House Dems' Staggering Work of Incomprehensible Stupidity

http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=05DD5D53-ED60-45B6-9D5328E8367B52E4

House Dems' Staggering Work of Incomprehensible Stupidity
David Sirota

I have no problem with Democrats doing what they need to do to raise money to fight the good fight against Republicans. Until we get a publicly financed elections system in this country, one party cannot unilaterally disarm from fundraising. But, we all should have a BIG problem with Democrats actually deliberately planting stories in the press about how they are running around Washington, D.C. shaking down corporate lobbyists for cash. To do that, as Democrats are doing, is so incomprehensibly stupid it's hard to even put words together to describe it. But, then, you can bet that the "strategists" in the D.C. Democratic Establishment think this is the way to win elections.

Today's example is in Roll Call. House Democrats, who have attacked the GOP's "culture of corruption," deliberately placed a story in Roll Call headlined "House Democrats Redouble Wooing of K Street." The story was likely placed by the second-ranking Democrat in the House, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), as he is front and center bragging about the effort. Here's the excerpt:

"A House Democratic project designed to dip into deep K Street wallets entered its second phase of the 2006 cycle Tuesday, as a group of prominent moderate Members enlisted business donors to shell out thousands of dollars to help the party’s top-tier candidates. Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.), along with Reps. Joe Crowley (N.Y.), John Tanner (Tenn.) and Ellen Tauscher (Calif.), met Tuesday afternoon with roughly 50 business-minded Democratic consultants, lobbyists and corporate officers to get them to commit to writing checks to their most worthy party hopefuls next year. The same group spent the better half of 2005 raising money from the same set of donors for the most vulnerable House Democratic incumbents. 'House Democrats are in a good position to make significant gains in next year’s election, so it’s an important time to work with our friends downtown to remind them we have common goals and that they have a stake in helping to elect Democrats,' Hoyer said."

In case you thought that Democrats aren't deliberately publicizing their efforts to shakedown corporate lobbyists - just look at Steny Hoyer's taxpayer-funded Minority Whip website (linked below). Members of Congress always put up stories promoting themselves - and here, incredibly, Hoyer is actually promoting a story about his work setting up a formalized system of legalized bribery - as if the story itself is a trophy to be flaunted. That story notes that Hoyer regularly holds "listening sessions with lobbyists, trade association heads and corporate executives." And the lobbyists love it. Said one insurance industry lobbyist, "It’s important for us in industry to have folks in the House Democratic leadership who want to hear from us." Said a corporate lobbyist who used to be a Hoyer staffer, "I think lobbyists in the business community are interested in getting to know the Democratic leadership."

continued

Sources:
Roll Call on House Democrats working to shakedown corporate lobbyists:
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/51_59/news/11458-1.html?type=pf
Hoyer brags on his official website about setting up a "K Street Project":
http://democraticwhip.house.gov/media/articles.cfm?pressReleaseID=113
Pelosi and Miller courageously work to resist influence of corporate lobbyists:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/as-dems-challenge-lobbyis_b_10744.html
Obey courageously pushes crackdown on lobbying abuses:
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/13339037.htm

america but instead are controlled by corporate interests and big money.