Sep 26, 2006 -- GOP Shakedown of Lobbyists: Statement of J. Gerald Hebert, Executive Director, Campaign Legal Center

A story today in Roll Call reported that K Street lobbyists are being summoned and told again to give to Republican congressional members exclusively or pay the price if the Republicans maintain their majority in the House. Pay what price? The price of having influence and access to influential Members of Congress.

This is not just the "K Street Project" - an effort by the Republican Congressional Leadership (led by disgraced former Congressman Tom DeLay) to strong arm Washington lobbying firms on K Street to hire Republicans into top positions and to reward lobbyists who financially and exclusively supported the GOP with access to influential officials, or face the consequences. This is the "K Street Project Redoubled" which John Boehner vowed in January to end if elected Majority leader - the same John Boehner who stated "If I am elected majority leader, there will no longer be a 'K Street project' or anything else like it." Wrong.

Talk about making it clear that your office is up for sale! Why else would GOP leaders call in potential contributors and lobbyists not only to "remind [lobbyists] what Republicans do not only for their specific industries but for the whole business community" but also to warn them not to give to Democratic Congressional candidates or party committees, according to Roll Call .

With this Thursday's event, Karl Rove and the Republican congressional leaders have put a huge "for sale" sign on the "people's House." But that appears to be exactly what they are doing with this latest Karl Rove-led shakedown.

The revival of the K Street Project is pure and simple a shakedown that undermines confidence in government and calls into question the integrity of our leaders. The message from this event is clear: access to power in government goes to the highest bidder and they want everyone to know.

The GOP leadership suffers from Jerry McGuire syndrome: "Just show me the money."

That's a terrible thing in a democracy such as ours.

The Roll Call story can be found here (subscription required).

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