K Street blues.We have seen the power of industry lobbyists demonstrated again and again in the last year not just on mortgage reform, but on health reform and airline safety. It also threatens any real reform of the regulation of Wall Street. The power of lobbyists over Congress has grown dramatically during my forty-eight years in Washington. What's happened is, the reforms made during the Kennedy-Johnson administration and by Democratic Congresses in the early years of the Nixon administration frightened fright·en v. fright·ened, fright·en·ing, fright·ens v.tr. 1. To fill with fear; alarm. 2. the nation's big shots. In the 1970s, they moved their trade associations to Washington, hired lobbyists, and brought about an explosion of new office buildings on the K Street-Connecticut Avenue axis. The number of outright lobbyists and the number of lawyers, who are mainly lobbyists, has also exploded. And as we all now know, they learned a great secret--that they could do indirectly through campaign contributions what they could not do with outright direct payments to officials. Officials who would never dream of accepting an outright bribe BRIBE, crim. law. The gift or promise, which is accepted, of some advantage, as the inducement for some illegal act or omission; or of some illegal emolument, as a consideration, for preferring one person to another, in the performance of a legal act. will gratefully accept campaign contributions and, consciously or unconsciously, be influenced by the access provided to those who do the contributing or arrange it. This, I fear--along with the manipulation of congressional districts Noun 1. congressional district - a territorial division of a state; entitled to elect one member to the United States House of Representatives district, territorial dominion, territory, dominion - a region marked off for administrative or other purposes to provide safe seats, which has left the Republican Party prisoner to its deranged de·range tr.v. de·ranged, de·rang·ing, de·rang·es 1. To disturb the order or arrangement of. 2. To upset the normal condition or functioning of. 3. To disturb mentally; make insane. extreme right wing-accounts for much of the tough going reform has faced this year. Another factor that cannot be overstated o·ver·state tr.v. o·ver·stat·ed, o·ver·stat·ing, o·ver·states To state in exaggerated terms. See Synonyms at exaggerate. o is the increasing sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. corporations have displayed in the selection of individuals to do the lobbying. They hire people like Tom Daschle, who are regarded with respect and affection by those they are hired to influence. If you're an official, you often find that they're your pals. They live next door and their kids play with your kids. They often have similar views on public issues. Some have even fought as your comrades in the same political battles. All this is what makes them so seductive se·duc·tive adj. Tending to seduce; alluring: "his sad and fastidious but ever seductive Irish voice" John Fowles. , their advice so hard to resist even when you should know better. Charles Peters is the founding editor of the Washington Monthly. |
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