The K Street Project is an effort by the Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 (GOP) to pressure Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 lobbying

Lobbying

Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...

 firms to hire Republicans in top positions, and to reward loyal GOP lobbyists with access to influential officials. It was launched in 1995 by Republican strategist Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist

Grover Glenn Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform...

 and then-House majority whip Tom DeLay

Tom DeLay

Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...

. It has been criticized as being part of a "coziness" between the GOP and large corporations which has allegedly allowed business to rewrite government regulations affecting their own industries in some cases (see Dick Cheney energy task force

Energy Task Force

The Energy Task Force, officially the National Energy Policy Development Group , was a task force created by then-U.S. President George W. Bush in 2001 during his second week in office. Vice President Dick Cheney was named chairman...

).

Shortly after the 1994 elections which gave a majority of seats to Republican candidates, DeLay called prominent Washington lobbyists into his office. He had pulled the public records of political contributions that they made to Democrats and Republicans. According to Texans for Public Justice, "he reminded them that Republicans were in charge and their political giving had better reflect that—or else. The "or else" was a threat to cut off access to the Republican House leadership."

The project is named for K Street in Washington, D.C., where the largest lobbying firms have their headquarters. Lobbyists are, in some circles, referred to as the "fourth branch of government," as some have great influence in U.S. national politics due to their monetary resources and the "revolving-door" practice of hiring former government officials. It is widely believed to be common practice for politicians to solicit money from lobbying firms in exchange for better access to officials, especially members of the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

, and to buy favoritism in policies.

Candidates seeking to succeed DeLay as majority leader sought to distance themselves from the project, and as of January 15, 2006, all three announced candidates had vowed to dismantle it and overhaul the lobbying process. The fundamental quid pro quo at the center of the K Street Project -- the withholding of policy favors from interest groups and lobbying firms that hire Democrats -- is now illegal: the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, Sec 102, bans members of Congress and staffers from using their political power to influence the employment decision of any private entity "on the basis of partisan political affiliation".

The dossier

In 2002 the Washington Post reported on the existence of a dossier compiled by the project, keeping tabs on which lobbying firms and individual lobbyists gave to which politicians and parties. An unnamed GOP lobbyist source told the Washington Post that "you will have this list to control access" to the White House, Congress, and Federal agencies.

According to the New York Times, Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist

Grover Glenn Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform...

 claimed "it's an ongoing project that's been updated over the last several years, and this is the most recent iteration." Norquist claimed that the object was "letting people know how many R's and D's are being hired" by certain interest groups, so that these groups would hire more Republicans to represent them.

As a result of this exposure, a letter circulated in Congress reminding members and Senators that it was a violation of ethical standards to limit lobbyists' access based on their political contributions.

The Abramoff connection

Members of Congress in both parties are promising to reform the rules for lobbying Congress in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff lobbying and corruption scandal. Abramoff, a top Washington lobbyist, was a prolific contributor to Republican political campaigns, and has recently pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges. His campaign contributions, lavish golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 trips, jobs that required little or no work, and expensive meals for congressmen and their staffers are the focus of a criminal investigation.

Republicans distance themselves

Former Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 Senator

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum

Richard John "Rick" Santorum is a lawyer and a former United States Senator from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Santorum was the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference -making him the third-ranking Senate Republican from 2001 until his leave in 2007. Santorum is considered both a social...

, who served in the House before 1994, has often been described as the Senate liaison

Liaison

Liaison in general means:# Communication between two or more groups.# Co-operation, working together.but may refer to:* Affair, an unfaithful or adulterous sexual relationship* Air Alliance, a Canadian airline whose call sign was "Liaison'...

 to the K Street Project, as he met with Norquist on a regular basis to review openings at lobbying firms and the leading candidates for those positions. As the Abramoff scandal broke and grew, however, he denied the extent of the role attributed to him. He claimed his meetings with Norquist were not as frequent as asserted, that he did not know Norquist that well, and that he was unaware of a file keeping track of campaign contributions by lobbyists and their firms.

He took particular umbrage at claims to the contrary by then-Senate minority leader Harry Reid

Harry Reid

Harry Mason Reid is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S...

, saying they amounted to libel

Slander and libel

Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, traducement, slander , and libel —is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government, or nation a negative image...

, although he did not deny that meetings took place. He referred to them as "good government" efforts. He claimed he had not seen Norquist in years, but later the blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

 Crooks and Liars

Crooks and Liars

Crooks and Liars is an American liberal blog founded by John Amato. Along with John Amato, frequent contributors include Nicole Belle, Logan Murphy, Mike Finnigan, David Neiwert, SilentPatriot, , Susie Madrak, Nonny Mouse, Kenneth Quinnell, and Howie Klein. Journalist Tina Dupuy is the managing...

 posted a video clip of the two of them sharing a podium at a June 28, 2005, press conference.

Norquist, however, claims that at a 2002 meeting with Santorum and lobbyists he described the project to them. A contemporary report says he described its goals and asked those present to help complete the project. He passed out a list of lobbyists the project was checking on. At that time Santorum did not comment.

Later that year, Norquist publicly commented, "(Santorum) has gotten me in to talk to all those guys."

Santorum also had publicly criticized the Motion Picture Association of America

Motion Picture Association of America

The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...

 and Boeing

Boeing

The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

 for hiring former Clinton Administration officials, but said that was unrelated to his meetings with Norquist.

Roll Call

Roll Call

Roll Call is a newspaper published in Washington, D.C., United States, from Monday to Thursday when the United States Congress is in session and on Mondays only during recess. Roll Call reports news of legislative and political maneuverings on Capitol Hill, as well as political coverage of...

also reported that Abramoff himself attended one of Santorum's meetings in 2001. Santorum says he might have attended but does not specifically recall that.

After the disclosures, Santorum announced the jobs list would no longer be part of the meetings.

Santorum lost his bid for re-election in 2006.

Defenses of the K Street Project

The few Republicans and political conservatives who have chosen to defend the project claim that after 40 years of a near-total Democratic control of Congress, most of the top lobbyists in Washington were former Democratic congressional staffers and aides, since lobbyists are valued for their access to power more than their political ideologies. They might be more loyal to their party and former employers than their present ones.

In fact, Republicans claim, Democrats in Congress had informally done the same thing and forced lobbies to hire former staffers of their own. In this view, the K Street Project was simply a way of ensuring that those lobbying in Congress had political views in line with those who hired them to lobby. Labor unions, they noted, hire people to advocate for them in Washington who share their viewpoints regardless of their access to power.

Trademark application

On April 6, 2006, Norquist applied, through his organization Americans for Tax Reform

Americans for Tax Reform

Americans for Tax Reform is an advocacy group and taxpayer group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax...

, for trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 protection for the term "K Street Project." When the story was reported the following week, he suggested it had been unfairly maligned by the media coverage of the scandal and that it was in fact simply a job-listing service. He promised to enforce it vigorously if it were approved, saying "We will sue anyone who says it wrong and make lots of money."

Democrats and liberals ridiculed the idea, with blogger Josh Marshall

Josh Marshall

Joshua Micah Marshall is an American Polk Award-winning journalist who founded Talking Points Memo, which The New York Times Magazine called "one of the most popular and most respected sites" in the blogosphere...

 wondering if Norquist was trying to corner "exclusive rights to engage in organized corruption under this title in the environs of Washington, DC." Others, like Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for House minority leader

Minority leader of the United States House of Representatives

The House Minority Leader is one of the party leaders of the United States House of Representatives. This title is currently held by Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi of California....

 Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...

, accused Norquist of trying to keep the term from being associated with Republican corruption in an election year (However, it would take the application a year and a half, well after the election, to be approved at the Patent and Trademark Office

Patent and Trademark Office

The Patent and Trademark Office may refer to:* the United States Patent and Trademark Office * the German Patent and Trademark Office...

's usual pace).

Contrary to Norquist's public statements, his formal application requests trademark status only for the project's actual logo

Logo

A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

 (see above).

However, on July 11, 2006, Norquist filed a second trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

application, this time seeking protection for the term "The K Street Project promotes the hire of lobbyists at corporations and trade associations who understand free-market economics, who support their principled positions for free trade, against tort law abuse, and for lower and more transparent taxation."

External links

• www.kstreetproject.com portrays itself as: K Street Project is non-partisan research of political affiliation, employment background, and political donations of members in Washington DC's premier lobbying firms, trade associations, and industries.
• "Welcome to the Machine" by Nicholas Confessore (Washington Monthly, July/August 2003)
• Exile on K Street, by Jeremy Scahill, The Nation, posted February 2, 2006 (February 20, 2006 issue)