Book Description
The startling story of the monumental growth of lobbying in
Washington, D.C., and how it undermines effective government and
pollutes our politics.
A true insider, Robert G. Kaiser has monitored American
politics for The Washington Post for nearly half a century. In
this sometimes shocking and always riveting book, he explains how
and why, over the last four decades, Washington became a
dysfunctional capital. At the heart of his story is money--money
made by special interests using campaign contributions and
lobbyists to influence government decisions, and money demanded
by congressional candidates to pay for their increasingly
expensive campaigns, which can cost a staggering sum. In 1974,
the average winning campaign for the Senate cost $437,000; by
2006, that number had grown to $7.92 million. The cost of winning
House campaigns grew comparably: $56,500 in 1974, $1.3 million in
2006.
Politicians’ need for money and the willingness, even
eagerness, of special interests and lobbyists to provide it
explain much of what has gone wrong in Washington. They have
created a mutually beneficial, mutually reinforcing relationship
between special interests and elected representatives, and they
have created a new class in Washington, wealthy lobbyists whose
careers often begin in public service. Kaiser shows us how
behavior by public officials that was once considered corrupt or
improper became commonplace, how special interests became the
principal funders of elections, and how our biggest national
problems-- care, global warming, and the looming crises of
Medicare and Social Security, among others--have been ignored as
a result.
Kaiser illuminates this progression through the saga of Gerald
S. J. Cassidy, a Jay Gatsby for modern Washington. Cassidy came
to Washington in 1969 as an idealistic young lawyer determined to
help feed the hungry. Over the course of thirty years, he built
one of the city’s largest and most profitable lobbying firms and
accumulated a personal fortune of more than $100 million.
Cassidy’s story provides an unprecedented view of lobbying from
within the belly of the beast.
A timely and tremendously important book that finally explains
how Washington really works today, and why it works so badly.
Amazon Exclusive: An Essay by Robert G. Kaiser
Last fall the House of Representatives set off a
sudden collapse of the stock market by voting against the first
version of the “bailout” legislation that had been hurriedly
written to try to stabilize American banks and other financial
institutions. Supporters of the bailout scrambled to change the
legislation in ways that would win support for it from a majority
of Congressmen. In a matter of days new provisions were added:
extension of an excise-tax rebate for makers of Puerto Rican rum
(cost to the Treasury, $192 million); extension of a special tax
break for the owners of stock car racing tracks (cost, $100
million); a tax break for makers of movies within the borders of
the United States (cost over ten years, $478 million) and more.
These “sweeteners”--a revealing bit of Washington jargon--did the
trick. Days after rejecting the $750 billion bailout, the House
approved it. This dreary sequence was evidence of a fact that
careful students of Washington’s ways had realized for some time:
In the first decade of the new millennium, the government of the
United States was broken. It had taken three decades to create
the mess. Democrats and Republicans had collaborated in its
creation, and as that story of the sweetening of the bailout bill
makes clear, money was at the heart of the problem.
Those sweeteners were payoffs of a kind--spending proposals
that would allow the politicians promoting them to boast of their
own influence in Washington, hoping to win votes in the process.
Spending on the favored projects of Senators and Congressmen had
grown exponentially since Republicans took over congress in 1994
and decided that they could defend their majorities if their
members could bring home a lot of bacon. Hence the explosion of
the legislative provisions called “earmarks” that John McCain
assailed in his presidential campaign.
But money became a dominant factor in more insidious ways. Over
the 30 years, opinion polls, focus groups and television
commercials became the most effective tools to win elections, and
all of them were expensive. So were the consultants whom
candidates hired to make their commercials, shape their
campaigns, even choose the issues they would run on. To win a
politician needed a lot of money. Money could elect someone to
office who never addressed important matters that affect ordinary
Americans’ lives. Money elects candidates who have no real
philosophy of governance nor a coherent view of the world. The
result has been unreal politics--candidates winning or losing
office on the basis of their positions on social issues
essentially unrelated to governance, for example.
Not addressing problems has become easy in a political
environment distorted by money. In these three decades when money
became so important in Washington, Congress lost much of its
effectiveness as a governing institution. Running for reelection
became more important than running the country, or keeping an eye
on the exercise of executive power--the roles the Founders
envisioned for the House and Senate. The quality of governance in
the United States had declined palpably in these years.
(Photo © Lucian Perkins)