makson, NewsMax.com
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Book Review: "The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine," by Matthew Continetti (Doubleday)
Since the Republican Party took control of the White House in 2000, the U.S. has seen the greatest expansion of social spending in American history.
Outlays for social programs totaled $1.3 trillion last year, an inflation-adjusted increase of 22 percent since 2000.
At the same time, the number of registered lobbyists in Washington, many of them pushing for taxpayer-supported programs, has more than doubled since 2000, reaching nearly 35,000 by the middle of last year.
Now the cry is going up against out-of-control spending by the GOP. It's not coming only from the Democrats, however, but rather from prominent figures on the right who bewail the betrayal of conservative principles.
Among this group is Republican stalwart and Weekly Standard reporter Matthew Continetti. In his new book "The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine," he taps into conservative America's angst by meticulously exploring how Jack Abramoff, who was once seen as "the spokesman for a new generation of conservative activists," fell victim to the "siren song" of the Washington establishment: "Stay. Be Happy. It's nice here. You'll learn to like it."
"One establishment replaced another," Continetti writes. "The ‘new order' Republicans had promised looked more and more like one party assuming the majority status it had long sought, then taking all of the old majority's bad habits."
The bulk of Continetti's book focuses on Abramoff's sordid rise to power and eventual fall. However, he also takes aim at Abramoff's old College Republican comrades, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and Americans for Tax Reform director Grover Norquist, as well as Tom DeLay, protégé of "accommodationist" House Minority Leader Bob Michel and the visionary behind the "K Street Project," which eventually allowed Abramoff and other Republican lobbyists to replace the Democratic ones.
As a result of the Grand Old Party's embrace of the "new governing ideology, known as big government conservatism," disillusionment and heartache permeate Continetti's prose.
"I came to Washington a few years ago, almost a decade after the Republican Revolution. I found a city that had grown rich and fat and happy," he writes. "I also found that the ideological fervor of the Gingrich revolution was fading; that too many conservatives had made too many compromises with their own principles.
"I found a city dominated by K Street Conservatives, named after the street in downtown Washington where most lobbyists have offices, people who mouth conservative principles while getting rich off conservative power."
With echoes of Madison's Publius, Continetti zeroes in on the real "danger" of the K Street Gang – politicians seeing "lobbyists as a constituency" and "business interests as the public interest."
While it may be said that he is using the same argument some on the left have used against capitalism, Continetti seems to be trying to remind Americans that they need to remain vigilant about what is going on in Washington.
As a result, Continetti chastises the "hubris" of politicians who believe that lobbyists will always do their bidding, even if it goes against their clients' needs. "Grover Norquist and Tom DeLay are both misguided if they think the K Street Project works to the Republican Party's advantage," he writes. "It doesn't … the project works to big business' advantage."
One fine example of this is seen in Continetti's chapter on the "tiny island" Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, "an extremely rich welfare state" that also happens to have been a client of Abramoff.
Continetti exposes how Abramoff had his team carefully "couch their arguments in conservative rhetoric," which worked like conservative "catnip," so that he could garner favorable coverage and interest in his client's need to obtain more subsidies from American taxpayers. Abramoff also paid for conservative thinkers' and writers' trips to the Northern Marianas and Continetti rightly takes them to task.
Essentially, Abramoff was "co-opting" them for his cause. Sadly, few, "if any, of the writers acknowledged that they had traveled to the far Pacific at the request and on the dime of a third-party lobbyist. And few, if any, of the articles mentioned the downside of a commonwealth in which capitalism has run amok: the poverty, the alienation, the potential abuse.
"The championing of economic growth at all cost, the advocacy of autonomy and sovereignty for the islands without acknowledging that the federal government was sending half a billion dollars a year there, is a common theme of the articles resulting from the trips to the Marianas."
Once Abramoff had garnered all the positive publicity, like so many other lobbyists, he found "ways around the [House ethics] rules" and arranged for "educational" travel junkets for members of Congress – all of which was paid for by the American taxpayers.
Continetti writes: "Most trips lasted about five days. Guests stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Saipan. According to the resort's brochure, the hotel ‘lies on 14 acres of lush, tropical gardens, lagoons and magnificent microbeach.' The visitors enjoyed the tropical climate and the clear blue water. They played golf at the Lao Lao Bay course. Each trip cost thousands of dollars."
It is interesting to note that even after the Abramoff scandal, many politicians are still partaking in such junkets, often flying on private jets, according to the Associated Press.
Although Continetti argues that all conservatives in Washington are part of the "keep the gravy flowing" establishment, he provides definitive proof for only a handful. These include: Ohio Congressman Bob Ney, former Majority Whip Roy Blunt, Montana Senator Conrad Burns, and retired New Hampshire Senator Bob Smith.
"K Street Gang" reminds readers why it is important for American voters to remain ever vigilant. In order to break the establishment cycle, Americans need to remember that there will always be "a troop of opportunists and hangers-on," who will feed "off big government."
Therefore, they must remember to take their civic responsibilities seriously and start electing more politicians like Newt Gingrich, so that perhaps the cycle might be broken once and for all by enacting legislation that will end gerrymandering, rescind campaign finance law, cut regulation and end corporate welfare.
All in all, Continetti's tome is engaging and well written. His conclusion, that "conservatism has been professionalized" and "has become a cosmetic affectation, like wearing an American flag lapel pin," is right on the money regarding some in Washington.