K-Street project K-Street project K-Street project (the new PNAC)

[underpants]

Any discussion of the Republican Culture of Corruption and the building Abramoff linked scandal MUST include at least a mention of the K-Street Project. The fact that this is an openly formulated initiative will render any of the Republican excuses and "reforms" useless. This is by of and for the Republican party. This is their scandal, their culture, they own it.

Below are some great resources to start. This really is quite simple to cite. They are/WERE very open about it.

Any news story or discussion that does not mention the K-Street Project is incomplete and needs to be addressed as such.

-Yep just like PNAC they have their own website-
http://www.kstreetproject.com/

-THE authoritative article on it so far-
Welcome to the Machine
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0307.confessore.html
How the GOP disciplined K Street and made Bush supreme.

Great source here too
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=K_Street_Project

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. Yeah, that;s a funny homepage

The word "Democrat" is on there like 19 times.

I wonder what it looked like... oh, a year or more ago.

[Newsjock]

3. Funny, they shut off archival

I went to http://web.archive.org to see what the page used to look like. And imagine that, they don't have any archived copies. Interesting.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

5. Yeah, very interesting. I wonder if someone

archived it for them?

Let's hope so.

[auburngrad82]

12. If you Google K Street Project and then use the cached pages feature

you get a website that was cached about a week ago.



Liberal bumper stickers

[Richardo]

2. Good call, underpants (if that is indeed your real name)

I've been on a soapbox about the odious K Street Project for lo these many years. Access for Republicans only, Democrats need not apply.

As anti-democracy as you can get.

[underpants]

4. Thank you Pedro

This is no accident. This is not "Business as usual in Washington" either. This is systematic and this is HUGE!!!

Spread the word Pablo

[auburngrad82]

7. K Street Project basically amounts to extortion by the GOP

and look who's involved:

Newt Gingrich
Tom DeLay
Grover Norquist
Rick Santorum

I've found their names associated with K Street. And the thing is, despite being caught with their hands in the cookie jars, the GOP still runs the K Street Project and no one gets their bill to the floor without major contributions to the GOP.

Never mind bribery by the lobbyists. It's bribery if they approach the congressman. If the GOP approaches the lobbyists, it's extortion.



Liberal bumper stickers

[auburngrad82]

6. I wrote an LTTE about the K Street Project and GOP "reforms"

I think it's going to be published. The paper called me yesterday.



Liberal bumper stickers

[underpants]

8. Excellent

and yes it is extortion AND money laundering (campaign contributions).

[Jeffersons Ghost]

9. cool bumper stickers...

Your DU logo is nice too... We're not too big on AUBURN here in Tuscaloosa these days but we'll get over it. Keep up the good work!

[donkeyotay]

10. Republican and corporations melded together in the K-St. Project

a few snips from Wash. Monthly:

But beginning with the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994, and accelerating in 2001, when George W. Bush became president, the GOP has made a determined effort to undermine the bipartisan complexion of K Street. And Santorum's Tuesday meetings are a crucial part of that effort. Every week, the lobbyists present pass around a list of the jobs available and discuss whom to support. Santorum's responsibility is to make sure each one is filled by a loyal Republican--a senator's chief of staff, for instance, or a top White House aide, or another lobbyist whose reliability has been demonstrated.

. . .


But over the last few years, Republicans have brought about a revolutionary change: They've begun to capture and, consequently, discipline K Street. Through efforts like Santorum's--and a House version run by the majority whip, Roy Blunt (R-Mo.)--K Street is becoming solidly Republican. The corporate lobbyists who once ran the show, loyal only to the parochial interests of their employer, are being replaced by party activists who are loyal first and foremost to the GOP. Through them, Republican leaders can now marshal armies of lobbyists, lawyers, and public relations experts--not to mention enormous amounts of money--to meet the party's goals.

. . .
"If you want to play in our revolution," DeLay told The Washington Post, "you have to live by our rules."

. . .

Anyone who doubts this eventuality need look no further than Florida. There, as New York Times columnist Paul Krugman pointed out last year, Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, has outsourced millions of dollars worth of work formerly performed by government employees to private contractors. There's little evidence that doing so has improved state services, as the governor's own staff admits. But it has vastly improved the financial state of the Florida Republican Party. According to an investigation by The Miami Herald last fall, "he policy has spawned a network of contractors who have given , other Republican politicians, and the Florida GOP millions of dollars in campaign donations."

[underpants]

11. "If you want to play in our revolution,"

LOVE that quote