By now, the “K Street Project” — the Congressional Republican effort during the first half of this decade to stack D.C.’s lobbying corps with friendly ex-Republican staffers (or “conservative activist Republicans,” in Grover Norquist’s words), and thereby freeze Democrats out of the legislative process — has become the stuff of legend.
Only problem is, it took the revelations of Jack Abramoff’s dirty dealing and Rep. Tom DeLay’s spectacular fall to get many in the D.C. press corps to pay attention to it. Not all, for sure, but until late 2005-early 2006, stories about the project were few and far between. As Eric Boehlert pointed out in January 2006,
Between June 10, 2002, and Jan. 3, 2006, here’s how many news articles produced by the [New York] Times‘ D.C. bureau mentioned the K Street Project: 4. Here’s how many mentioned it three or more times: 0. Between June 2002 and Jan. 3, 2006, here’s how many Los Angeles Times articles mentioned the K Street Project three or more times: 0. USA Today: 0. Associated Press: 0. Miami Herald: 0. Chicago Tribune: 0. Boston Globe: 0. Newsweek: 0. Even the Washington Post, which is supposed to meticulously detail the legislative culture of D.C., published just three news articles that contained three or more references to the K Street Project.
But now, less than a month after the Democratic Party wrested control of both houses of Congress, Time magazine has come out with its first look at the changing power dynamics among the lobbyists on the Hill, titled, “When the Democrats Take Back K Street.” There’s nothing factually wrong with Massimo Calabresi’s piece — in fact, he does exactly what a reporter should do, namely, find a newsworthy story and chase it down. But it’s interesting to note how long it took Time to discover a worthy story on K Street, what with all the Republican strong-arming over the last five years, and the speed with which the magazine jumped on the story after the midterms.
The earliest mention of the bare-knuckled way in which Republicans took control of K Street in Time came in November 2004 in a throwaway sidebar looking at what happened to several of the frontrunners for president on the Democratic ticket. Time summoned the courage to conclude that after the 2004 elections, “K Street is suddenly no place for a battered and bruised donkey.”
Note that this easily missed (and jokey) piece came almost two and a half years after the Washington Post‘s Jim VandeHei reported that “Republicans are researching the party affiliation and political contributions of hundreds of lobbyists in Washington, part of a campaign that could deny government access and prime lobbying jobs to Democrats,” and well over a year after reporting on the project by the Christian Science Monitor and the Washington Monthly caused some to sit up and take notice.
After that innocuous mention in November 2004, it took Time well over a year — until two articles ran in January 2006 — to get back to the story. One of the January pieces, by Michael Duffy, was a rundown of six proposals before Congress to reform the lobbying system in Washington, and was largely agnostic about the power dynamic, making it look like both parties were equally represented on K Street. The other piece, by Mike Allen and Perry Bacon Jr., was the magazine’s first serious look at the graft and corruption on K Street — more than three and a half years after the story broke.
But for some reason, a scant three weeks after control of Congress changed hands, we get a story looking at potential problems in store for Democrats who would cozy up to lobbyists.
All this isn’t to say that the incoming Democratic majority isn’t going to welcome with outstretched arms the money men (and women) of K Street. Of course they will. This is how our democracy works. And Nancy Pelosi’s statement on election night that she would lead “the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history” contained echoes of Gary Hart’s challenge to the press to “follow me.” But Time sure pounced — about three and a half years earlier than it did when the other guys were in power. Cursed liberal media.
Paul McLeary is a former CJR staff writer. Since 2008, he has covered the Pentagon for Foreign Policy, Defense News, Breaking Defense, and other outlets. He is currently a defense reporter for Politico.