The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine [Hardcover]

Matthew Continetti (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 038551672X | ISBN-13: 978-0385516723 | Publication Date: April 18, 2006

What happens when ideologues obtain power? The K Street Gang is the inside story of how a group of self-styled Republican reformers succumbed to the temptations of power, becoming even worse than the Democrats they had been elected to replace. Now, some of those very reformers, including Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff, are under investigation, their careers and reputations tarnished by the very system they helped to create.

The story begins in 1994, when a landslide victory led to the first GOP-controlled Congress in forty years. The Republicans had it all: a visionary leader in Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, a program for reform in the Contract With America, and a bonafide electoral mandate. They pledged to shrink government, reform politics, and drain the swamp of public malfeasance. Ten years later the Republican party finds itself embroiled in crippling scandals that have already brought about the fall of House majority leader DeLay and may reach all the way into the White House.

In The K Street Gang, you'll meet DeLay, the brazen ideologue and prodigious fundraiser who invited lobbyists to run amok in exchange for campaign contributions; Jack Abramoff, the conservative activist who left a troubled career in Hollywood for a new beginning as a Washington lobbyist, only to fleece his clients out of millions of dollars; Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition whose principles took a backseat to his business interests; Grover Norquist, the fiery antitax activist who provided intellectual ammunition for the Republican takeover of the lobbying industry, only to see the lobbyists take over his party; and Adam Kidan, a down-on-his-luck Republican businessman who engineered the scam of a lifetime-one that had deadly consequences.

You'll learn how Grover Norquist helped arranged meetings between George W. Bush and men who are now alleged to be Islamic terrorists; how a former lifeguard rose from beachbum to aide to one of Washington's most powerful congressmen to high-powered and extremely wealthy lobbyist, and how he lost it all; and how a routine audit of an obscure Indian tribe's finances has led to a widespread public corruption investigation that threatens the political futures of half a dozen congressmen and the political future of the Republican Party.

In The K Street Gang, Matthew Continetti takes us behind the headlines to meet a group of young idealists who came to Washington to do good and ended up staying to do well. It's about the perils of power and the high cost of greed. Above all, it's about how the American conservative movement began as a cause, turned into a career and ended up as a racket.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Matthew Continetti is a staff writer at the Weekly Standard. His articles and reviews have also appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Doublethink. He lives in Washington, D.C.

From The Washington Post

When Matthew Continetti took a job at the Weekly Standard a few years ago, he was a young conservative committed to denouncing big government. But Continetti was surprised by what he found in the nation's capital: Republican operatives were "getting rich off conservative power," leaving Washington a city "on the brink of major scandal."

It's not on the brink anymore. As Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay dominate the political headlines, Continetti has written a hastily assembled but timely account of GOP corruption -- instigated, he writes, by "K Street Conservatives" who have shed their movement's libertarian heritage and become enthralled with power and the pursuit of personal wealth. The K Street Gang carries additional weight because its charges come not from a liberal author or even a nonpartisan reporter but from a card-carrying conservative. The book is arguably the most detailed chronicle to date of how some of Continetti's erstwhile allies made a wrong turn in the past decade.

The fiasco began, he argues, when Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was elected House majority whip in December 1994, just one month after the GOP won control of both houses of Congress. DeLay was interested not in promoting small-government conservatism but in tightening his party's grip on power. He flung open the doors of the Capitol, working with lobbyists to raise money to reinforce his majority while giving big business its cut. Republican lawmakers inserted pet provisions into bills, and the size of government actually expanded -- flying, Continetti notes, in the face of the GOP's traditional Reaganite agenda.

Enter Jack Abramoff, an ex-Hollywood producer who financed B-movie flops before joining the law firm Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds in late 1994. DeLay was about to create golden opportunities for men like Abramoff -- and the tycoon-turned-lobbyist took full advantage.

According to Continetti, Abramoff's stock in trade was wrapping his clients' causes in anti-government-meddling rhetoric. Abramoff saw the Northern Mariana Islands as "a free-market utopia" (in Continetti's phrase) and arranged junkets there for DeLay and other conservative lawmakers, many of whom relaxed at the Hyatt Regency and played golf. DeLay called the Marianas "a perfect Petri dish of capitalism" and insisted that they should not be subjected to federal labor laws.

Abramoff had plenty of unsavory companions on K Street. When the conservative activist Grover Norquist wanted to raise funds in 1999 for his organization, Americans for Tax Reform, he asked Abramoff (a friend from their days as College Republicans) to plug a "$75K hole in my budget"; Abramoff leaned on his Indian clients to donate money to Norquist's organization.

The hypocrisy was rampant. Continetti writes that the principles of former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed "appear to be no match for his profit margins." Faced with legislation in Louisiana that would have reduced the proceeds to one of Abramoff's Indian gaming clients, Reed deployed what he described as "pro-family forces" to defeat the bill.

Some of DeLay's former aides -- most notably Michael Scanlon, a DeLay press secretary turned lobbyist -- made bundles working with Abramoff. Adopting a scheme called "Gimme Five," Scanlon signed contracts with Abramoff's clients and kicked back proceeds to Abramoff -- without telling their clients that the two men were working together. At one point, Abramoff e-mailed Scanlon to ask whether he could "smell the money?!?!?!" The question had to have been rhetorical: Scanlon at one point was spending $17,000 per month to rent an apartment at Washington's Ritz-Carlton and using a helicopter to visit his $4.7 million mansion in Rehoboth Beach, Del. All told, Abramoff and Scanlon made more than $66 million over three years while doing what Continetti calls shoddy work for their Indian tribe gaming clients -- and while Abramoff was referring to them in e-mails as "troglodytes" and "monkeys."

Unfortunately, Continetti's account feels unfinished: These scandals are still unfolding, after all. Some of his terms are also confusing, his biographical sketches of his antiheroes are too cursory to put the scandals into their proper context, and his narrative jumps inconsistently from one scandal-laden episode to the next. Moreover, according to Continetti's endnotes, his book is based almost entirely on e-mails previously released by the Senate's Indian Affairs Committee, criminal complaints against Abramoff and others, and newspaper and magazine articles chronicling the Abramoff saga, including the groundbreaking, Pulitzer Prize-winning pieces by The Washington Post's Susan Schmidt, James V. Grimaldi and R. Jeffrey Smith.

Still, Continetti's book is useful because it suggests that conservatives are now more ensnared than ever: DeLay's GOP remained in power in part because he so successfully figured out how to work with K Street to keep it there. Now that DeLay has announced his resignation from Congress and Abramoff and other "K Street Conservatives" have entered guilty pleas in federal courts, the right's struggle to regain its credibility will remain one of the outstanding questions of American politics for years to come. Can conservatives repair the damage done by the K Street scandals? Continetti suggests that they have their work cut out for them.

Reviewed by Matthew Dallek
Copyright 2006, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday (April 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038551672X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385516723
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How American Democracy Works!, April 23, 2006

By 

Loyd E. Eskildson "Pragmatist" (Phoenix, AZ.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine (Hardcover)

Continetti begins by reporting that Newt Gingrich decided to nationalize the '94 elections and win over the voters supporting Perot in '92 (almost 20%). This was to be accomplished by focusing on term limits, accountability, balanced budgets, and a strong defense - and became the foundation for his "Contract with America," supported by 150 Republican congressmen and another 200 candidates. He was wildly successful - not a single Republican incumbent lost, while the Democrats lost the Senate, House, and a majority of governorships. Seventy-three new Republicans entered the House - many financially supported by Tom DeLay who viewed government as a means to maximize the advantages of business so that business in turn would donate to their war chests.

"The K Street Gang" then goes on to outline its protagonists - Jack Abramoff, Grover Norquist, and Ralph Reed - their early political years, meetings, and religious conversions (Abramoff and Reed).

Creating the K Street Gang began in 1995 with DeLay's compiling a list of 400 of the largest PACs; one by one their top lobbyists were called in to receive the message - to protect their interests they needed to stop giving to the Democrats. Meanwhile, Rep. Bill Paxson (R) made a list of the top 1,000 lobbyists and their donations - they were then warned that they would not be welcomed if contributing to the Democrats. Grover Norquist compiled a third list, tracking employment histories, partisan leanings, and donations. DeLay and associates than started meeting Thursday A.M.s and suggesting Republicans for lobbying jobs, while Senator Rick Santorum did the same thing on the Senate side Tuesday A.M.s. Surprise - Democrat donations dropped sharply! Meanwhile, DeLay uses the lobbyists to help pass legislation that he favors.

There now are about 68 lobbyists for each congressman and senator. Continetti sees these predominately Republican lobbyists as needing big government - as a way of making money. (This perhaps explains why spending has risen so fast during Bush II; however, it doesn't explain why Norquist and his fervent anti-tax stand abets the operation.)

An interesting sideline is provided by Continetti's perspective on why Democrats have suffered lately - their lack of an overarching ideology, instead of favoring the narrow special interests of civil rights groups, feminists, and organized labor.

Continetti cites Abramoff's and Norquist's efforts supporting the Commonwealth of the Marianas as an example of Republican utopia. It is exempt from U.S. immigration, labor, workplace safety, etc. laws - allowing almost 40,000 immigrants (vs. about 16,000 natives) on temporary visas to pay up to $7,000 for transportation, work up to 14 hours/day - in some cases locked inside fences, for about $3.15/hour with no overtime, at mostly foreign-owned factories allowed to claim their goods are "Made in U.S.A.," with most government expenses paid by U.S. taxpayers.

Then "The K Street Gang" is off to Florida where Abramoff becomes owner of a fleet of casino boats through fraudulent transactions and arm-twisting by Ohio congressman Ney. (Abramoff has since pleaded "Guilty" and been sentenced to a several year term.) Finally, its off to Scotland for Congressmen on Abramoff arranged "golf trips," and a dizzying tale of front organizations, kickbacks, and over-charged clients. The end begins when an audit of one of Abramoff's Indian tribe clients reveals substantial missing funds, leading to another audit, and FBI and Senate investigations.

Continetti believes that the scandals will bring down a half dozen Republican congressmen, and possibly end the Republican control of Congress as well. Unfortunately, he also believes the prospects for reform are bleak.

No wonder Russia, China, etc. are less than impressed by American Democracy!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE K STREET GANG INVESTIGATION: POWER + CONTEMPT = GREED, May 18, 2006

By 

RBSProds "rbsprods" (Deep in the heart of Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine (Hardcover)

Five Stars!! A brilliant, historical, detailed, and disturbing examination of the demise of the leadership of the Republican party in the last twenty years, especially the House of Representatives. But the title may be both premature and presumptuous: the Republican party hasn't "Fall(en)" until it loses the House, the Senate, in particular; and you might also include the state legislatures, and the governorships. The K Street Gang is an incisive look at the rise of the Republican party since Bill Clinton's first term presidential win, into George W. Bush's second term, and it's current status at the hands of some truly powerful, greedy, and legally challenged members.

But the book begins with the retirement of Ed Michel in OCt 1993 as Republican minority leader and the twin ascendancies of Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay. After decades of being the minority party, the Republicans made their move on the American 'body politic' with the "Contract with America", which upset Bill Clinton's apple cart and wrenched Congressional power from the Democrats for the first time in 26 years. This book gives specific details of how the Republican's brought 'lobbying' and contempt to the level of an art form. While talking rhetoric like "shift(ing) power back to the states", Delay handed legislative power to the lobbyists, and the lobbyists began writing legislation, lots of it. Meanwhile "Casino Jack" Abramoff and Grover Norquist formed a bond rising in the young college Republican ranks. These two would leapfrog up the non-elected Republican ranks. Norquist, in the ATR, would author the infamous "No Tax Pledge" in 1986 and the "Leave Us Alone" coalition.

Who are these lobbyists? Think "Project Relief", a 'cabal' of 350 corporations and special interest groups which includes the likes of Boeing, BellSouth, Christian Coalition, US Chamber of Commerce, Coors, Chevron, GE, Hill & Knowlton lobbyists, and Wal-Mart, among others. Talk about STRANGE BEDFELLOWS! Project Relief lobbyists actually wrote the initial Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act. At the same time Jack Abramoff was president of the College Republicans, setting the stage for a decade of decadence and a future criminal conviction. And based on the amount of detail in the 14 pages of notes at the end of the book, their activities were not done undercover, but right out in open sources available to the American public and the hapless Democrats. In 248 pages, the author spells out what amounts to nothing more than a police report of a national crime perpetuated on the American public in broad daylight by a select few members of the Republican party. The author does not blame the entire Republican party for the shenanigans which the book details. The chapter on the Marianas Islands is shameful for the unfair labor practices that some Republicans perpetuated. Who knows if the rest of the party knew what they were voting for.

As an Independent, I observe these types of political books with as much of an unbiased eye as possible, and even so, the legal "unraveling" of one element of the Republican party is mind-boggling to me. The effect this will have in the political future remains to be seen, the American voting public can be VERY forgiving. The weak leadership of the Democratic party, typified by the likes of the hapless and clueless Nancy Pelosi, may be it's Achilles heel in the end and the Republicans may have another November surprise for the country and Gov Dean. Stay tuned. Five INVESTIGATIVE Stars!!!

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A frivilous book that simply repeated what had already been written in Continetti"s stories for the Weekly Standard, December 21, 2008

By 

Deanne R. Peterson "truthsquad" (boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine (Hardcover)

This book is essentially worthless. It provides absolutely no new information. Like the Peter H. Stone book, Heist, it basically repeats what the press had already written without any analysis or comprehension of what really went on. Just another herd-mentality book. Don't waste the money. Just read the news clips on Abramoff.